The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1902-11-28
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
WASHINGTON, ID. c., November Gath.


more perplexed man in Washington to-
| day than President Roosevelt. After
yielding his own convictions, that the
tariff ought to be revised, and accepting
the dictum of Senator Hanna and his
school of politicians, that the winning
policy for the republican party was to
"stand pat" after being assured that if he
wanted to be elected in 1904 he must not
countenance revision, the President is
now receiving the assurances Of the west
ern members and Senators that the only
hope of the party in their section of the
country lies in making good the pledges
of the last campaign, that the tariff would
be revised by its friends In the hope
of gaining a clearer insight into the situa-
ton the President has appealed to the
members of his Cabinet and to- the repub
lican leaders. There is no doubt amongst
the eastern members, who all say stand
pat" but Secretary Wilson, for instance,
says his State wants revision. Represen
tative Babcock insists on an extra session
called for that purpose exclusively and
the Minnesota delegation say that they
were elected on tariff reform platform
The same is true of Idaho and other west,
ern States, which were carried for the
republican party only by the personal
popularity of the President and the assur-
ance that he would insist on a revision of
the tariff which would curtail the inordi-
nate profits of the trusts.
The argument advanced by the stand
paters" is that the present prosperity can
not last. that tariff revision will rr"cri
tate the reversal Of present Conditions aud
that if the republican party is caught in
the midst Of An attempt to revise the tariff
which will be inevitably attended by end
less personal pickering and strife. the
country will administer IA prompt rebuke
| by voting for their opponents. As sam.
| pie of the kind of advice preferred the
President by his friends was recent v
| all .,l.led Ivy Senators Lodge and Burrows
The former >ignified his willingness t.
ratify the Cuban treaty because it would
not injure his constituents who raise
neither tobacco nor beet sugar, but he
protested vigorously against the New
Fuundland treaty because it might hurt
some of the fishermen of his section. On
the other hand, Senator Burrows ex
| pressed his willingness to vote for the
New Foundland treaty, but protested
against the Cuban treaty. The fact that
the tariff is local issue is again being
demonstrated. together with the fact that
No republican is willing to sacrifice one
cent of protection to the interests Of his
own section for the benefit of the country
at large. The President has held open
his message, hoping to be able to judge
which will be the more polite course for
him to pursue, after he has conferred with
the Senators and Representatives who
have been invited to call on him this week,
Apparently, the opponents Of an 18TH
MAN canal are again at work, for at the
last minute Secretary Hay was given to
,lerstand that no treaty with Columbia
which did not convey absolute and per
manent sovereignty over the zone Of the
canal to the United States would be ac-
cepted by the Senate. As has been before
stated in these letters the conveyance of
absolute sovereignty over part Of its
territory to another nation is contrary to
the constitution of Columbia and such in
sistance is likely to defeat the construction
Of any canal for some time to come. The
advocates of the Nicaraguan route have
renewed their hope and are urging the
negotiation of treaties with Nicaragua
and Costa Rica, and the option Of the
Panama property is nearing expiration so
that additional congressional legislation
will be inevitable. 1t is stated that the
validity of the Panama Company's title,
which Attorney General Knox found to
exist, was bitter disappointment to some
of the most ardent advocates of that route
The failure of the last session to pass
the Cuban reciprocity bill is bearing fruit
in a way that is Il cause of grave anxiety
to the administration. The Cubans. who
were last year begging the United States
to grant them some concessions from the
Dingley rates, have now been fattered
and cajoled into the belief that they are
quite Independent of this country and that
there is no reason why they should seek
concessions from this government at the
expense of their relations with foreign
nations. The diplomatic corps in Havana
has been most industrious in producing
this frame of mind among the Cubans and
most successful. General Bliss, who has
been sent to Cuba to negotiate treaty
providing that the Cuban tariff on imports
from the United States shall remain the
same, while it is raised so per cent. on i'm
ports from other countries, and that the
Dingley rates ON Cuban imports to this
country shall be reduced 2J per cent, re-
ports that he is meeting with almost in
surmountable difficulties. The President
said at his last Cabinet meeting that he
did not propose to offer any further con-
cessions to Cuba, which he regarded as
foolish and ungrateful. and that in SO far
as he was concerned there would be no
deviation from enforcing every provision
of the Plat amendment to the line This
p!eascs the advoc lteS of annexation, who
say that sooner or later there will be fric
ton with Cuba which will result in that
| end