The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1901-08-01
WASHINGTON.
From Our Regular Correspondent.
Washington, Tuly 2

ulrty work 10 try to dlscredit him in
the eyes of the American people, when
he called Secretary Longs bluff and
demanded court of inquiry into his
conduct during the hunt in Cuban
waters for the Spanish fleet. Admiral
Schley would have made this de-
mand long ago had his friends, who
knew of the intention on the part
of the clique which has controll-
ed the Navy Department since the be-
ginning of the Mckinley administra-
ton to pack the court against him if
he asked for it, not advised him TO
walt tor more propltious time. That
time arrived when the clerk in the
Brooklyn Navy Yard wrote under
orders from the clique language con.
cerning Schley that would have dis
graced the lowest gutter-snipe publ
cation in the country, and shameless
ly labeled it "history" and sought to
have it made text book at the Naval
Academy. The clique overshot the
mark. Instead of injuring Schley, the
publication aroused the courtry's sense
OF fairpay, and today the demand for
an inquiry that shall be conducted by
men OF honor, not puppets OF clique,
is ringing from the Atlantic to the
Pacific. 1t is now up to Secretary
Long He can easily name court
of inquiry that will command the res
pect of the country and that will not
base It's inquiries on the charge thar
Schley is a democrat, but on an effort
to get at the truth, the whole truth, of
what was done in the West Indian
naval campaign, regardless of who is
hurt or helped. That much the
country demands, and it will take no
less. Secretary Long has promised
that such a court shall be named, and
II President Mckinley is as wise
politician as he is credited with be-
ing he will see that the promise is
kept. No political question is in
volved in this inquiry, but any failure
to give Schley the justice which every
brave officer under accusation is en-
titled to at the hands of the powers
that be will make it a political ques-
tion of the most dangerous sort.
Most persons have heard the story
of the lawyer who told his client that
it was impossible to lmprison him on
the charge against him, through the
bars of the Jail cell in which he was
locked up. Although there is abund-
ant knowledge, from those on the
ground, that the land grabbers are
specializing by wholesale ir the certl-
ficates or numbers of those who have
been registered as applicants for
homesteads in the Oklahoma Indiana
reservations about to be opened to
settlement, Secretary Hitchcock still
insists that speculation in these GER
tficates is impossible.
-
President Mckinley never neglects
an opportunity to turn financial trick,
at public expense, for a friend. BY
postponing the acceptance of the le-
signatlon Of Gov Allen, of Porto Rico,
and the appointment of Secretary
Hunt as his successor, which has been
definitely determined upon, until
September, he enables his friend Allen
to enjoy an extended vacation and
continue to draw big salary. Two
Presidential proclamations were issued
this week-one announcing that Porto
Rico had civil government, which
might have been made many months
ago, but was held back IN order to
prevent the Porto Rican legislature
having the disposal OF the revenue
collected under the Foraker act, and
the other proclamlng free trade with
Porto Rico.
New York business men are again
after WILDER F. Wakeman, the Ap-
praiser of merchandise at that port.
They object to Wakeman's using his
official patronage to provide for mex
perienced hangers on of the American
Protective Tariff League, of which he
is president, and which he successfully
utilized to pull himself out OF his last
difficulty with the big merchants who
have business with his office. A dele
CATION from the New York Board of
Trade and Transportation this week
called on Secretary Gage and filed
charges against Wakeman for having
lessened the efficiency of his Office by
$Ioo REWARD, $Ioo.