The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1901-03-01
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
WASHINGTON. D. c., February 2jth

and enough republicans to make major
i,y were determined to head off that
scheme the leaders at once ordered that a
compromise be patched up in conference
between the House and Senate bills.
That compromise will not, Of course, in
any sense be a democratic measure, but it
will make some reduction in the war taxes
that would not have been made if the
democrats had been less aggressive.
Senator Morgan, in the minority report
of the Committee on Foreign Relations on
the resolution declaring that the ratitica-
a condition precedent to the construction
of the Nicaragua Canal, and that the
United States should proceed with that
work regardless of the Clayton Bulwer
agreement, which was adversely reported
by party vote, makes the positive charge
that Mr.. Mckinley caused the resolution
to be adversely reported. Concerning the
influence of Mr.. Mckinley with the re-
publican members of the committee and
his right to say what is expedient for
them to do, Senator Morgan said: This
claim was made in the committee, and his
(Mr Mckinley's) views as to the ex-
pedency of action were stated as grounds
of objection to the resolutions. From
this view of the duty of the Senate l
wholly dissent" Many republican Sena-
tors who have claimed to be for the Mica
ragua Canal are now under suspicion.
The claim that action on any legislation
relating to the Nicaragua Canal while the
Hay Pauncefote treaty is pending, would
be discourteous to England is very
plausible bluff, but still bluff. 1t has
been successfully used to prevent action
at this session of Congress. The Panama
Canal lobby is trying to do the rest. Its
latest and most important recruit is
member of the Cabinet of Columbia, who
is now in Washington, seeking to trans
fer Columbias interest in the Panama
Canal to the U. S. government. 1t is not
surprising that ugly stories should be in
circulation about this canal business. Sena-
tor Morgan stirred up the republicans by
openly charging them with having intend
ed from the first to kill the Nicaragua
Canal bill, saying of them and their tao
tics: "These men are willing to be kick
ed and cuffed about by King Edward VII,
and are kneeling to his every whim.
They do not believe the U. S. has any
| rights unless Great Britain says so. l
know that the Canal bill was used to in
f1uence the election of Mr. Mckinley, the
republicans knowing all the time that
their instructions were to defeat it in the
Senate
All the extravaganza of the republican
| Congress is not connected with big ap-
preparations, although they make the
most fuss and are naturally heard the
most of. During the debate on the
General Deficiency Bill, it was shown
that sinecures were thick as peas in a
pod. 1t was shown that committee clerks,
the moment they do any real work, use
their pull with Members to get extra pay
therefore, and that they have been sue
ceeeding in getting much money in the
shape of gratuities simply because no.
body made it his business to oppose
these petty raids on the public fund. The
clerk of one committee claimed, and will
get $1,000 extra for reading proof of
testimony taken by his committee; clerks
of the Pension Bureau, detailed to help
the Pension committees, of Congress, are
presented with $500 each in addition to
their regular salaries, and clerks who
have compiled few pages from the Con-
gressional record, in regular office hours
are given from $500 to $4,000 each for
extra work. A little dialogue between
Representative Cannon, Chairman of the
House Committee on Appropriations,
who reported the bill, and Representa-
tive Loud, of Cal, shows how carelessly
the items are scrutinized before they
are presented to the House. Mr.. Loud ::
"Who is William L. Stiles, who is to re-
ceive an appropriation as messenger
for the Committee on Accounts Mr..
Cannon: "Well, if God doesn't know
him any better than do, he is lost 1t
has recently become known that Il man
has for long time been drawing salary
as clerk of one of the important COM
mittees of the Senate Foreign Relations
who did not even come to Washington
during the session of Congress, to make
bluff of doing the work which was per-
formed by two assistants.
Another method of extravaganza, which
has f1ourished under this administration
is connected with the enormous eXpen-
ses piled up by some of the departmental
bureaus. For instance, when Congress
provided for Bureau of Animal Industry
of the Department of Agriculture, it
provided for one Chief, at $4,000 year,
one clerk at $500, and twenty inspectors
at $1,000 day. The expenses of that
bureau during the last fiscal year, as
shown by the official figures, have grown
to nearly million dollars, as follows:
Salaries $3.50, 329.6l, travelling expenses
$22 ,647.s5, Miscellaneous $101 ,634,4S.
Senator Tillman may have opened the
way lOI many NCtti ais VI Tue
Mexican war to get on the Pension rolls
when he succeeded in getting bill pen
sioning Jim Thomas, a Mexican veteran,
which had passed the Senate, through the
House by swearing that not another pri-
vate pension bill should go through the
Senate until it was passed. 1t is claimed
that its passage is practically repeal of
the law, barring those Mexican veterans
who sympathized with the Confederate
cause from the Pension rolls.
500 Reward $40.