The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1913-03-20
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER
Tsnecial Corr. OF THE REPUBLIcAN.l
wasSgton, D. c., March ID, 1918.

Presio(ht Wilson, contrary to the
custom of his predecessors, begins his
days work at nine in the morning. He
devotes himself to his desk until eleven,
and then begins to receive callers and
official visitors. His new rule of re-
ferring office seekers to the heads of
departments is not agreeable to the
eager applicants. But Congressman
and Senators are not included in the
rule. He would be sturdy President
indeed who could prevent Congressman
telling him of the supposed merits of
candidates from their respective dis
trIcts, or refuse to listen to Senators
whose advice and consent to all his APP
pointments is required by the Constitu-
ton.
In Congress, and out, it is foregone
conclusion that the tariff will be revis-
ed downward, and industries must
adjust themselves to lower duties. The
great fight of the special session will be
over selecting the articles to be reduced
and the amount of reduction. The de-
mand for currency reform also looms
large. Mr.. Wilson may find it hard to
restrict Congress to consideration of
tariff alone.
There is no evidence of the oft-pre-
dicted panic following complete Demo
cratic control. Conditions are in strik-
ing contrast to those at the beginning
of Cleveland second term. The
treasury was then depleted of gold,
while now it's gold reserve is pre-eminent
among the treasures of the world.
Should the government need money, for
extraordinary emergency, Secretary
McAdoo has abundant resources in the
Panama Canal bonds which he may
offer for sale. But, if intimations re-
ceived are correct, the banking and
currency committee of the new Con-
gress is likely to make report demon
strating the urgency of action, and if it
appears that the new tariff will result
in loss of revenue, the demand for
currency legislation may become too
insistent to be ignored at the special
session.
Appointments already made by the
President have given otfense in high
quarters A howl has gone up over
what seems a policy of retaining repub-
Leans in office, and those luke-warm
democrats who served under the repub-
Leans. The reappointment of Charles
P. Neil, who was originally appointed
by Taft, aroused the fire of the South
Carolina Senators, who claim that Mr..
Neil made an inaccurate report on south
ern conditions.
Senator Tilman familiarlY known as
"Pitchfork Ben" in graphically des-
cribing the ravenons appetite of the
office seeking element. uses this quota
ton from the Bible The wild asses
from the desert are athirst and hungry.
They have broken into the green corn. F"
He declared that this quotation exactly
fits the case, and referred to the tramp
ling down of the corn, but expressed
strong faith in tbs herdsman in the
White house.
The furry over the President declining
honorary membership in the exclusive
Chevy Chase Club is over. 1t turns out
that no snub was intended, but Mr..
Wilson perfers to pay his own way and
will probably become regular member
in the usual way.
The most beautiful. as well as demo-
cratic, set of girls that Washington has
known, for at least three administra-
tons, is the one composed of the
daughters of cabinet officers who last
week assumed a leading position in
Washington society. But these young
ladies are not exclusively society"
girls, as each of them.devotes at least
considerable part of her time to art,
music, literature or social settlement
work. 1t is said that Miss Mona Nc
Adoo, daughter of the Secretary of the
Treasury. is one of the prettiest girls in
the new cabinet circle.