The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1906-10-26
WASHINGTON.
Legislative and Gen.
eral Topics from
the Capital.
October 20, 1906.

2 OF I 1T Z Hltcu cAdtCN a i'SluShl
while in Office Will visit a foreign
couutry. N0vpm Der the Sth has
been set as the date for President
/ Roosevelt's trip 10 the lSthmuS OF
/ Panama. OF course there Is room
to question whether the lsthmus
! of Panama is foreign territory,
but it is not the sort of a ques-
tion that is likely TO worry the
/ President when he wants to do
ANYTHING. Secretary Roofs re-
port on the progress of the work
! on the canal has increased the
/ Presidents desire 10 look at the
canal himself, aud all arrange
meuts have been made to give
him a good trip aad to show him
/ a pleasant time while he is there.
He will leave the United States
on the giant battle ship Louis
lana and Will be conveyed by tne
new cruisers Washington and
Tennessee. tie will probably
occupy six days each way i'll go
ing and coming and will propably
spend week on the lsthmuS.
During his absence from Wash
ington. the Executive office will
be run as usLAl, merely being
transferred from the w hlte House
to the cabin Of the Louisiana.
The President will have his
Congressional message to pre-
pare. and he will remain III close
touch at all times with the wire
less stations along the coast to
such point that a vessel need
never be out of communication
with Washington any here be
tween that city and the lsthmuS
OF Panama. The stations at Cape
Henry, at CharlestOwn, st. Au.
guStiue, Jupiter Inlet and San
Juan Porto Rico, can pick up a
ship equipped with wireless in
struments at any time, aud the
President will be in almost as
close touch with the " hite
House during the whole of his
voyage. as though he were still
at his Oyster Bay home.
Speaking of wireless communi.
cations il was a close race be
tween the caole ard the aerial
lines as to which got the first
news from Havana to Washing
ton after HE recent disastrous
storm in Cuba. All of the war
ships III Havana harbor are
equipped with wireless instru
mentS and they have been send
ing reports of ship movements
10 the Navy Department daily in
preference 10 using the cable.
When the great storm struck
Havana this week communica
tlnuS were entirely cut off. For
two days and nights, neither
wireless nor cable messages were
rec, i.ed, and there was the most
Intense anxiety as to the fate of
the warShips and the American
troops on shore IN Cuba. Every
land line south of Jacksonville
went down during the storm, and
there was race between the
telegraph companies and the
wireless stations as to which
should get the first news out of
the island and 10 the Navy De-
partmeut. Wireless messages
had to be relayed from Wash
iugton to Cape Henry, thence to
Pensacola, over to Key West,
and finally to Havana. The
wireless messages got through at
practically the same time as the
cable, and then it was that the
United States learned for the
first time of the mishap to the
cruiser BroOklyn which had been
driven ashore 10y the storm
at Havana.
Financial circles particularly
are looking both with interest
and apprehension at whatever the
President may have to say in his
coming message to Congress on
the income and Inheritance tax
question. They would not be so
agitated perhaps were it anybody
except President Roosevelt who
had preached the subject, but
they have found by long exper-
fence that it is very difficult
matter to mix the trails so that
he will not be able to follow
them. His faculty for forgetting
is not developed to any appreci
able extent, and those who
thought that his "muck rake''
speech was a passing outbreak
had their fears rearouSed by
his utterances at Harrisburg the
other day 1t is not likely that
he will be able to do anything
definite along the line of income
tax legislation at the short SEES.
sion of Congress. The subject
is too big and the time too lin
tied. But it is pretty well as
sured that he will say something
i'm his maEsaoa and fhat cou,o