The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1902-02-14
The Courier's Washington Letter.

lntT6 exists ltCuildI sltuhli'l' |
in the IL .se OF Representatives
aud that chamber appears t. be ben
upon amply demo -tratlng to tn
country tnat with republican ma
iorlty and the Reed rules it is 3
thoroughly inpot-nt and irrrespon-
siyle body. Even the President
has ceased to urge his wishes upon
The lower house and has concen
trated biz Efforts upon the Senate
where lh re seems H. be every rea-
son to believe hat they have PROVED
ffrctive. The recent state eIts oil
Senator P,att, Of Conn, Chairman
of th- Committee IN K latluns vii
Cuba, and S~natur Procto', OF VI i
are regard, d a. threat that II th'
House DO not pursue reasonable
course the Senate vii disregard II,
and IF CT the desired reciprocal re
lations by treaty.
The excessive fear, inspired byl
the attack of Rep Babcock upon
that portion Of the Dingley tariff
bill which serves to augment theI
immense profits OF the steel trust,
seems to have paralyzsd the Ways
and Means committee and that body
il afraid to report any measure
granting reciprocity to Cuba be
cause of Mr. Babcock announced
intention to move the amendment
OF the bill SO to secure q nOdicum OF
tariff reform. While the Ways and
Means committee is dominated by
the extreme proiectionist view, such
j. MT tru- of the entire House, and
a republican member who would not
permit me to use his anne, said
yesterday: "The situation is M q.
distressing to the more progressive
republicans. They appreciate the
truth Of Senator Platt's statement
that protection is likely to suffer
most in the house Of its friends,
and they realize that, if the demo-
Gratis have the foresight to drop
their santi.expansion' theories, and
go before the country on straight
|, tariff reform platform, they will
make serious inroads i'll our ranks.
Our only hope is that the democrat
, ic propensity to blunder will lead
then to adopt 'antiexpansion' ss
their slogan rather than 'tar.ff re-
FORM" The speaker wae an as
tute Western republican, who may
be counted upon to know the sltua'
ton in his own section, at least.
The republicans are holding a
perfect love feast in the Senate com
m;ttee on the Philippines over the
testimony OF Judge Taft in regard
to conditions in the islands. II
never seems to occur to them that a
gentleman who is drawing a salary
Of $50, 900 per annum for governing
the "colony" is most likely to see
the rosy side Of the situation With
out impugning Judge Tatt's sin
{ cerily, it is reasonable to assume
, that from his magnificently fur
, pished offices in Manila, and sur
rounded by the members OF com
; mission all handsomely recon
, pepsed for their services, thing:
: may look very bright in the Philip
, pines. AS matter Of fact, how
+. ever there are others, perhaps equally
competent to testify, many OF then
. officers who have penetrated into
; the strongholds Of the insurrection
. who do not regard the situation iron
' the same hopeful and complacen
\ standpoint as does Governor TAFT
: Rep. Newlands, Of New, has in
!. troduced resolution in the House
= providing for the collection OF three
: iourths Of the Dingley rates on Gu
! han sugar and tobacco in considera
i ton OF reciprocal concessions Iron
Cuba and concludes with an invita-
r ton to Cuba to come into the unlte'
!, States under a territorial form Q
!. government, and with the provls'
;. that statehood will be granted when
o in the judgment OF congress, !
seems advisable. MIR. Newland
> deems such a course the most ex
! pedient solution Of the Cuban prot
q lem. Speaking Of the matter b
told me that he had no reason 10
i waiting until the Cubans ha
- formed powerful political organizs
Z . tons, the members OF which woul
4 expect to derive their livelihoo
i from politics, and would therefor
oppose annexation, before invitin
q. ths islands to come into the Unite
% States. under annexation sal
"a Mr.. Newlands, "the beet sugar me
4. believe they would be better pr
tected than with a reduction OF Il
tariff. and am inclined to thin
thev are right. The Cubans ha,
admitted before this committee (tl
.,r .nd Maonal that thov ha'