Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1905-12-22
WASHINGTON LETTER.
(From our Regular correspondent,

delivered by Senator Tillman this
week. 1t dealt particularly with the
Santo Domingo treaty and in general
with what Mr.. Tillman termed 1.-THE
usurpatiOn of authority" by the execu
tive. The President was warmly de.
Tended by Senator SpOoner and the re-
suit was what might be termed a
drawn battle with no result except to
show that the President and some of
his policies have warm opponents in
the south. Senator Tillman said that
be would admit the President was a
patriotic man from his own point of
view but that when be once conceived
all idea, he did not let law, precedent
nor the constitution stand in the way
of carrying it out. AS to the Santo
Domingo treaty, Senator Tillman said
that the President simply waited till
be got Congress off bis hands and then
went to work carrying out his pet idea
as to the solution of the Santo Dom
ingan trouble. To this Senator Spoon
CT replied that the Senate had left the
President in an embarrassing position
by adjourning without acting on the
SantO Domingo treaty and that the
President had nothing to DO but to
take the matter into his own hands.
Senator SpOoner said that when the
trouble reached an acute stage an Ital :
ian warship had appeared on the scene
and it was only the presence of Ameri-
can warships that had prevented other
powers from sending warsbips too and
following the lead that Italy had at
tempted of looking out for their own
interests. Since the United States bad
held the custom houses, said be, there
had been no revolution and very little
talk of one. Ii the Senate did not act
on the treaty. the money that had been
collected and was now in safe keeping
for the creditor nations would become
the property of Santo Domingo, while
the powers would be left to look after
their debts and their interests as best
they could. 1t was altogether an I'M
pleasant and unseemly squabble and
there was little outcome to it except
that it, if anything deepened the breach
between the Senate and the Executive.
1t Is a question whether the cause of
the SantO domingo treaty has been
helped or hurt by the incident. That
can be told when the measures comes
before the Senate in executive session.
But it has at least made clear that the
United States -to-date has been act
ing in perfectly good faith toward the
creditor nations and if the matter is
not legislated On during the present
session, the President will at least have
cleared his skirts and the responsible
ty will rest on the Senate in not having
taken advantage of the order that he
has maintained in Santo Domingo.
Insular business is we'll to the fore.
The bids for the 1000 miles of railway
in the Philippines have been opened
and while the successful bidders have
not yet been announced, it is shown
that there is capital ready and waiting
to carry out the whole scheme of rail-
way extension. Col Edwards, the
Chief of the Insular Bureau, has said
that one of the most pressing needs of
the Philippines was for good System
of railway and highway cOmmunica
ton and this is practically assured.
There are several classes of bids for the
work and one of them at least is from
an English corporation which wants
to put in almost half of the total mile
age. One of the other firms bidding
while nomlnally American is really
international in characters and if it's
bid is accepted will doubtless get
large part of the money from England
Whether it will be wise TO accept this
foreign, helping hand or not is ques-
tion, but it is significant that foreign
think we'll enough of the
stable government now operating in
the Islands to be willing to put their
money there. 1t may be remarked too
that the bids are under the thirty year
guarantee which would mean that the
government for more than "a
would stand sponsor to the
thing it would not be
likely to do if there was any chance of
the American flag being hauled down
and the Islands vacated by the United
States. That is really the most signifi.
cant fact that was developed by the
The Philippines also consumed most
of the day before the Ways and Means
of the House. The beet
hearing in which W. S. Humphrey
spoke lengthily against the lowering
of the Philippine duty on sugar. He
said that it would kill the beet sugar
industry in this country. The Philip
pines, he said produced 5000, 900 tons
more of sugar than this country con.
sumed and that if the tariff wall We're
broken down, the whole OF this flood
would be let loose on the American
market. He was asked whether the
bulk of the Philippines sugar would
not as heretofore go to China and jap
an, neither of which were parties to
the Brussels sugar convention. But
he replied that it would not as the most
of the sugar sent from the Philippines
to China was refined il factories on
English ground and would be exclud- |
ed on the ground of undue preference !
by the United States. Whatever the
effect Oh the beet sugar industry, the |,
cane sugar industry of the south un-
ioubtedly would be wiped out.
The old question of reducing the |
southern representation On account Of !,
The Acknowledgement of some of the ne-
yroes in the sOnth, was again brought |
no this week by Mr.. Rennest of New
ork. the north always taking the ,
cad in settling the negro problem,
which it is very easy to do, being fur
her from the scene of action, Mr.. Ben /
lett' 8 bill provides for the reduction OF
southern representation from 3S6 to
Isl and would divide the reduction as
ollows: Alabama from to 5: Arkansas
rom I to 5: Florida from to 2; GeOr-
5ia from II to 6; Louisiana from to 4;
from s to 3; North Carolina
rom 10 to I; South Carolina from to
!: Tennessee from 10 to 5; Texas from
6 to Ii, and Virginia from 10 to I. 1t
8 not likely, however, with the press
# other iepislatlOn that the Ulll will
ret very serious consideration.
The Marlinton Light and Water Co.
$ laying pipes and installing machine