The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1904-06-24
WASHINGTON LETTER.


hive, and the workers are swarming
around it in the joyous expectation of
partaking of the official honey for an.
other four years. Not much is talked of
there but the Chicago Convention this
week. The Wisconsin dilemma is at the
front-whether La Toilette and his reg
uars or Spooner and his boilers will be
admitted to seats in the convention.
Cannon has accumulated precedents for
a decision. One is from the Republican
Convention of 1892, when the contesting
delegations from Alabama were clamor-
in at the door. The national committee
de cided to seat one set of delegates but
Senator Spooner protested stoutly against
any delegate being Judge in his own
case. Mr. Cannon was also a delegate in
that convention, and took notes of
Spooner's remarks. He may now find
them useful.
~
Major General Henry c. Corbin. COM
handing the Division which embraces all
the Atlantic coast line, has been assigned
to the command of the Philippines, where
he will relieve Major General Wade. 1t
is understood that General Corbin dis
likes the Philippine assignment and that
his popular wife would prefer to remain
in New York society; but the Philippine
business is one of the steps of promotion
to the Lieutenant Generalship, and must
be taken. General Corbin has no use for
anti-imperialists and is not particularly
squeamish as to the means employed to
carry on the work of the army. When
General Chaffee is retired for age in
April, 1906, it is expected that General
Corbin will succeed him at the head of
the army.
How was the Maine blown up? Were
the Spanish directly responsible? These
questions seem now likely to have an
answer. The contract to raise the battle
ship from the bottom of Havana Harbor
has been signed by competent and re-
sponsible parties, and is to be carried out
within a year. In the title deeds as
transferred, are included "the hulk of the
U. S. Battleship Maine, along with all its
equipment of machinery, arms, ammuni-
ton, provisions, comestibles, and all
other objects belonging to said battle
ship" The work is to be done with
cofferdam. Noted engineers have ap-
proved the method. Some of the bodies
of the American sailors still in the hulk
will be brought to Arlington; the re-
mainder will be buried at Havana. Sew
eral years ago Spain asked permission to
raise the battleship and solve the prob
lem of the catastrophe, but the request
was CURLY refused by the United States
Government. The reason for this refusal
has never been clearly understood, but it
now seems probable that one of the great
secrets of our naval history will be
brought to light.
The Russo-Jap war does not attract half
as much attention in this city as the battle
royal between the Washington Post and
the Commissioner of Pensions. The
paper says, Commissioner Ware fur
nishes quite superhnous proof of his I'M
fitness for public Office in time Of acute
campaign emergency" charges that he is
granting old age pensions with lightning
speed, in close districts, and adds, there
is not shadow of doubt that Commits
sioner Ware is using this public fund
precisely as the chairman of the CAM
paign committee administers the contri-
buttons placed at the disposal of the
party for purely party purposes" Mr..
Ware de6es, vociferates, gesticulates and
RACES. He fiercely goes for his hip pock-
ct, and draws therefrom a hair-trigger
vocabulary that tinges with blue the cir
cumambient air. The Post violently
recriminates and charges him with con-
spring to ruin the President. Such
cyclone of invective and irony has not
shaken the outrageous foliage of WASH
ington for long time.
~
The Red Cross Society seems likely to
get thoroughly reconstructed. All the
old officers have resigned. including
Clara Barton and Mrs. Logan, and Ad-
miral Van Reypen has been elected pres
ident and Surgeon General Wyman vice.
president. The meeting was entirely
harmonious and more than eighty mem.
bers voted. 1t is to be hoped that we
have had the last of the shiftless methods
of the old society by which tens of thous-
and of dollars were collected aud were
expended without any proper accounting
to anybody. The question arises whether
the responsible head of great charities
should not always be person of wealth,
responsible in law and in Tact, and re-
moved from the temptation of using other
peoples money carelessly. This, indeed,