NEWS WORTH REMEMBERING
News Worth Remembering PRESIDENT TAFT for a second time has "invaded" the Middle West. On March 17 he visited Chicago. Large crowds greeted him, and the numerous speeches he delivered were...
...Ballinger on Conservation Secretary Ballinger's address was the feature of the Minnesota Conservation and Agricultural Development Congress, held in St...
...Before the Hamilton Club he said that he was trying hard to get through Congress legislation pledged by the Republican party in its platform and pleaded for the support of the entire party, referring to the generally expressed fear that the Democrats may control the next House...
...The bill was drawn up by Attorney General Wicker-sham under President Taft's direction after the President had consulted with many of the leading railroad men of the country and a number of shippers...
...In a speech before the Newspaper Club, President Taft said he had been the victim of many false statements sent ANOTHER UNPOPULAR PEER out from Washington by prejudiced correspondents...
...Other strikes seem imminent...
...The report states that no evidence of "corrupt" use of money was found but recommends certain bills intended to curb- the excessive use of money in campaigns...
...Knapp of the Interstate Commerce Commission and Labor Commissioner Neill as mediators...
...The meeting is to be held in St...
...The French tariff dispute has been settled and the only country of importance with which an agreement has not been reached in regard to the application of tariff imposts is Canada...
...He sketched the causes which brought about the new movement...
...He thought it only right to consult with railroad men in regard to legislation on this subject, in order that they might be given a chance to present their side of the case...
...Cummins Makes Notable Speech Senator Cummins' four-day speech on the Senate railroad regulation bill was the event of greatest importance in Congress last week, with the exception of...
...The Chancellor may be forced to resign...
...He declared that the law which he considered of greatest importance to the conservation movement at the present time was that validating the withdrawals of lands that have been made in the past by the President and the Interior Department and giving them specific authority to continue withdrawals...
...He further defined his position in the words: "After long indifference on the part of the people to the public domain, a deep concern suddenly had arisen respecting the remnant of the national estate, with a wholly exaggerated notion of what should be done with it by the government...
...Trusts Fight Punishment Arguments, before the Supreme Court of the United States in the suit brought to dissolve the Standard Oil Company and those testing the constitutionality of the corporation tax, ended on the 16tfa and 18th respectively and the court is now considering the fate of the company and of the law.—The indicted packers are said to be planning a determined fight against extradition to New Jersey for trial on the charges recently made by the grand jury of Hudson county...
...The Secretary declared that the burden of conservation depended for the most part upon the states and not the general government and said that if the states take no action to conserve their resources no responsibility rests on the central government...
...A strike order had already been prepared which would have caused the laying down of work by 27,000 firemen and engineers employed on 49 western railroads...
...Speakers at the sessions of the congress, pleaded for a more general interest in conservation and laws to regulate the use of water powers and other natural resources of the commonwealth...
...Charges are made that the governing party is responsible...
...to permit the.Interstate Commerce Commission to participate in defending its orders before the court of commerce...
...In opening his address on conservation he referred to Roosevelt as the originator of the movement and Gifford Pinchot as the man who inspired tne ex-President in the formulation of this policy...
...A ticket for the state offices was nominated...
...Between the hysteria that exists on the one side, and the tendency to despoil the public domain on the other, we will, it is hoped, be able to find the true policy of the government...
...Owing to the failure of all negotiations heretofore, President Taft has personally taken hold of the situation that a disastrous tariff war may not be precipitated after April 1. The conviction of two of the men charged with complicity in the great capitol graft scandal of Pennsylvania was upheld by the Supreme Court of that state on March 7. A meeting of the progressive Republicans of South Dakota was held at Huron on February 24...
...The mediators will simply determine what points may properly be submitted to arbitration and then a special board of arbitration will be appointed to solve the differences...
...Switchmen employed in Chicago railroad yards will receive an increase in wages as a result of arbitration by the Illinois State Board...
...Resolutions were adopted asserting loyalty to the party, commending the Roosevelt policies and pledging support to the present administration in carrying them out, endorsing the Payne tariff law but declaring that it should be improved, endorsing a graduated income tax, declaring a determined warfare upon Cannonism, favoring a recall provision of the primary law and urging the conservation of natural resources...
...4,000 leather makers scattered over the country have been ordered out unless employers grant their demands for shorter hours of work and higher wages...
...On the first day of his speech Senator Cummins dwelt at length on the manner in which the bill had been formulated and protested against what he regarded as the dictatorial attitude of the administration in drawing up bills and sending them to Congress with the intimation that if they were not passed forthwith, as presented, punishment would follow to those opposing them...
...The President said that there was a constant tendency toward monopoly in business at the present time and for that reason the disposal of coal lands and water power sites now owned by the government was of wide interest...
...He reiterated his well-known views on the development of inland waterways, and the movement for a national health bureau was commended...
...An immediate and speedy survey and classification of all public lands was recommended, and the present laws concerning these lands were declared to be impractical and absurd...
...Governor Haskell of Oklahoma has been exonerated of charges of misappropriation of state funds by a committee of the legislature appointed to investigate his expenditures...
...Congressional Notes The bill introduced by Representative Sabath for the compensation of injured employees of interstate corporations on a basis fixed by statute is before the judiciary committee of the House...
...to restore the provision of the present law giving shippers the right of appeal...
...Large crowds greeted him, and the numerous speeches he delivered were attentively followed...
...Canada has voted for the construction of a navy independent of that of Great Britain...
...The general feeling is that within a short time another general election will be held, the result of which will be decisively for or against the Liberals and their plan of land value taxation, and the Tories with their demand for "tariff reform...
...and to abolish that section which gives the commerce court the power to determine whether a merger of railroads is illegal...
...He declared himself "as ardent an advocate of wise conservation as the most radical," but modified this statement with "but it must be wise conservation to appeal to me...
...The acquisition of timber tracts and the practice of scientific forestry by the railroads to meet their timber needs was urged...
...Railroads Urge Conservation Conservation is becoming vital to more and more people and interests...
...Its constitutionality is being questioned by its opponents.—The committee on education and labor of the Senate has reported favorably a bill to establish in the department of commerce and labor a children's bureau, which shall deal with questions affecting the health, education and labor of children.—The question of whether the express companies are invading a government monopoly in carrying small packages has been submitted to the Attorney General for answer...
...the Cannon fight in the House...
...The misappropriation of several million dollars in the course of the government's liquidation of church properties, is stirring France...
...Senator Cummins voiced the objections of the progressives in his attack on some of the provisions of what is known as the administration measure...
...On this bill the full strength of the progressives and regulars will be matched...
...Big Strike Averted A strike which promised to be the most serious that has ever taken place on the railways of the United States was narrowly averted last week, through the offices of Chairman...
...Neodosha, Kansas, and Rapid City, South Dakota, have adopted the commission form of government...
...The Supreme Court on March 14 decided that the North Dakota law, fixing the coal rate is constitutional.— In spite of the great number of actions brought against them, railroads report that the congestion of traffic of the last few months has been cleared, and that business is increasing enormously—so much so in some cases that enough carl cannot be secured to handle the freight shipped...
...Paul last week...
...They are the largest manufacturers of electrical equipment in the country and at present are competitors...
...It is charged that the Bethlehem Steel Company has received special rates below the published tariffs of the companies and has been favored in the supplying of cars for shipment...
...The U. S. Steel Corporation also reports an immense increase of business and greater earnings for the last year.—The Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company and the General Electric Company, may unite in one corporation capitalized at $160,000,-000...
...Cummins had completed his speech on the 18th, it seemed likely that the law when passed by the Senate would embody the provisions advocated by the progressives, particularly those aiming to give the special commerce court no more power than is now enjoyed by the circuit courts of the countrv: to renuire that all traffic agreements between railroads shall first be approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission before becoming effective...
...Foreign Politics Unsettled The Parliamentary situation in England is as unsettled as ever...
...In all probability the result would have been the complete stoppage of railroad traffic throughout the country...
...There is much talk about the conservation of our natural resources, and nebulous theories that sound good to the ear but are impossible of practical application to existing conditions are advanced...
...Louis and will probably be the biggest of its kind ever held...
...on April 1, 400,000 union coal miners may walk out unless they are given increased pay, and a general sympathetic strike throughout the state of Pennsylvania may be expected if the Philadelphia traction company maintains its stubborn attitude against arbitration...
...The section of the law which permits of "traffic agreements between railroads without the sanction of the Interstate Commerce Commission was declared by Senator Cummins to be a blow at the Sherman anti-trust law...
...News Notes The committee of the Wisconsin legislature appointed to investigate the expenditures of senatorial candidates in the primary election of last fall has presented a majority report...
...Though the railroads had before the issuance of the strike order refused to arbitrate disputed points, the threat of a strike had an instant effect and will probably end in the peaceful settlement of the dispute...
...Before the Traffic Club he said that he believed in wise laws to regulate railroads—laws that would be of benefit to the public, the shipper, and the railroads, and which if not obeyed would be enforced impartially...
...It is expected that a minority report will soon be submitted...
...The lower house of the Massachusetts legislature has defeated a resolution to submit to a referendum vote of the people of the state the question of prohibition...
...Taft's bill and that this fact was a sufficient explanation of its character...
...Senators Al-drich and Elkins when asked pertinent questions concerning certain provisions of the bill took refuge in the statement that it was Mr...
...After Mr...
...A joint convention of the Farmers' Union of the South and the American Society of Equity will be held in May to effect, if possible, a consolidation of the two bodies, and to discuss measures for the promotion of further cooperation of the farmers of the country in selling their products and buying supplies...
...The references brought out tremendous applause...
...The passage of the bill appropriating thirty millions for the carrying on of the work of the reclamation service was declared to be an important part of the conservation program, and the opposition with which all the conservation bills were meeting in Congress was touched upon...
...The fight being waged by the Socialists is one of the fiercest in the history of the empire...
...Demonstrations and protests against the German government's suffrage bill reached a formidable height last week...
...Railroad Indicted for Rebating The Lehigh Valley and Philadelphia and Reading railroads have been indicted by a grand jury of Philadelphia for violating the Elkins act...
...At the convention of the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance of Way association held in Chicago last week, it was pointed out that the supply of timber for railway construction purposes was being rapidly devastated...
Vol. 2 • March 1910 • No. 12
