Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1901-05-29
Washington Letter.
)M our Regular Correspondent

ton of President Mckinley, Secretary
Root will send Adjutant General Cor
bin to the Philippines to confer with
General Chaffee, who will succeed
General Macarthur. in the command of
the American army in the islands, as to
future military needs. He will leave
San Francisco June 25, On the trans
port Hancock, and expects to reach
Manila by August /, by which time
the civil government Of the islands
will be fully established and in con-
troll. General Corbin' s instructions
are to impress upon General Chafee
the desire of the president that the
administration of military affairs
shall be placed upon as economical =
basis as conditions will permit and
that while the administration wishes
to make every essential provision for
the care and comfort of the troops
and to give him whatever force may
be necessary for the preservation Of
law and order, it does not wish to add
one cent to the absolutely necessary
expenses of the insular government.
General Corbin will be clothed with
| the necessary authority to determine
many matters connected with the
fitting up of permanent barracks, hos
pitfalls, ,etc., without referring them back
to Washington. He is expected to
gather the information upon which
the military estimates for the Philip
pines to be submitted to congress by
the secretary of war will be based,
and also to give President Mckinley
pointers about existing conditions that
will be Of value to him in writing
that portion of his annual message to
congress that will be devoted to the
Philippines.
The government has been such @
large loser through the fraudulent
practice of.washing and using cancelled
internal revenue stamps that internal
| Revenue Commissioner Yerkes has
issued an order, under authority con-
ferred upon him by an act of the last
congress, directing that after the first
of next July all stamps upon fermented
liquors shall be cancelled by perfora-
ton, and that the cancellation shall
1nCluQo the OdGo.
Governor Aliens first annual report
or the island Of Porto Rico has been
received at the department of state,
and will be handed to the president
as soon as ne returns to Washington.
Governor Allen says in his report
that he thinks it would be better to
govern the island under colonial meth
DDS, such as generally prevail in the
West Indies, than to provide it with
territorial form Of government He
explains why the island of Porto Rico
has been at standstill for centuries
by saying that in a place where -
| man can lie in hammock, pick .
banana with one hand, and dig sweet
potato with one foot, the incentive to
idleness is easy to yield to and brings
| Its Inevitable consequences.
Secretary Root this week approved
the recommendation of the board OF
officers which investigated the recent
characterization Of upper class men at
! West Point, that five cadets DO dis
missed and six be suspended for one
| year, and announced that it would be
useless for congressman or others to
seek mitigation of the sentences in
| these cases.
There is much pleasure expressed
in Washington over tho news of. Mrs.
as well as regret that her Illness
should have made it necessary for the
president to abandon a portion of his
trip. Although it has been tele-
crap .! from San Francisco that the
President and Mrs. Mckinley would
go from there to Canton, employees OF
the White house have received tole-
grams from Secretary Cortelyou say
ing that President and Mrs. Mckinley
would come direct to Washington.
The White house has been under
going it's annual painting and clean
up, and will be in tip-top condition
when the president returns, but to
get it 50 has needed some extra bust
ling, Arrangements had been made
to do the work with the expectation
that the presidential party would not
return until June Is.
| Naturally there were numerous
smiles in official circles over the pub
LEGATION of a Pekin dispatch saying
that all the powers had agreed to
withdraw all their troops from China
except guard for the several lega-
tons in Pekin. This adds one more
to the number of instances since the
beginning Of the trouble in China in
which Uncle Sam has set the pace for
the other powers, 1t was weeks ago
that this government notified the
other powers OF its intention to with
draw all American troops from China
except a small legation guard, and
several days before the powers decided
TO follow our good example General
Chaffee and the American troops left
China for the Philippines. The rea-
son why this governments ideas have
been SO often followed in China is OBJ
vious. We are not under suspicion.
The other powers know that the only
design we have upon China is to sell
its people goods, and that consequent