Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1903-12-11
WASHINGTON LETTER
From our segular CORES ponden,.,

WASHINGTON LETTER
;From our Regular CORES pondent.)
Washington, D. e., Dec The
do Nothing" Congress, as the pres |
ent extra session has been called owing |
to the inactivity Of the republican ma
jority, is over The last session
of the Senate lasted half an hour and
that of the House five minutes. Not
single act of Congress has baen pass
ed sincs the extra session began and |
the subject for which it was convened |
by thu President has been postponed
until the regular session, when the
Cuban reciprocity bill will be voted on
December Is. AS it is certain to pass
there will be reciprocity between this
country and Cuba by December 26
The democrats have been active dur
ing the present session. During the
short periods allowed by the majority
for debate in the House, the democratic
leader, Mr.. Williams has exposed the
republican position on the tariff ques
ton, has demanded reciprocity with
Canada and censured the majority for
the failure OF Congress to transact any
business In the Senate, Senator Nor
gan made long speech exposing the
| Administrations policy toward Colon
bia, and Senator Carmack introduced
a resolution calling for an invessiga-
ton of the Post Office scandals by a
committee of the Senate. s,.
The present session has brought out
the fact that there is much misunder-
standing and mistrust between the re-
publican Senate and House. Speaker
Cannon's severe criticisms of the Sen.
ate's method of transacting business
is remembered since the end of the
last Congress, when he made his IA
} nous speech, and his attitude on the
question has not changed. His refusal
to agree to the Senate's wish to adjourn
7 was an indication of it, which called
. forth bitter criticism from the Senators
during an executive session. This does
4 not portend harmony in the republican
!. party.
:, The Panama canal treaty will be
t sent to the Senate for ratification il
about ten days. 1t will no doubt bt
approved, as the democrats will moi
take advantage of their power to pre-
:, vent 1t. There will no doubt be much
debate on the subject and it will begir
Immediately after the passage of thu
Cuban bill. The methods of the AID
ministration in bringing about th'
treaty will be more discussed than th'
: actual treaty, which gives this country
!, all the concessions desired.
: The promptness with which the
treaty was ratified Oh the Isthmus
shows that the people Of Panama real
. ize that without the help of the United
States they would be absolutely at thu
mercy OF Colombia, and also that the
, present American government is moi
. giving them this protection for moth
ing. The Panamese minister of for
eign affairs met the boat which brought
the treaty, at Colon, carried it lmme
diately to Panama, and drove from thu
railroad station to the government
palace, where the document was pres
ented to the members of the Junta and
the ministry. The next morning the
treaty was adopted unanimously and
without amendment. The gold per
:, with which it was signed was present
ed to Consul General Gudger. An
, American warship will bring the treaty
to this country.
/ Secretary Hay has had an interview
with the Colombian emissary, General
Reyes, who accompanied by the Col.
f ombian charged affairs. DR.. Herran,
took luncheon with the Secretary. The
General gave an outline Of the repre-
sensations which he Is to make to the
State Department, but as be is still
waiting for explicit instructions from
Bogota, he could not submit definite
proposition. Unless be agrees to &C
cept the present state of affairs on the
Isthmus it is generally believed that
his mission here will be fruitless.
| General Leonard Woods confirma-
ton as Major-General is regarded as
assured. by trustworthy authorities
in the Senate, in spite of the numerous
sensational but erroneous stories to the
contrary, which have been given to the
press by interested persons, enemies
of the Wood and the administration.
Prominent members of the Senate, both
republican and democratic, have de-
cided that the time for the Senate to
have objected to Woods promotion
over senior officers Is when that promo
tion is given-that is. when President
Mckinley made Wood Brigadier Gen.
eral. In the present case, President
Roosevelt found Wood at the head of
i the list of Brigadier- 6 enerals and mere
lly gave him the promotion to which
his position entitled him. making him
a Major eneral, when a vacancy in
than rank occurred. An Important
fact which has come out in the inves--
tigation is that Wood asked the War
Department to appoint Court of In
quiry to examine into his conduct and
that Secretary Root, after considering
all the circumstances, decided that the
charges were not Of sufficient weight
or sufficiently sustained to justify such