The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1902-10-10
DUR WASHINGTON LETTER.

mediate attempt to open the mines.
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
WAsHINGToN, D. c., October 9Th.
Mr. ED1ToR:-The widely advertised
conference between the President, the
railway presidents and the representatives
Of the striking coal miners has passed into
history and without apparent beneficial
results President Roosevelt made a Wig
orous and eloquent appeal to both parties
to sink tho ir differences for the common
good Of humanity, which must inevitably
suffer serious hardship as result of fur
ther prolongatinn of the strike. President
Mitchell, of the Mine Workers Union.
promptly replied with Il proposition to
appointed by the President, his men to go
t., w'ik Immediately and to abide by the
decision q: tnat tribunal for a period OF
from one to FIVE years as the tribunal
pected from the autncratic statements Of
the operators in the past, they refused to
recognize Mr. Mitchell or TO consider his
proposition. Their one end is to crush
the union and nothing short of that will
content them. They pictured, in lurid
terms, the violence which has accompanied
the strike and blamed the union for it,
although it is we'll known that in every
instance the union and its president have
deplored the violence and. in SO far as
possible, have restrained the members
Needless to say, the President was sorely
disappointed at the failure of his efforts.
The recent order of Postmaster General
Payne, by which those postmasters who
are appointed by the President are left
free to participate in politics and are re-
lieved from the restrictions which apply
to employees coming under civil service
provisions, will be IA source of qualification
to a large number Of postmasters through
"u' the country. The majority OF these
men owe their appointments to political
influence and, if they were incapacitated
from participating in the politics of their
respective localities, would soon lose their
influence and their positions. Under the
new ruling they may run primaries, attend
conventions or collect money for campaign
purposes with impunity.
Another recent ruling Of the Postmaster
General is to the effect that no one but
the properly authorized inspectors of
rural mail routes can condemn mail boxes
erected on such routes. 1t has been the
custom heretofore for carriers and local
postmasters to exercise their own judy
ment in condemning mail boxes, frequent
ly causing serious Inconvenience to the
residents. From now on residents will
be protected from this annoyance.
Protests continue to arrive at the Treas
ury Department against the drastic meas
ures which the Secretary of the Treasury
has adopted to relieve the money strin
gency among the Wall Street SPECTATORS.
The professionals claim, with reason, that
the substitution of State bonds and mis-
cellaneous securities for United States
bonds is a menace to the financial integri
ty of the government and establishes a
most dangerous precedent. They say
that with such securities listed according
to the private judgment of the Secretary
and his advisors, Treasury statements will
come to mean nothing and subsequent
secretaries are liable to find themselves
loaded up with worthless collateral as a
heritage from their predecessors. 1t is
more than probable, however, that those
who protest fail to appreciate the magni-
tude of the pressure which was brought
to bear on Mr.. Shaw by the Wall Street
interests, which even went so far as to
spread report to the effect that he in
tended to resign as practical threat to
compel his acquiescence with their W shes.
The report which comes from Chicago
of the speech of Senator Deliver before
the National League of Republican Clubs
will prove another heartbreak to the re-
publican leaders who are so strenuously
opposed to tariff revision. On the other
hand, there is no ground for the Senator's
assumption that the trusts will fall of
their own weight. That certain trusts
have failed is undoubtedly true, but that
the majority will do so is contrary to rea
son so long as they have the unnatural
of Il protective tariff which pro |
trcts them from outside competition. they |
having already destroyed all internal com
petition in their respective lines.
The democrats who are returning to
Washin gton from the New York conven-
ton are enthusiastic in regard to the pros
poets IN that State and several predict that
Colcr will defeat Odell 1t is certain that
the platform will attract vast number of
people who are suffering from the effects
of the coal strike aud it is safe to say that
the fall elections will witness democratic
gains all along the line
The news c. m : from Massachusetts of
a sudden attempt t. amen | the State re-
publican platform in favor Of tariff re-
vision, which was only prevented by the
shrewd tactics of Senator Lodge While
he planks in the Mass chu>rtts platform
may ordinarily be of minor Importance,
II this instance the movement is signih