Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1901-07-05
WASHINGTON LETTER.
(From our Regular Correspondent. !

Washington, July 1.-''Old- man.
afraid -of-the-pension-q question, is tie
new name that has been given Mr.. Me-
Kinley because of his hesitation to de-
clare himself for or against the ad-
of the pension bureau by
Commissioner Evans. The question
has been forced to the front by the de-
mand of the opponents of Commission
Ell Evans that the ante election prom
Use made them that new Commission
er 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 pre-
vious attacks upon him, is now fight i
ing back, and emphasizing his claim i
that the animosity against him has all !
been stirred up by those who are desir-
GUS of a construction of the pension |
laws. which will add millions to the an
nual pension payment of the country,
and incidentally give fortunes in fees
to ring of pension attorneys. 1t Is
no secret III Washington that Mr. Ne
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 coerc-
ed him into doing things against his
best judgment, and the result is an ag-
gravagated attack of his old trouble
wabbling. Gen. Dan Sickles, who is
leading the fight against Evans. has
made public letter from Senator
Scott, of West Virginia, in the name
of the Republican National Committee
telling him that he could assure the
G.. A. r. men than Evans would not be
kept at the head of the Pension Bureau,
and added that Mr.. Mckinley not only
told him the same thing, but confiden-
italy gave him the name OF the man
who had been selected to succeed
Evans. Gen. Sickles added significant
ly: "If Evans is not removed there will
be music" Win Mr.. Mckinley face
that music or will he fire Evans ?
That is the question of the hour in
Washington.
Senator Quay has known for long
time that Mr.. Mckinley was neither an
admirer of himself nor of the peculiar
methods of his followers in Pennsyl-
van1a politics, but that knowledge did
not prevent his requesting Mr.. Nc
Kinley to prevent Postmaster General
Smith from taking an active part in
the reform campaign against the Quay
ties in Philadelphia-a campaign that
A. K. Mcclure, the veteran editor, de-
clares to be simply fight OF honesty
against wholesale thievery. Inasmuch
as Mr.. Smith became Postmaster Gen.
eral against the protest of Quay, and
has never ceased In the columns of his
paper-the Philadelphia Presto op-
pose Quay and Quayism, it is not
probable that Mr.. Mckinley will at
tempt to interfere, and if Quay gets
other republicans Of prominence to
join him in protesting against Mr..
Smith 8 participation in the Phlladel-
phia campaign. Mr.. McKinly can fall
back on Mr.. Smiths own declaration
IL do not participate in this move
ment as member of the Cabinet, but
simply as a citizen of Philadelphia.
There is no politics in this movement.
1t is simply matter of public and per-
sonal safety"
Secretary Root has an opportunity
to test the capacity of the Cubans for
self government, In advance of the es-
Establishment of a Cuban government.
But as the suggestion comes from Gen.
Miles, whose suggestions have been
Regularly turned down by the admins
tration, the opportunity is not likely
to be accepted. Gen. Miles thinks this
may be done by Immediately with.
drawing our troops from the island, and
that the work, largely police duty, now
performed by the troops, be turned
lover to the Cubans, and has officially
RECOMMENDED that one half of the U. S.
troops now in Cuba-about 5000 in al
l-be at once ordered home.
It had been limited around Washing
ton for some time that Ex-Secretary
and Elk Representative Herbert, OF
Alabama, who had been at the cad Of
a Washington law firm which makes 8
Especially of claims against the gov.
eminent, since he retired from the
Cleveland Cabinet, had been persuad
ed to undertake the job of trying to
McLauriniZe Alabama. His speech
before the Alabama State Bar Asso
citation was bis first public step in that
direction. 1t did not excite as much
interest among democrats around
Washington as might have been ex
pected. 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 (
Ispeech before the Alabama Bar Asso-
citation should cause no uneasiness mol
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