The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1901-04-12
Washington Letter.
From our regular Correspondent.

freSluent Mckinney Is Ueilgnteu with ,
the recent news from the Philippines,
including the gallant and daring cap
ture of Aguinaldo by Gen. Fred Fun
stOn and the continued surrender of
| Filipino officers and men as well as the
rapid progress of the establishing of
civil government in the various prov
inces by the Taft commission. 1t looks
as though peace and prosperity were
ahead of the Philippines, and that both
would come much sooner than the
most sanguine would have predicted
few weeks ago. President Mckinley
promptly assured Senator Burton and
Representatives Curtis and Long, of
Kansas that Gen. Funston's good work
should be rewarded, and as promptly
made him a Brigadier General in the
regular army, although that action on
the part of the President did not meet
the approval of some of the army fossils
who say that Gen. Funston is to young
to be a Brigadier General in the regular
army-he is only 35. The. answer to
that argument is that Funston earned
his commission as Brigadier General of
Volunteers by hisbravery and gallantry
and that now he has earned a similar
commission as a regular; what a man is
J old enough to earn, he is old enough to
have. Toproperly reward him was to
encourage future Funstons to perform
lfraI Itnra II IL,
them arises.
Much clap-trap has been sent from
Washington about the President and
Cabinet worrying over what shall be
done with Aguinaldo. Nothing could
be further from the truth. There has
been no worry and no occasion for any.
Aguinaldo is a prisoner of war and as
lsuch is likely to receive the same kind
of treatment given others from time to
time captured. Whether he will be
allowed to recover his liberty by taking
the oath of allegiance to the U. S. or
will be kept in confinement in the
Philippines or elsewhere, will depend
largely upon future recommendations,
made by our military authorities, and
those recommendation will doubtless
be influenced by the attitude of Agui-
naldo himself toward American rule OH
the islands. There is nothing in the
lsituation to cause any worry in Wash
ington, or elsewhere.
i 1t is very confidently expected by
the President and Secretary Root that
the improved conditions in the Philip
pines will make it unnecessary to re-
cruit the army to the full strength
Iauthorized by Congress. No orders
will be issued to stop the recruiting
until Gen. Macarthur and the Taft
commission have been fully heard from
but both the President and the Secre-
tary of War are fully determined that
no more men shall be recruited then
are considered absolutely necessary to
meet the conditions, and both will be
extremely gratified if the total army
can be kept far below the maximum
fixed by Congress. Neither wishes for
! a large army unless it is necessary.
| Judge Boyd, OF, n. G, former Assis-
tant Attorney General, was in Wash
Iington, when the news of the collapse
of the attempt to impeach the judges
of the Supreme Court of his state was
received. Speaking of the matter,
Judge Boyd said: "There could have
been no other honest verdict. There
was never any ground of impeachment
in the first place. but the places of the
Judges were wanted, and it was thought
that they could be ousted by impeach-
ment proceedings. What tseemsstrange
to me is that the trial did not attract
more attention. If there had been an
Impeachment Of judges of any other
Estate in the Union, there would have
been columns of the story printed with
lpictures of the judges, of the Senators
who formed the court, and of the prin-
|eipal lawyers in the case. There were
many interesting and even dramatic
features in the trial"
The entire exhibit of the Post Office
Department, which will be the largest
land most complete ever shown any
where, for the Pan-American Expo
sition, has been shipped to Buffalo.
Mr.. C.. b. Orcutt, of Elizabeth, N. j.,
President of the Newport News Va.
EShip Building Company, who is in
Washington for the purpose of signing
a contract with the Navy Department
for constructing the Charleston, which
is to replace the cruiser of that name
B wrecked in the Philippines, speaking
|of the great prosperity of the ship
building industry, said: 1.-THE total
ships under construction in our yards
will represent a tof nearly S28,
1000, when completed. About one third
lof this is merchant work, and the other
two thirds are for the government.
The Korea, building for the Pacific
Mail Co., which was recently launched
J is the largest merchant vessel ever con-
/ istructed in this country. Her sister
, Iship, the Siberia, should be ready for
launching in about two months. The
Iships we now have under construction
Iare the battleships Illinois and Missouri
| lone sheathed battleship, two armored
! lcruisers, one protected cruiser and the
, monitor Arkansas In addition to the
1.-TWO Pacific mail steamers for the Nor
gan line. We are now employing 800
2 linen, and before many days we shall
have 600 on the roll E