The evening times., 1900-03-01
POLITICAL NOTES AND GOSSIP.


The Porto Rican BiIl.-For several
days the statement has been quietly cir
culated and has gone unchallenged that
that faithful servtor of the trusts, the
, Hon. Elihu Root, wrote the Porto Rican
Tariff bill. 1t is known that few weeks
ago Secretary Root was as heartily in ia
vQr of absolute free trade for the suffering
! island as the Presidents strong expression
in his message showed Mr.. Mckinley to
be. When, therefore Chairman Payne and
/ bevy of other members of the Ways and
! Means Committee. upon whose sensitive
intellects there suddenly flashed a new
light" called upon Mr.. Root for aid in
again setting the party on proper terms
! with the trusts they were as much de-
! lighted as they were pleased by the Sec
retary of War pulling from a pigeonhoie
of his desk a carefully prepared bill COW
ering the subject. The story is that Mr..
/ Payne introduced the bill just as it had
been written by Mr.. Root. 1t is suggested
! that the next duty with regard to Porto
! Rico the Secretary will be called upon to
! perform Will be the displacement of Gov
! ernor General Davis with some Army off,
/ Ger who will be too wise to persist in call
! ing the attention Of the world to the pitt
/ full sufTerings of the helpless Porto Ricans
! under the cruel exactions of their new
masters. II is conceded that the tarin
/ bill will make OF the fair little island
/ veritable Prometheus, and II Will not do
! TO have in the chief place at san Juan
/ sympathetic official who is liable to cry
cut against the trust vultures that viii
| noI flock there and plunge their beaks
| into the quivering flesh of the defenceless
victims. An immediate and direct effect
CT the Tariff bill will be the depreciation
Of all land values on the island, and the
! trust baruns can now go in there and buy
for a song property that for ages has been
held at stiff values 1t is thought that II
/ Governor General Davis is wise and val
! ues his position he will soon discover some
beauties of the operation of the law to
| descant upon in the hope of allaying sus-
picion and saiving the national conscience.
Otherwise il is being freely predicted that
ample excuse will be found to remove hlIn-
The Jefferson Dinner.-IJ appears
that Secretary Mexican. Of the National AS
sociation of Democratic Clubs to whom
has been entrusted the arrangements FOR
the annual Jefferson dinner in this city on
ADTl 10, Is pItpdliHS " L1dht VI tAAt -
fair quite expensive and somewhat pluto
cratic function. 1t has become the FASH
ion of late to keep the cost of all Demo-
cratic dinners down to the becomingly
modest figure of one dollar Secretary Nc
kean, however, announced without a blush
of shame that the Jefferson dinner VIII
cost Sc a plate. Naturally some OF the
leaders OF the party are kicking. Ihey
think they discern lurking behind Mr.. Nc
Keans gigantic charge a finely laid
scheme to have at the dinner none hut the
afflUent of epicur5 an tastes. and therefore.
hostile to some OF the main purposes OF
the party The secretary is being bonn
barded with complaints. II is considered
to be not impossible that in the interest
of harmony he will have 20 reduce the cost
to at least s., At this cost il is believed
fully tao thousand guests would attend
the dinner and it is argued that six hou-
sand dollars ought to buy enough food for
even twice that number OF Democratic
statesmen. so that each ticket holder will
be privileged 10 invite to the dinner some
friend no is too poor to give up three
dollars days wages Of three laborers-
for a feed" 4 threat has been made TO
appeal to Colonel Bryan if Secretary Nc
Kean does not yield to the clamor for a
less expensive spread.
Hepburn's Bill Dead:-An incident in
the House that Immediately followed the
passage yesterday of the Porto Rican tariff
bill is being construed as meaning that the
Administration has at last become embol-
dened to openly oppose the Hepburn Nor
gan Nicaragua Canal bill. AS soon as
Speaker Henderson had announced the pas
sage OF the Tariff bill he recognized Mr..
Hepburn. who asked unanimous consent for
his Nicaragua Canal bill to be made the
speciaI order for March 49, Mr. Terry of
Arkansas asked this pertinent and Demo-
cratic question. Does the gentleman's bill
provide for American ownership and con-
troll of the canal?'' Very promptly and
with a show of pride Mr. Hepburn replied:
1t does" 4 cTackle of handclaps on the
Democratic side greeted the announcement
Then the stiffness of death fell over the
chamber while Mr.. Hepburn was still
standing with the bill in his outStretched
hands Suddenly the quiet was smashed
with a tremendous clatter and bang by the
stentorian voice of the Hon. Theodore e
Burton Of CIeveland-Mark Hanna 5 town
enuuiring: rs the gentleman aware that
there is now pending in the Senate & treaty
pertaining to the proposed Nicaragua Ca
nal?'' Il have no official information of
such a treaty replied Mr.. Hepburn. Then
| object" defantly yelled Mr.. Burton. This
settled it. Unanimous consent was refused.
The Hepburn Morgan bill will now be held
up by the House until the Republican re-
calcitrants are brought around to the sup
port of the Hanna Payne Ship Subsidy
scheme It is considered not at all proba-
BILE that they can be brought around at
this session because they want TO be re-
elected and they fear the wrath of their