The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-01-18
WASHINGTON CITY GOSSIP Congress Saw Legislative Wood Next Month-No Special
 S ScssionBlue Prospect for Antitrust Legislation SS
BY w. T. MANNING.

country with the object ot coercing the congress of his day. Some of President Roosevelt's closest friends are now pretty well agreed that 1t was a bad blunder last summer and fall to follow the John son precedent.
 The naval interests. that is the officers and the big shipyard owners, see In the Venezuelan incident. a potent argument for the continued upbuilding of our sea force. It Is pointed out that the Flu ropean nations, particularly England ana Germany, notwithstanding all their pro- fessions of friendship. cannot be too close ly watched that the only secure ground on which to stand in the future Is ability to meet any combination of forces that may be formed on the other side of the Atlantic To this end more ships are needed and more men with command rank. When the war vessels now under contract are finished which will be less than two years, their will be neither offi- cers nor men sufficient to man them. Everyone Of them should be sent to sea at once and thoroughly tested In long cruises. so that their good points as well as their defects may be brought out. The s feeling among congressman of all parties is now nearly unanimous that the navy must be kept up to the very highest state
 
 iorate into Its former pitiable decrepi- tude.
 "In all the great situations of life," re- marked a high official of the state de- pertinent the other morning, "there Is al- most always a touch of the ludicrous. Take Venezuela, for instance Is 1t not truly comic to see the Dago' govern ment-pardon the expression-and the other little ones crawling under the legs of the kaiser and king with their little peanut bils?"
 General Grants fsther and the late Mrs. Grant, were," says an old army offi- cer 'the only persons in the world who called the conuueror of ths rebellion by his first name. To the father, he was Ulysses to the wife, 'Liss. Even when Grant lived in St Louis and Galena, poor and obscure, his most intimate friends always addressed him as captain In referring to her husband in conversation Mrs. Grant always spoke of him as the general When Grant visited Spain on his world trip, the king held a military review in his honor. Mrs Grant saw the review from royal carriage. As the king and the exPresident rode up to the royal carriage, Mrs. Grant turned to the lady who accompanied her and said: Look at the general isn't he handsomeT ? Grant certainly looked well mounted. Like Washington. he was one of the very best horsemen of his generation"
 In a business point of view. the change of Presidential inauguration day from stormy March to sunshlny April, will be of very great benefit. The fact Is, that during recent years this has been the handspring of the whole agitation Deep- 1y interested in the question are the raiI- road companies, which find it difficult to organize inauguration excursions be- cause of the apprehension of indictment weather with all the discomforts it in- wolves. Then there are the hotels. This dull season begins quadriennially immedI- ately after the fourth of March. so that the profits of the preceding winter nearly vanish during the long summer and the early fall that follows. The boarding house legions are, of course. deeply inter- ested In the change and their influence In procuring votes has been very considera- ble. The fashionable set has not bothered about the subject one way or the other.