The Lamar register., 1902-07-16
LATE WASHINGTON NEWS AND
CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS

The President has issued an order
prohibiting the exercise of outside in
fuence in securing promotions in the
classified civil service. The order is
an amendment to rule IL of the civil
service code, and is as follows: mo
recommendation for the promotion of
any employe In the classified service
shall be considered by any office con-
cerned in making promotions except
IL be made by the officers or officer
under whose supervision or control
such employe is serving; and such rec
ommendation by any other person,
with the knowledge and consent of
! the employe, shall be sufficient cause
| for debarring him from the promotion
proposed, and repetition of the Of
| tense shall be sufficient cause for re-
moving him from the service" Pres
ident Proctor of the civil service COM
mission stated that while this rule met
the hearty approval of the commits
sion. 1t did not originate with them,
but with prominent members of Con-
gress. who had gone to the President
and urged the necessity of such rule.
An official order issued by the War
Department invites the cooperation of
all the national guards within com
municating distance of Fort Riley,
Kansas, to join in the military maneu-
vers to be held at that post about the
end of September. The order gives an
intimation of the extent of the maneu
vers, which promise to be on larger
scale than has heretofore been contem-
plated. General COrbin announces that
there will be three regiments of the
regular infantry engaged In the war
games, and he hopes to have the CO.
operation of at least six additional
regiments of guards from the different
states, making n total infantry force
of nine regiments. 1t Is announced,
also. that the regular army will fur
nish the cavalry and artillery forces
necessary to conduct maneuvers on the
contemplated large scale. The invita-
ton for the cooperation of the national
guard has been addressed to the COVER
nors of all of the states in the Union.
1t is specified in the announcement
that the United States cannot pay any
of the cost of travel or maintenance of
the state troops during the meeting,
but will sell supplies to them at the
army rates. 1t is urged that the guards
of the different states meet at Fort
Riley instead of the usual place for
holding their annual encampments.
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 II slight change in the
original program, which contemplated
the complete adjustment of the ques-
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 n pro-
tocol promised to the last session OF
Congress, has taken steps to give this
the form Of 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, 1t Is expected.
any chance of having the agreement
already reached with Colombia ~is-
turbed by anything that may occur as
a result of political changes, for it Is
the purpose to hold that such agree
ments, once duly entered upon, are not
subject to reputation even in the event
of change of government. The pro-
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 abatc-
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 it
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
ficial authorization Is obtainable in
either the Navy or War Departments.
But from high official 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 de-
fensive squadron commanded by Rear
Admiral Hisginson, and accomplish n
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 KearsarSe, Ala
bama and Massachusetts, and cruiser
Olympia, comprising the North Allan
tic squadron, us 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 said there will also be eyDeriments