The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-08-16
POLITICAL NOTES AND GOSSIP.
HuntIngton.s sub.crlption.-rt is


Huntington nisaps the loss to the Repub-
licsn campaign fund of several hupdred
thousand ollars-itmaybe as much as mil
lion. 1t will be recalled that just before
the great railway nlagnate left New YORK
City for his Summer home in the Adron-
dacks he called at Republican national
headquarters andiwas closeted Eearly two
hours with Mr.. HaEna-an unusually long
! time for two such busy msn to devote TO
| purely social converse. In point of fact,
| il is known that Mr.. Huntington. visited
| Mr.. Hanna for the purpose OF deciding upon
| the part the railroad man was to take in
the campaign. Mr.. Huntington was direct
! ly obligated to Mr.. Hanna and the Re
| publican organization, well as the Adj
| mnistration. for effectually blocking 18TH
| mian canal legislation at the last session
| of Congress. When 1t became evident that
| the Hay Pauncefcte Treaty would not hold
| in check this great national enterprise. as
! ii mainly was designed to do, Mr.. Hanna
| boldly threw himself in the breach as a
member OF the Senate Committee or In
| ter-Ocesnic Canals and sidetracked the
| Morgan Hepburn bill. At the Philadelphia
| Convention the Republican party pledged
| itself indefinitely to the development of
the enterprise by substituting in the plat
| form the vague word ''isthmian" for the
| unambiguous word Nicaragua in the
| canal plank. Upon the authority of Re-
! publicans of national fame it was charged
! that the substitution was made by a MEM
| Der OF the Platform Committee for a cash
| consideration of 50 600. However this may
| be. the fact remains that Coils p. Hunt
! ington. the most PERSISTENT. determined,
| and resourceful opponent of inter-oceanic
canal legislation in the country, was de-
/ pending upon the Administration to stave
"a 80
| power. ard with this end in view he had
pledged himself to contribute s250.o00 to
| the Mckinley campaign fund He also
! promised Mr.. Hanna at the interview re-
| ferred to that he would raise among his
| friends-meaning those interested with
him in the property and securities OF the
trans-contnental railroads-si50, 600. max
ing a grand total from that source OF one
million. 1t is stated that Mr.. Huntington
had not sent Mr.. Hanna his check for his
personal subscription before he died. nor
had he started the movement to raise the
promised $3.50, 900. 1t is conSidered ex-
tremely doubtful that his heirs or execu-
tors will feel obligated to carry out the
dead millloIaire's promise, unless, by some
| strange accident. he left specific request
for them to DO so. 1t is, Of course, pos
sible that the other trans continental rail-
road magnates will come up handsomely
when called on by Mr.. Hanna. but it is not
| likely that without the master mind OF
| Huntington to direct them that they Will
give as much as he had pledged them TO
give. Altogether, therefore, the death OF
Mr. Huntington means great deal TO Mr..
Mckinley, ard 1t may contribute quite as
much as any other cause to mis- defeat.
The District Contcst.-The District of
Columbia contest over representation in
the Democratic National Committee seems
in fair way of speedy temporary set
Element, which eventually will lead to
AN entirely just and fair arbitrament OF
the unseemly difficulty The Hon. Charles
w. Slater returned from Chicago yester-
day, and while, with statesman-hke reti-
cence, he refuses to talk about the affair
at present, evidences show that he was
recognized by Chairman Jones and other
members of the National Committee as
the ad interim representative of the IN
terrified District Democracy in the party's
national organization. 1t appears from
accounts in the indianapolis and Chicago
newspapers that the Hon. James l. Nor
ris enacted the role of Taurus in the China
shop at the indianapolis meeting of the
committee, and as a natural result that
statesman today is not so exultant in the
strength Of his claims as he was at the
Kansas City Convention. Ii Is thought
that not until after the November cleo
tion will the dispute over the District
committeemanshlp be finally decided Then
probably a special election for committee
man will be authorized by the National
Committee with such restrictions as will
guarantee honesty and fairness in the
contest. Meantime, II a strange creaky
noise is heard in the atmosphere OF the
National Capital the people must not be
alarmed-it viii be made by the Hon
James L. Norris gnawing a file, and there
is nc danger in that except to the teeth
of the gnawer.
MIR. Reed 'Just Laughed" - The
silence of the Maine woods was rudely
broken Monday. and from the surging At
lantic to the turgid St. Lawrence a
strange. unnatural noise rumbled through
the air. The Hen. Thomas Bracket
Reed had uttered a loud. scornful guffaw
when an eager reporter. finding him seat
ed upon the front porch of his summer
home. had asked him II he were going to
make speeches in the Maine State cam
paign. After his cachinatory energies
were exhausted the ex-Czar told his
startled inquisitor that he was not going
TO speak in Maine this year, because"
explained the big man, they don't need
me-" When Nr. Reed was en- route to
the Maine woods he was encountered by
droyes of journalists at Boston. who ex-
tracted from him the information that he
was not going to take part in the State
or the national campaigns this year be-
cause he was too busy a man.. This
was after the Hon. Joe Maniey had
made the positive assertion that Reed had
promised him 10 speak. But. then. before
civilization had begun to do business with
Shanghai the Hon. Joe Marley was the
champion in the peculiar line OF romancing
with which Sheng and other Chinese
statesmen are now entertaining the world
so that not much attention was paid to
what Manley said about Reed However
If any doubt has existed as to what Mr.
Reed intends to do in this campaign it
has been dispelled by the diapason of his
guffaw in the Maine woods Monday. He
not only is too busy a man to make
speeches this year. but also they do not
need him. What reply Mr.. Reed has
vent to the Hon. Mark Hanna and other
members OF the Republican National
Committee who have extended him formal
Invitations to participate in the campaign
is not known though that it would make
interesting reading about this time Is not
doubted At the came time. Mr. Reed
has just stuck out his shingle in New
York. and IT may be that before the cam
paign gets much warmer he will discover
that it will be easier for him to get a,
lucrative law practice in the metropolis
by making few speeches to help out Mr..
Mckinley and the trusts than by remain
ing in his office and porting over books.
Foraker in Washington.-The Hon.
Joseph Benson Foraker. accompanied by
his son, Captain Foraker arrived in WASH