The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1904-05-13
WASHINGTON LETTER.

There are still good many political
sojourners in this city counseling together
as to the best method of strengthening
their party ticket for the wrestling match
in November. The tariff question will,
without doubt, have conspicuous place
in the discussion, as will government ex-
travagance, official corruption, the Pan
anna canal business, and the prudence and
Justice of our government in the islands
of the sea. Prosperity will be the Repub-
lican shibboleth and rallying cry. The
Democrats will retort as did the spell
binder on the Indiana STUMP two years
ago "As many as think they have their
share of the prosperity, stand up"
Nv
There is a good deal of curiosity here
rs to the outcome of the gambling
scheme which Uncle Sam has authorized
for the distribution of the lands that have
been stolen from the Indians during the
last year. Drawings for the choice of
quarter sections will be conducted by
lottery. Applicants must register before
the drawing and this, it is thought, will
make the genuine homeseeker equal to
the avaricious desperate in his chances.
In North Dakota will be opened for set
Element Io4,4I6 acres; in Minnesota,
4oo. 900 acres; in South Dakota, 4I6,ooo
acres; in Montana, 100000 acres. The
opening will be in July and August. and
the lands are to be sold at prices ranging
from SI.2s an acre to $3.50. Sprinters
not invited.
~
The trial of Gen. James N. Tyner, in
dicted for conspiracy to defraud in con-
nection with the Post Office Department,
goes languidly forward in our criminal
court. General Tyner, formerly mem-
Der of Congress, and a member of Presi-
dent Grants cabinet, is aged, sick,
shriveled and an object of compassion. 1t
is alleged that his wife in his interest
rifled the Department safe of incrimin-
ating papers. But it is felt here that he
is being used as a scapegoat to save the
really guilty from punishment. Although
brought into court in an arm chair. he
valves all offers of sympathy and calls
for decision of his case on its merits.
~
May 9th we had primary election for
delegates to the Democratic national con-
vention in which the Hearst boomers
were defeated. 1t went off very quietly
and started again the discussion as to self
government for the District. A good
many of both parties oppose it on the
ground that one-third of our people being
negroes they would always hold the bal.
ance of power, and sometimes elect the
city officers in conjunction with various
kinds of white trash. At the same time,
it is felt to be dismal anomaly and con-
tradiction 10 the spirit of our republic
that its capital should be controlled by an
oligarchy of three men, elected by nobody
but appointed by the President and ad-
ministering arbitrarily the police, the
schools, the sanitation, the streets, the
water and the lighting. and the taxes,
and paying out ten million dollars year.
When visitors come here and are told that
we have no legal elections, no party press,
no party caucuses, no stump-speeches,
and are content to be governed by tri-
umvirate as truly despotic in its makeup
as the Council of Ten in old Venice, they
are surprised, and, if foreigners, amazed.
There is strong feeling in favor Of a
return to self-government. especially
among the idle, the vicious and the indi-
gent people of Washington.
~
A. F. Fox, the kid who at twenty.three
is walking away with the honors at the
international chess tournament at Cam
bridge Springs, Pa, is graduate of the
schools of Washington, and the Sorbonne
of Paris. He and Lasker. the worlds
champion, have now won an equal num-
Der of games.
-
The Navy Department is in quandary.
A dozen Senators, Republican as well as
Democratic, take the ground that it is
impolitic to build any more battleships
till Russia and Japan have made some
further test of their value. We lead
every other nation in the number of
battleships that are being built and have
been ordered-thirteen in all. During
the last week of the session Senators
Hale, Perkins, Gallinger, and Blackburn,
all of the Naval Affairs Committee, ex-
pressed orally and vigorously their opin-
ion that the orders for battleships now
being executed ought to be suspended
until there has been at least one great
naval battle on the Asian coast. If this
gigantic engine of warfare is as vulnerable
as it seems to be, they think money can
be spent to better advantage than in in
creasing the number of those we already
have. The president coucurs.
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