The Elk Mountain pilot., 1902-07-15
LATE WASHINGTON NEWS AND
CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS

Secretary Moody, after consultation
with his bureau chiefs. has given or
ders that one of the battleshlps au-
thoriZed at the last session of Con
gress be constructed at the New York
navy yard The secretary was under
strong pressure in this matter. Be
sides New York. Norfolk and Boston
We're competitors for the work. The
secretary was finally Influenced in his
decision by these facts: That no less
than two years time would be re-
quired to bring the plant at Boston
up to point where it could undertake
the work of building battleship; also
that the $4,000 authorized by Con
gress to be expended in making ready
for the construction of the ship would
be insufficient at Boston.
The negotiations for the treaty be
tween the United States and Colombia.
by which we will acquire the right to
build the Panama canal. will begin in
about one week, Minister Concha of
Colombia having conferred with Sec
retary Hay on the preliminaries of the
negotiations. The amount to be paid
Colombia for n REIMBURSEMENT of ex-
elusive rights to the United States will
be S7,0OO,000 in gold, payable on the
exchange of ratifications of the treaty,
and in addition Colombia is to receive
an annuity at the end of fourteen
years, to be determined by mutual
agreement at that time. This annuity
is expected TO be 100000 year, as
the immediate payment of S1OOO,OoO,
covering the period of the next fourteen
years, is considered basis for fixing
the annual rental at 100000.
The cattlemen have made final and
wholly unsuccessful effort To secure
some modification of the official order
for the removal of the fences from the
public ranges of the country. A dele
CATION of western senators and con-
gressmen appealed to the President
few days ago to grant n further eXten-
sion of time for the removal of the
drift fences on the ranges. The Presi-
dent frankly and firmly declined to
further hold back the enforcement of
the order. The men then appealed to
Mr.. Hitchcock. secretary of the In
terror. but We're equally unsuccessful.
Special agents of the land department
will give attention to this matter dur
ing the summer months. Reports OF
violations of the law and the refusal
of the cattlemen to remove the fences
will be made to the Department OF
Justice and the violators prosecuted.
The State Department has decided to
press forward toward completion the
Colombian treaty looking to the .acqui-
sition of the right of way for the 18TH
mian canal. This is a slight change in the
original program. which contemplated
the complete adjustment of the qucs-
ton of title before concluding the
treaty. Secretary Hay, who already
has accepted the best portion of the
work to be done in treaty making and
has it before him in the shape of pro-
tocol promised to the last session Of
Congress, has taken steps to give this
the form of a treaty and to have 1t
signed formally by accredited represen-
tatives of the government of Colombia
and of the United States. so that the
convention may be laid before the Sen
ate as soon as it convenes in December
By adopting this course the State De-
partment will remove, it is expected,
any chance of having the agreement
already reached with Colombia ,.is-
turbed by anything that may occur as
n result of political changes, for 1t is
the purpose to hold that such agree
ments, once duly entered upon, are not
subject to reputation even in the event
tocol referred to was so definitely
drawn that not many changes are re
quired in order to adopt the instrument
for use as treaty. No difficulty is ex-
pected to result in securing an abate-
ment of the old provision in the canal
franchise requiring the use of French
material only in the construction of
the canal and the State Department
already has received an assurance
from the French government which Ii
regards as meeting the objection that
has been made on that score.
Beyond a general idea of the char
acter of the army and naval maneuvers
which will take place on the Atlantic
coast this summer, nothing bearing of
fetal authorization is obtainable in
either the Navy or War Departments
But from II high official n sketch of the
exercises has been obtained. There are
to be two distinct sets of maneuvers.
The first will be purely naval and will
consume probably the first three weeks
of August. Two or perhaps three of
the vessels belonging to the North At
lantic station will represent an enemy's
fleet. and will attempt to elude a de-
fensive squadron commanded by Rear
Admiral Higginson, and accomplish II
landing at some point on the New Eng
land coast inside of limits not yet pre-
scribed. The duty of the defending
squadron will be to send out scouts to
locate the enemy's vessels before they
can reach the coast. The vessels par
ticipating in these maneuvers will in
clude the battleships Kearsarge, Ala
bama and Massachusetts, and cruiser
Olympia. comprising the North Allan
tic squadron, as well as the Montgom-
cry, scorpion, Marblehead, Mist and
such other vessels as can be spared at
the time. At these naval maneuvers
the officials hope to experiment with
wireless telegraphy if suitable arrange
ments can be perfected in time. and it
Is snil there will also he eNnnrimnnts