St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1908-04-22
Our Washington Letter.


Building four BattleShipS-The Japan
csc tourists.
[From our Regular Correspondent
1t was thought that Congress might
be ready to adjourn by May 9th or 10th,
but it is currently reported that as Pres
ident Roosevelt has invited the gov
ernors of the different states to come to
Washington for Conference, he desires
that they shall see Congress in session
while here; so it is not expected that
they will adjourn before May 10Th. The
great question before the country seems
to be, who are to be the delegates to the
Chicago and Denver conventions, and
will they be pledged beforehand or will
they go uninstructed by their states.
There seems to be strong nervous ten
sion existing in the republican ranks,
owing to the numerous candidates in
the field and the democrats are basing
their hopes of victory on this fact.
Senator Foraker delivered his long
talked of address Of nearly three hours
in the Senate upon Tuesday, in defense
OF the negro soldiers, who were sup
posed to have taken part in the Browns
vile shooting, and were discharged by
! the President without honor for that
reason. Representative LOngworth,
Speaker Cannon and many members
from the House were among the listen
ers; even Ex-senator Chandler OF New
Hampshire, who when not reelected
/ few years since, declared he would never
enter the chamber again, appeared, to
the surprise of his former colleagues.
Never probably was there such a repre-
sentation of colored p ople in the gal
leries, as there was that day; they came
even before the galleries were open and
could be seen everywhere except in the
reserved seats. Nearly 5000 people were
sent away for lack of room. The SEN
ator denied the newspaper rumor that
he was to make three DAYS speech crit
icizing the President and Secretary of
War; he declared that the address was
not to make political capital against
anyone but to learn the real facts in the
NdsSt as a ui0N ~ lllNntEClA dSllOHs
He claimed that the testimony OF the
witnesses against the soldiers was so
contradictory that it must have been I'M
reliable; but the evidence Of the soldiers
was given in frank, straightforward
way, and he thought that it only requir-
ed time to discover the real culprits in
order TO vindicate the soldiers He re-
viewed the circumstantial evidence in de
tail, insisting that the character of the
soldiers was good and that they had no
motive for assault upon tie town. He
criticized the Warner bill, for the re en-
listment of soldiers who were not partici-
pants in the attack, and insisted that
there was no proof that some of them
were perpetrators of the act, while
Others having knowledge of it., were
guilty of conspiracy of silence, refusing
to divulge what they knew. He closed
by paying a tribute to the negro soldiers
who served during the Civil War. There
was so much applause in the galleries
that Vice President Fairbanks found he
could not silence them by his gavel and
he reminded them that they would be
obliged to clear the galleries if applause
did not cease according to law.
Senator Aldrich of Rhode Island, the
leader OF the republicans in the Senate,
brought in a currency bill sometime since
which has been under discussion before
the House committee on banking and
currency different presidents OF banks
and leading experts have appeared before
them, stating their opinion either in
favor OF, or against the bill. Zone of it's
champions, was Charles 6, Dawes, a
former comptroller of the currency, but
now president of Central Trust Com
pany in Chicago. He approves of the
general principles OF the bill, but wishes
| tor some amendments to it. Some re-
! medal legislation was called for after the
| panic OF of 1898, but nothing was done;
| he did not believe in making permanent
| reorganization of banking, until they
could provide for an emergency currency.
( He thought the Aldrich bill had been
widely misunderstood, because of the as
sertion that so much money would be
held in country banks that it was liable
to occasion a great contraction. Other
bankers followed him, speaking against
the bill. 1t has been intimated that SEN
ator Aldrich, who is a man of marked
ability, conservative in his methods, with
a long congressional record, is getting
rather weary of so much talk and criti-
cism. Representative Charles n Fowler
of New Jersey, chairman OF the House
committee on banking, has bill to ere.
ate a commission of 43 members clever
from the Senate. elevenfrom the House
and 81 to be appointed by the President
| hatcra I,tIx 1ot nd hO Ia,
1909 the results of their examination o.
the best methods found in this country
or in foreign lands. The citizen members
of 81, must be men from various section:
and of different professions, but there
must be six banking economists. The
Aldrich bill has been laid on the table
The Vreeland bill is being considered anc
some think a composite one will b,
framed and passed to avert a panic il
the future. Senator La Toilette of Wis
consin, who has been quite i'll since his ia
nous three days speech on the Aldricl
measure, is better it is reported.
The letter of Mr.. Carnegie interested
the House committee on the judiciary
or he argues that authority to regu
: late industrial as we'll as railroad cor
porations should be invested in the In
terstate Commerce Commission" H,
. suggests that they might win the conf
dence of the corporations and the public
and so would become our industrial
| supreme court. Amendments were mad,
to the civic federation bill acting upoI
those suggestions. Judge Jenkins. chair
man of the judiciary committee has re
ported adversely on the U. S. govern
ment buYing land to form a nationa