NEWS WORTH REMEMBERING
News Worth Remembering ECHOES of the Pinchot-Ballinger controversy which broke out at the convention of the National Irrigation Convention two weeks ago in Spokane reverberated throughout the...
...From Dresden, the commission will proceed to Prague, Vienna, and Budapest...
...New Corporation Tax Under Fire While the agitation has been going on to the end of insuring the approval of the federal income tax measure by the state legislatures, reports have appeared, under date of the 17th, that corporations affected by the new tax on net incomes, brought forward as a means of defeating the income tax amendment to the tariff bill, will begin suit soon to test the constitutionality of the tax...
...The siege is beginning to bring hunger and deprivation to many homes...
...In this battle women played an important part...
...President Planning to Curb Trusts Along with these reports from Beverly, came the news on the 20th that the President had conferred with Attorney General Wickersham as to the program to be followed during the winter in the matter of trust regulation...
...It was brought about by the introduction of a resolution calling upon Congress for a law providing for a division of the agricultural, mining, and forest lands...
...This debate will be held under the auspices of the International Lyceum Association which meets for its annual convention from August 27 to September 5. Mr...
...The National Monetary Commission, of which Senator Aldrich is chairman, held a meeting on the 17th in New York, but took no action further than to make preparations for the meeting to be held in Washington about the middle of October...
...On the 20th, however, when the terms of the settlement were presented to a referendum vote of the employees of the Chicago Railways company it was refused, and on the 21st the men on the South Side lines rejected them...
...and amendment of the Sherman anti-trust law to remove restrictions on law-abiding corporations and to strengthen the control of law-breaking corporations...
...Many papers are not inclined to accept Mr...
...This matter will probably be decided when the commission holds its fall meeting...
...Another view on this question was expressed on the 17th by B. F. Yoakum, chairman of the executive committee of the Rock Island-Frisco railroad lines, in an address before the Farmers' Union in Shawnee, Okla...
...On the 20th it was reported that a brick with a note attached was found outside the stockade surrounding the plant...
...thence down the Danube to Iron Gate...
...Indications are that friends of the income tax amendment will endeavor to secure such endorsement wherever possible, as an index to public opinion which will be of service to the state legislatures when they are called upon to pass upon this matter at the coming sessions...
...According to press reports, Mr...
...The despatches do not make it clear, however, whether the railroad chief had reference to careless handling of government funds in carrying out a worthy project, or whether he regarded all expenditures on the part of the government to aid water way development as an extravagance...
...Newspapers along the route openly charged that the committee was making this trip for the purpose of securing information adverse to the primary election laws to be used as ammunition against Governor Hughes in the fight he is now leading to secure a primary law for New York...
...For the first time the troops opened fire upon the strikers, with deadly effect...
...Of interest in this connection, is the report from Denver on the 20th that the Trans-Mississippi Congress gave formal endorsement to the proposition for a permanent tariff commission, as a means of ridding tariff revision as far as possible of the trading and jobbing that has characterized congressional action, and as a means of lowering the tariff wall down to the only defensible point of the difference between the cost of production here and abroad...
...New York Committee Investigates Primary Besides these national commissions, there are other legislative bodies at work...
...Whether these measures will be opposed by the railroads and other corporations, is not yet known...
...It is said that the program will probably embody the following recommendations to Congress: Government regulation of stock and bond issues of railroads...
...Sumner writes in the Chicago Record-Herald of the 22nd that the President has been conferring with Secretary of the Treasury MacVeagh as to the make-up of the tariff board and insists upon the best talent available...
...Major General Leonard Wood, commander of the department of the East, is the chief umpire of the contest between the "reds" and "blues," and several months hence when he and his assistants have made their reports, the honors of war will be awarded...
...can't you help us...
...This is the supreme effort of both sides and it is the purpose of both parties to make this the greatest debate since the great Lincoln-Douglas debates...
...William D. Mahon, president of the Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employees, came to the scene, and on the 23rd negotiations were again opened between representatives of the unions and the officials of the companies, with Walter L. Fisher acting on behalf of the city...
...This re-opened the whole controversy...
...Ballinger Not To Speak Those who have been looking forward to a public declaration from Secretary of the Interior Ballinger as to the attitude he will take in the future toward the conservation of the natural resources, were disappointed at the announcement found in the news despatches of the 22d that he would not speak at the first National Conservation Congress to be held in Seattle beginning on the 26th...
...This was a victory for the friends of Chief Forester Pinchot...
...The news accounts of previous days in the week mentioned the fact that the women were beginning to take an active part in the demonstrations against the troops and the company...
...Income Tax Approved At the meeting of the Trans-Mississippi Congress, approval was formally given to the income tax measure...
...Aaron S. Watkins, the candidate for vice-president on the prohibition ticket at the last presidential election, will have a joint debate at Oshkosh, Wis., Monday evening, August 30...
...For the first time since the inception of the strike, the state troopers tonight opened volley fire on the mob...
...Keep the Census Out of Politics" ---Taft In a letter to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, President Taft ordered that "in the preparation of the regulations for the taking of the census, you and the director of the census embody therein a provision that any supervisor or enumerator who uses his influence with his subordinates or colleagues to assist any party, or any candidate, in a primary or general election or who takes any part, other than merely casting his vote, in politics, national, state or local, either by service upon a political committee, by public addresses, by the solicitation of votes, or otherwise, shall be at once dismissed from the service...
...At present the only prediction as to the basis upon which the corporations will rest their complaint is that the prosperity and success of one corporation should not be penalized while the failure of a competitor should be untaxed...
...In a significant interview given out on the 15th, before leaving for Europe, Senator Burton said he regarded the immediate need in the development of the nation's water ways as being "legislation that will enforce a policy of live and let live as between the railroads and the waterways...
...Chicago papers of the 23rd stated that the friends of the primary system in Illinois were wary of the committee and were not inclined to accept invitations to be present at the sessions...
...Bonynge, will visit Canada for the purpose of getting information about the banking and monetary system of our neighbor across the line...
...In any event, his statement is significant as presaging opposition to any measure that the next Congress may consider to meet the popular demand for inland water way development...
...In Berlin the committee was given valuable aid by the German government, and before leaving for Dresden on the 22nd, Senator Burton publicly expressed his appreciation of the courtesies extended to himself and his colleagues, and the commission adopted a resolution of thanks which will be transmitted to the German officials...
...He holds that this could be prevented if Congress should place rates between given points at a figure below which the railroads were not allowed to cut their rates for the purpose of killing water way enterprises...
...Pinchot's Policy Endorsed At the Trans-Mississippi Congress held in Denver last week a resolution was passed endorsing the forest policies of the administration...
...Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois were visited...
...Pinchot, the friends of the chief forester demanded that his policies be specifically endorsed, so there could be no doubt as to the attitude of the congress...
...Despatches of the 18th from Beverly, where President Taft is spending his vacation, indicate that the chief executive is not at all alarmed at these threats of a suit, as he is firmly convinced of the constitutionality of the tax...
...Three others are reported fatally shot...
...There have been several debates on this question during the past year...
...On the 19th press despatches contained the news that the Allegheny county officials are investigating a charge that an autocratic system of peonage is in force, whereby hundreds of dissatisfied strikebreakers are confined as prisoners within the stockade...
...That part of the press not subservient to self-seeking interests seems to reflect a sentiment on the part of the people favorable to the position of Mr.Pinchot...
...Boston in Mimic War Simultaneously with these reports of bloodshed and battle, came the report that a mimic war was being enacted near Boston...
...He declared that it has been the policy of the railroads to throttle water way projects so that their own traffic would not be diverted, and stated it to be his belief that the whole nation suffers because of this suppression of water traffic...
...European capitalists will hold securities to the amount of $22,500,000...
...For a time it seemed that the fight would resolve itself into a grim contest of endurance, with every precaution taken on both sides to prevent either from getting an advantage...
...This last-named committee made a tour of western states where primary election laws are in operation...
...It has been accompanied by rioting, attempts to man the mills with strikebreakers, and the constant activity of the state constabulary...
...Car Men Refuse Settlement in Chicago A new crisis is pending in the controversy between the car men on the Chicago street railways and the managers of the companies...
...It has been suggested that the great corporations seem now inclined to favor centralized federal regulation as a desirable alternative to state control which entails diverse regulations and involves great efforts on the part of the corporations in attempting to prevent the enactment of regulatory laws...
...Rioting in Pennsylvania Strike A different situation is found in the war between the Pressed Steel Car Company and its employees, near Pittsburgh...
...It is stated that this action is a complete victory for the Americans and that it will place American capital on an equal footing with other capital in China...
...The countries of Europe have made great strides in water way development, and it is reported that the commission is getting a mass of technical and general information that will be of assistance to Congress in framing a water way policy for this country...
...Newspapers described the fight as follows: "The riot scene was practically indescribable...
...Darrow has been selected by the National Brewers' Association to present the negative side of the question "Resolved, that Prohibition as applied to the manufacture, sale and use of intoxicating liquors is right...
...This order appears to have met with the general approval of the country, and it has been pointed out in the press that if it is rigidly adhered to in every appointment the country will be vastly benefited...
...News Worth Remembering ECHOES of the Pinchot-Ballinger controversy which broke out at the convention of the National Irrigation Convention two weeks ago in Spokane reverberated throughout the country last week...
...and that the large amount of money to be expended in the employment of so vast a machine as the census shall not be made to serve the political purposes of any one...
...It is of the highest importance that the census should be taken by men having only the single purpose of reaching a just and right result...
...Feeling that this proposal was in some way an attack upon Mr...
...Members of the committee denied being foes of the primary and explained that they had voted against the bill in the New York legislature because it was faulty...
...To Debate Prohibition Clarence Darrow, of Chicago, and Mr...
...The sham battles between the blue army of defense and the red army of attack is expected to demonstrate whether Massachusetts, and especially Boston, is sufficiently protected against a foreign foe...
...Mounted state troopers galloped indiscriminately through the streets with riot maces drawn, cracking the heads of all persons loitering in the vicinity of the mill...
...The series between President Samuel Dickie of Albion College and Mayor David R. Rose of Milwaukee being probably the most widely advertised...
...It is perhaps the most extensive game of war ever played in the northern states...
...When last week's account of this wage dispute was written, a settlement seemed assured and the city had begun to breathe more freely...
...I wish to make this regulation as broad as possible," he added, "and wish it enforced without exception...
...It will be remembered that the Al-drich-Payne tariff law made provision for a board of experts to be appointed by the President to assist him in the administration of the customs law...
...thence to Strassburg, and later to France...
...United States Gets in on China Loan News came from Pekin on the 17th that a final agreement as to the Hankow-Szechuen railroad loan had been reached, and as a result United States financiers will be permitted to participate in the loan to the extent of $7,500,000...
...Indiana and Micih-gan will be visited when the sessions are concluded in Chicago...
...It was evidently written by one of the strikebreakers within, and bore the words: "We want to get out of here...
...Ballinger would take this opportunity to reply to the criticisms, but although the secretary will be in Seattle at the time of the meeting, he has indicated no desire to speak on the subject...
...Pardee attacked the Ballinger policy very vigorously at the National Irrigation Congress, it was expected that Mr...
...Open sessions were held in all of these states and both advocates and opponents of primary elections were invited to appear...
...Inasmuch as Mr...
...New Tariff Board Among the other official matters that have engaged the President's attention during his summer vacation, is the appointment of a tariff board...
...But on the 23rd came reports of a violent outbreak of rioting, during which five persons were killed and many injured...
...By taking such action, this organization has pointed out the way to other associations of all kinds to place themselves officially on record upon this measure...
...Pinchot may be forced to resign as a result of his vigorous advocacy of the Roosevelt policy was made the text of many editorials commending his work and pointing out the serious loss to the public that would result from the displacement of so valuable a public servant...
...Some predictions are made that the monetary commission will not be ready to report to Congress until 1911, and it is reported that there are political leaders who are advising the policy of holding the currency legislation over until the next administration, so as not to load down the present one with both a new tariff law and a new monetary policy...
...So, theoretically, Boston is now in a state of siege...
...The members of the mob then opened fire with rifles...
...Ballinger's action in throwing open to entry public lands containing valuable water power sites as sufficient grounds for believing that his policy as Secretary of the Interior will continue favorable to land-seeking combinations, but even these papers are careful to point out the danger of adopting such a policy...
...Pinchot will speak on the principles of conservation, and former governor George C. Pardee of California will talk about the right use of our natural resources...
...Yoakum condemned what he characterized as the wanton extravagance of the government in the construction of waterways...
...Water Ways Commission Also Busy While Senator Aldrich's commission is grappling with the monetary problem, Senator Burton's committee, appointed by both houses of Congress to study and report on the water way situation, is in Europe gathering data...
...This provision marks the limit beyond which Aldrich and his associates refused to go in the enactment of a law that would create a permanent tariff commission to deal with the tariff on an impartial and scientific basis...
...Among these may be mentioned the committees of the legislatures of Wisconsin, New York and Minnesota engaged in studying out a system of workingmen's accident insurance, the Wisconsin committees on the income tax, good roads, guarantee of bank deposits and other measures, and the New York committee on primary election legislation...
...Vreeland, chairman, Senators Burrows and Daniel, Representative Weeks and Mr...
...Six strikers fell at the first round...
...Currency Commission at Work Another matter of tremendous importance to the country that is claiming the attention of the present administration is that of currency legislation...
...It is stated that the plans have not yet reached a stage where the complaining corporations can be named, but that corporation lawyers are still debating as to the ground upon which to base their case...
...Two mounted troopers dropped from their horses, fatally shot...
...He says that Secretary MacVeagh has engaged the counsel of experts in the leading universities of the country with respect to young men especially qualified for investigative work, and that the list of names he has thus compiled probably contains the names of those who will be favored with a position...
...This strike has been in progress for several weeks...
...Fisher in an interview which appeared in the Chicago Record-Herald on the 23rd said he was confident that a settlement could be reached this time that would meet with the approval of the men, and that he regarded a strike as unlikely to occur...
...Senator Aldrich will go to Europe to make further study of the monetary systems of the mother countries, while a sub-committee, consisting of Mr...
...It has been pointed out that the constitution of the union stands in the way of a strike, in case the companies are willing to submit the dispute to arbitration, which it is understood the managers are willing to do...
...The suggestion that Mr...
...Deputy sheriffs and troopers broke in the doors of houses, suspected of being the retreat of the strikers, and wholesale arrests were made...
Vol. 1 • August 1909 • No. 34
