The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1902-04-25
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
WAsHINGToN, d. c., April 21st.

WASHINGTON, ID. c., April 21st.
MIR. EDIToR:-After the most dramatic
session of the Fifty seventh Congress, and
perhaps of many preceding Congresses,
the Cuban reciprocity bill passed the
House of Representatives last Friday by
a vote of 247 to SO The bill, as passed.
does not, however, meet with the approval
of the avowed friends of Cuba. Through
the efforts of the democrats, who voted as
one man and with an exhibition of disci
pline such as has been seldom equalled,
and with the help of certain republicans,
who, it is claimed, had for their object the
was amended in the Committee of the
Whole so that it would, on going into
operation, remove the differential on re-
fined sugar and so afford relief to the
American consumers as we'll as the Cuban
producers and at the expense of the
American Sugar Refining Company, popu
larly known as the Sugar Trust. In this
form the bill goes to the Senate where the
republicans have a majority of nearly two
to one, and it remains to be seen whether
those republicans, who were SO ready to
afford relief to Cuba at the expense of the
beet sugar industry, will be ready to afford
that relief when it curtails the profits of
the Trust.
A notable incident of the debate, which
preceded the amendment of the bill by the
Committee of the Whole, was the presen-
tation as an amendment, by Mr.. Richard
son, of the bill previously offered by Rep.
resentative Babcock, of Wisconsin, and
which had for its purpose the removal ORE
vision of those sections of theDingley tariff
act which serve to SO greatly augment the
profits of the Steel Trust. Although the
House had just over-ruled the decision of
| the Chair and had determined that the
sugar amendment above referred to was
| in order, and by the same reasoning must
have considered the amendment of MIR.
Richardson in order, it permitted Mr..
| Sherman to reject it as not germane and
so proved how thoroughly hollow and in
sincere have been republican protestations
that they desired an opportunity to curtail
the profits of the Steel Trust. The posi-
ton taken by the republican leaders, that
the amending of the reciprocity bill will
insure its defeat in the Senate, would i'm
ply that the republicans will offer seri-
| Gus affront to the President in rejecting
policy he has so strongly advocated, but
| the country will withhold its judgment
| until the Senate has had an opportunity
to demonstrate whether its allegiance to
the Sugar Trust outweighs its allegiance
to the President, and its regard for
Cubans, and American consumers.
| The most remarkable feature of the
| prolonged debate on Cuban reciprocity
| was the speech of Representative Cush
man, of Washington, who paid his 1e-
spects to the Reed rules and made the asser-
ton that in order to secure the passage of
any measure, no matter how just he knew
| it to be, member of the House must ''put
| his manhood in his pocket and go trotting
down the little pathway that leads to the
Speakers room, where, by comparison,
all the glory that clustered around the
holy of holes in Solomon's temple looks
like thirty cents" He further character
lied the rules of the House as unrepubli-
can, undemocratic and unAmerican"
Referring to General Grosvenor, of Ohio,
Mr.. Cushman said that he had in his cam
paign many constituents who held abso-
lutely opposing views but, he continued,
II finally procured the speeches of Con-
gressmen Grosvenor, had them bound to-
gcther and went through that campaign
without scratch because l could always
prove or disprove anything that ever came
up by the speeches of the gentleman of
Ohio"
Last Wednesday the Senate passed a
Chinese Exclusion bill, not the measure
reported by the Committee on Immigra-
ton, but the Geary law, re-enacting it for
another term. The large majority of the
democrats voted for the more drastic
measure, but the influence of the repre-
sentatives of large Pacific Coast corpora.
tions, who have swarmed the Senate end
of the Capitol of late, and who hope under
the provisions of the Geary law to secure
labor at lower wages than they would
have had to pay had the new bill become
a law, proved too strong for the republi-
can Senators. The action of the Senate
was severe disappointment to the Pacific
Coast delegations and one Senator from
that section said to me yesterday, eff the
Senate should pass the Cuban reciprocity
bill you might as well strike my State
from the republican column and count it
| in the democratic list"
The Philippine government bill is now
the regular order in the Senate and it will
be folio we'd by the istEmian canal bill. at
least, so say several members of the re-
publican steering committee. 1t is posi-
BILE, however, that the republicans do not
appreciate the organized opposition with
which their present bill will he met. The
testimony which is being presented to the
Philippine Committee is constantly tend
ing to prove the correctness of democratic
contentious as we'll as to demonstrate the