The Washington times., 1903-11-09
Congress in Session.
Things It 9Iay and Things 1t May
Not Do.


Not Do.
Congress Is Ia session once more.
Called cstensibly to consider in the
brief interval remaining between now
and the day on which it would have
net next month, under the self-execut-
ing provisions of the Constitution. our
relations to Cuba, and nothing else,
!, yet may exercise its prerogative
and enter at once upon a discussion
OF topics which, in the opinion OF
some people, lie closer at hand than
the question whether, or not, we are
under moral obligations to concede,
at our expense, to Cuba what we are
unwilling to concede to other coul..
tries willing to offer valuable con-
sideration ia return.
The developments of the last week
on the Isthmus Of Panama may natu-
rally arouse the curiosity OF Congress
to know what share, if any, agents of
the Government, or agents of Amer
lean interests, had in fomentine and
bringing to a sudden head a revolu-
ton which, IN the twinkling of an
eye and without giving the Colon
bian grafters so much as a chance of
saying Jack Robinson, drove the rep
resentatives of the Bogota government
into the .iwamps and sent It's fleet of
bnmboats to seek safety on the high
seas.
The two political parties may fol
low their natural bent and claim. each
for itself, the credit for all the bless
ings that have descended upon this
country within the last eight mouths:
and then, again, they may hold each
other responsible for all the ills that
have befallen US and indulge IN mu-
tral I-told-you-se, talk, distinguished
by more or less acfrbity of spirit and
total absence of common sense.
Congress may see fit to take up
the currency question, which, few
months ago, seemed TO many good
people to be paramount, though now
Il looks as if the country, minus Wall
Street, thought IT of little or no con-
sequence. Congress, indeed, may take
up any one OF half a dozen or more
questions at this extra session, if II
has a mind TO do nothing. And.
since we have no assurance regarding
its intentions to do or not to do any
thing, we may be excused, perhaps,
IN expressing in advance no disap-
pointment over the fact, if fact i
should turn out TO be, that Congress
has proved nothing worse at this ses-
sion than a cave of Aoelus. 1t Is
apt to be thiz at the session preced-
ing a Presidezdal election, anyway.
But whatever Congress may or may
not do, we trust il will not neglect
the interests Of the District. There
are a few things, we believe, which
have happened since the F'ifty-seventh
Congress adjourned in March last,
and which may influence the action OF
our legislators. For one thing, We
trust thai Congress Will convince it
self that aot everything is rotten
u the state of Denmark" but that, on
the contrary, there are a few agencies
al work in the District which are not
controlled by Doodle and graft, AMI
that there are some officials left with
an adequate sense Of the responsible
lily they I'VE to the community and
to the taxpayers, who pay their sala-
res. We nope, We say, that Con-
gress viii realize this and shape Its
policy toward the District according
y. We hope, too, that it will prompt
" size up the professional goo-goos
an our midst" and place that esti-
mate upon them to which they arr
entitled, and not that to which the3
SO vociferously lay claim at times.