The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1901-02-21
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
WASHINGTON. D. G.. Feb. Is. 1901.

NuOduS COuplei anu forward their
Constitution to Washington within
the next few weeks, as they are ex-
pected to do, he will call an extra
session of the Fifty Seventh Congress
to deal with the matter, as he most
positively declined to accept the re-
sponsibility of deciding it himself.
This is regardless of whether the
present session fails to dispose of
all the important pending legislation
Only two weeks of the present Con-
gress remains and there is lot of
work to be done to dispose of the regu-
lar appropriation bills, not to men
ton the oleomargarine bill which is
now before the Senate; the Ship Sub
sidy bill, which the opposition has
openly served notice shall not be vot-
ed upon; the Revenue Reduction bill,
now deadlocked in Conference, owing
to the refusal of the House conferees
to accept the Senate amendments.
and other measures of more or less
Importance. The work of the pres
ent week will go far towards showing
whether an extra session will be made
necessary, aside from the Cuban ques-
ton.
Following precedent it has been de
cided that President Mckinley will,
as he succeeds himself and there will
be no outgoing President to ride with
him, be accompanied by members of
the Joint Congressional Committee,
in the Inaugural parade. Members
of that committee will also ride with
Vice President Roosevelt. While
many unique features have been an
nounced by the Committee in charge,
it is doubtful whether any single fea-
ture will attract more attention than
the battalion OF Porto Rican troops
which will march in the parade.
Senator Elkins is trying hard to get
the Committee on Commerce to agree
to the Morgan amendment to the
River and Harbor bill, providing for
the requirement from Costa Rica and
Nicaragua of right of way for the
Nicaragua Canal. The Committee
has adopted amendments providing
for the storage reservoirs in some of
the arid sections. The bill will be re-
ported to the Senate early this week.
Senator Perkins has offered an
amendment to the Sundry Civil Ap-
preparation bill, providing for the
laying of cable to Hawaii. and ap-
propriatiug 100000 therefor.
In ordering that a vailing
duty equal in amount to the export
bounties paid by those countries. be
collected on all sugars imported from
Russia and Belgium, Secretary Gage
was merely carrying out the law as
interpreted by his legal advisers. 1t
is understood that an appeal to the
Courts will be taken in the case of
Russian sugar, on the ground that
Russia does not pay an export boun-
ty. Meanwhile Russia has got back
at us by raising the tariff on all steel
and iron products 80 per cent.
There is rather persistent and APP
parently well-founded rumor around
the Capitol that, owing to the large
total of appropriations by the Fifty
Sixth Congress, no bills providing
for public buildings will be allowed
to go through at this session. This
will naturally cause much dissap-
pointment especially among those in
terested in public buildings that have
been favorably reported.
Surgeon General Sternberg said of
the statements made by Senators
Teller and Pettigrew, that there were
ten thousand more men in the Phil
ippine hospitals than could be proper
ly taken care Of: The report is pre-
posterQus. The number of sick has
ranged from seven to eight per cent.
Ample hospital accommodations and
plenty of medical officers have been
provided for the troops in the Philip
pines
How our Navy stands in Europe
may be judged from the following re-
marks of Captain Hovegaard, of the
Royal Danish Navy, who has just ar
rived in Washington: MY govern
ment has sent me here to study Amer
lean Ship-building and especially
ship-engineering. The American
Navy is recognized on the European
Continent, as the best without excep-
ton, the most modern, and so far as
the engineering is concerned, it is
looked upon as a marvel of per-
lection. While in this country [
will try to make arrangements to
have our cadets take courses in en-
gineering and technology here
On the recommendation of Land
Commissioner Hermann, Secretary
Hitchcock has made a favorable re-
port on Senator Hansbrough's bill
providing that all moneys received
from the sale of public lands in the
arid and semi-arid regions shall be set
aside as an arid land reclamation fund
for the construction of reservoirs and
other bVdraulic woplyS for ba OF aoro