Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1901-04-24
Washington Letter.
From our Regular Correspondents

a -IroSlQenG MCklnloy commence
General Wood is absolute. That fac
will be strongly impressed by him O
q the committee of the Cuban constitu
5 tional convention, which will reacl
Washington early next week, at thei
first interview, and if, as Havana re
ports say, their object in coming t.
Washington is to discredit Genera
Wood, rather than with any expecta
ton of getting changes in the condition
for the withdrawal of American
authority, they will be shown at once
that they would better have remained
at home To emphasize his attitude
President Mckinley will only receive
the Cubans in the presence of Genera
Wood, who by the. presidents specia
order will precede the committee tc
| Washington. President Mckinley
will also tell the Cubans plainly that
an act of congress could not be
changed by him, if he wished to do it
and that in this case he has no wish to
do so, as he regards the conditions as
fair and just to both Cuba and the
| United States, and does not consider
the subject one that admits of any dis
cussiOn
The prevalent opinion in Washing
ton is that the Cubans will make a
very short visit and that they will
| when they return advise the constitu-
| tiOnal convention to accept the Platt
amendment, and that the advice will
be taken. They are bound to learn,
if they do not already know, as soon
as they reach this country, that the
conditions offered by the Platt
amendment are considered entirely
fair by members of all the political
parties, and that if they are not ac-
cepted now there isn't the slightest
probability that they will be changed
at the next session Of congress.
Secretary Long has prepared and
made public statement showing the
percentage Of Americans among the
enlisted men in the navay, and it is
much greater than most persons had
supposed it to be- During the Spanish
war the total enlisted force of the navy
was % ,S2S, of whom ID 400 were ma
tive-born and 1922 foreign born the
percentage of native born Americans
being 65 Including those who have
been naturalized the total percentage
of Americans was so. 1t was not so
many years ago when it was the fash
ion in some quarters to make sneering
remarks about our warSbips being
manned by foreigners, and it was very
near the truth, too. Now, with an
American percentage of 80, which is
steadily increasing. such remarks can
not be made.
Secretary Wilson confidently pre-
diets that within a very short time
the United States will grow every
pound of rice it consumes. and in order
to hasten the time he is preparing to
send an expert to all the rice-growing
countries Of the world to gather
pointers for the use of the American
rice-grOWers.
England has long enjoyed the prestige
of owning the largest and finest of the
foreign embassies in Washington, but it
will have to take second place when the
French embassy. which is to be built
upon ground this week purchased by
the government of France, is finished
There are 80, 900 square feet in the
grounds of the English embassy,
while the lot just bought by France
contains 10000 1t is contemplated
to make the French embassy one
of the finest buildings in Washington.
The Postoffice department is re-
ceiving many affirmative replies to It's
circular sent to newspaper publishers
asking if it would not be a good thing
for legitimate publications to adopt a
rule shutting all publications out of
for subscribers.
Owing to the enormous expense OF
having to send all the large warships
in Philippine waters to Hongkong to be
locked and repaired. Secretary Long
has appointed board of naval officers
to prepare plans for an extensive
naval station to be established at
Olongapo, Subig bay, Luzon. Those
plans contemplate a dry dock large
enough to accommodate our largest
battleships and shops in which any
class of repairs may be made, and will,
it is expected, involve an expenditure
of about S. 100000. Although the
outlay for the plant will be large. the
economy in the end is so apparent
that congress will doubtless act
promptly in the matter:
Secretary Root has cabled General
| Macarthur, at the direction of Presi-
dent Mckinley, to probe the alleged
commissary frauds at Manila to the
bottom and to see that every man who
has been guilty of any wrong doing is
speedily and properly punished.
| Besides the records of the regu-
lar army officers who are accused
of being implicated in these frauds
there are other good reasons for
the belief of the War department
officials that the press reports of these
frauds have been much exaggerated
| General Weston, chief commissary