The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1901-07-05
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
WASHINGTON, ID. c., j

MR.. EDIToR:-"Oid- man afraid of the
pension question is the new name that
has been given Mr. Mckinley, because of
his hesitation to declare himself for or
against the administration of the pension
bureau by Commissioner Evans. The
question has been forced to the front by
the demand of the opponents of Commits
sioner Evans that the ante election prom
Use made them, that new Commissioner
of Pensions would be appointed, shall be
lived up to, and there seems no way for
Mr. Mckinley to dodge the issue, much
as he would like to do so. Evans, who
has been quiet during previous attacks
upon him, is now fighting back, and en-
phasizing his claim that the animosity
against him has all been stirred up by
those who are DESTROYS of Il construction
of the pension laws, which will add mil
lions to the annual pension payment of
the country, and incidentally give fortunes
in fees to ring Of pension attorneys. 1t
is no secret in Washington that Mr. Nc
Kinley personally believes that he should
stand by Evans, but he is being urged to
the contrary course by some of the men
who have before now coerced him into
doing things against his best judgment,
and the result is an aggravated attack OF
his old trouble-wabbling. Gen. Dan
Sicklcs, who is leading the fight against
Evans, has made public letter from SEN
ator Scott, of West Virginia, in the name
of the Republican National Committee,
telling him that he could assure the G. A.
R. men that Evans would not be kept at
the head of the Pension Bureau, and added
that Mr. Mckinley not only told the same
thing, but confidentially gave him the
name of the man who had been selected
to succeed Evans. Gen. Sickles added
Significantly: eff Evans is not removed
there will be music Will Mr.. Mckinley
face that music or will he fire Evans?
That is the question of the hour in Wash
ington.
Senator Quay has known for a long
time that Mr. Mckinley was neither an
cI VI ululSCll uol VI IAC pCSulloi
methods of his followers in Pennsylvania
politics, but that knowledge did not pre-
vent his requesting Mr.. Mckinley to pre-
vent Postmaster General Smith from TAX
ing an active part in the reform campaign
against the Quayites in Philadelphia-a
campaign that A. X. Mcclure, the veteran
editor, declares to be simply fight of
honesty against wholesale thievery. In
asmuch as Mr. Smith became Postmaster
General against the protest of Quay, and
has never ceased in the columns of his
paper-the Philadelphia "Press'-to op-
pose Quay and Quayism, it is not probable
that Mr.. Mckinley will attempt to inter-
fere, and if Quay gets other republicans
of prominence to join him in protesting
against Mr.. Smiths participation in the
Philadelphia campaign, Mr.. Mckinley can
fall back on Mr.. Smith own declaration:
Il do not participate in this movement as
a member of the Cabinet, but simply as a
citizen of Philadelphia. There is no poll
tics in this movement. 1t is simply mat
ter of public and personal safety
Secretary Root has an opportunity to
test the capacity of the Cubans for self
government in advance of the establish
ment of Cuban government. But as the
suggestion comes from Gen. Miles, whose
suggestions have been regularly turned
down by the administration, the opportu-
nifty is not likely to be accepted Gen
Miles thinks this may be done by imme-
diately Withdrawing our troops from the
island, and that the work, largely police
duty, now performed by the troops, be
turned over to the Cubans, and has Off
cially recommended that one half of the
United States troops now in Cuba-about
5000 in all be at once ordered home.
1t has been limited around Washington
for some time that eX Secretary and ex-
Representative Herbert, of Alabama, who
has been at the head of a Washington law
firm, which makes a specially of claims
against the government, since he retired
from the Cleveland Cabinet, has been per-
suaded to undertake the job of trying to
McLaurinize Alabama. His speech before
the Alabama State Bar Association was
his first public step in that direction. 1t
did not excite as much interest among
democrats around Washington as might
have been expected. Judge Springer, who
was in the House with Mr.. Herbert and
knows him well, came very near to voicing
the general democratic sentiment when
he said: "Ex-Secretary Herbert's speech
before the Alabama Bar Association
should cause no uneasiness nor create any
surprise among democrats. Herbert has
been outside the pale of democracy since
1896 He supported Mckinley in the last
two campaigns, and like others calling
themselves democrats, he has been only
waiting an opportunity to go over to the
republican party
Representative Burleson, of Texas,
said: This talk of republicans of tariff
reform and anti trust legislation is all for
effect, in my opinion. When you speak
of the trusts, you instinctively think of
the republican party. They are synony-
nous terms. The trusts own the republi-
can party, and that being true it is absurd
to say that the republicans will enact leg
islation that will prove inimicable to the
trusts. | don't mean to be understood as
saying that the republicans will not dis
cuss the tariff at the next session of Con-
gress, for believe they will make a pre-
tense in that direction, but it will only be
a pretense. The republicans will have all
they want to attend to in legislating for
the Philippines and Porto Rico
Reduced Rates to
Pan-Am rican ENnoSitinn