NEWS WORTH REMEMBERING
Newt Worth Remembering THE rail hill which was reported from conference to both lv.u:-es on the 14th was not radically changed in form or essentials from those passed by the House and Senate. The...
...Stricter and more effective laws governing the employment of children are asked, and the passage of an act limiting the working day for children to eight hours is recommended...
...The results uf the commission's work will probably be embodied in legislation...
...Vertrees, attorney for Ballinger, also reviews the evidence, charges a conspiracy, and characterizes the accusations made against his principal as "baseless and groundless...
...The new rule is intended to prevent the speaker from smothering legislation which is undesirable to him and the "powers that be" by referring it to committees which can be trusted to pigeon-hole and forever forget it...
...Further action against the trust is said to be contemplated.— The action of the Armour and Cudahy packing companies in merging their banks in Omaha, Nebraska, is regarded as a token of their relationship in the packing business.—A brief filed with the Illinois railroad and warehouse commission by attorneys for the Chicago Association of Commerce points to the high express rates in force in Illinois as compared with those charged elsewhere and adduces evidence to prove that the companies are actually non-competitive and act in concert in making rates...
...The ownership of the stock of apparently competitive companies by the others is referred to.—The House passed a resolution on June 16 calling upon the attorney genera] for information tending to show the existence of a conspiracy between the Carnegie Steel Company, the United States Steel Company and many other smaller firms, to restrain trade...
...Under a bill already reported favorably by both the House and Senate committees, Justice Moody, who has been in ill health for many months, will be enabled to resign on full pay...
...It cannot be done by lying about me or calling me names...
...Pinchot and for Mr...
...Statehood Granted A bill providing statehood for Arizona and New Mexico passed both Houses and went to the President on the 18th...
...When Representative Cooper of Wisconsin asked unanimous consent to reply to Mr...
...The indictment charges that the men named made an agreement with a large number of cotton mills of the South, whereby the mills agreed and did buy large quantities of cotton in order to lighten the market, while the speculators bought the remainder of the supply for the purpose of monopolizing the crop and controlling the market...
...It is evident," he said, "that the intention of these leaders (Speaker Cannon and other regulars) is to see tl.at men entering Congress become either understudies or Ishmaelites...
...The Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections has decided to report favorably a resolution providing for a most thorough investigation of the charges made regarding the manner in which Senator Lorimer's election was brought about...
...Patten and his associates claimed that it was simply a natural condition—that the supply was short...
...The other men indicted are speculators and members of the stock exchange...
...Harvester Trust in Defense On June 14 the International Harvester Company filed its brief in the suit brought to oust it from Missouri on the charge of restraining and monopolizing the business in agricultural implements, tools and machinery...
...It is not necessary for men to swallow every tariff bill that is set before them, and it would be difficult to get me out of the party on such a charge...
...Ballinger is not a man fit to be trusted with the care and guardianship of public property...
...Ballinger a man so single minded, enlightened, and courageous, so zealously devoted to the interests of the common people, so vigilant and resolute in resisting the insidious aggressions of the special interests, that to him may be intrusted the carrying forward of the broad policy of conservation of our national resources...
...The indictment is not aimed at the methods prevailing on the New York Stock Exchange, it is said, but is simply meant to prevent the monopolizing of farm products by speculators for their own private gain...
...The defense, i't is said, will consist of an attempt to show a conspiracy between the Tribune, Governor Deneen, and others, against Senator Lorimer...
...Afterward the legislator received $1,000 from Brown, according to his testimony...
...White voluntarily exhibited a contract made with the Tribune, by which the paper agreed to pay him $3,250 for his story...
...The Senate adopted the conference report on June 17 by a vote of 50 to 11...
...This is considered, by the government prosecutors, as a restraint of trade, in violation of the Sherman anti-trust law forbidding such combines...
...During the last month or two many cotton mills have shut down, on account of the high price of the product, it is said...
...Dispatches state that the rule, reported by the rules committee after several days' consideration and conference, was passed by the House '"amid love feasting and general jollification...
...With the fall elections almost at hand...
...It provided for the creation of a conservation commission...
...They sum up the Secretary's defense as simply a pleading of ignorance of the situation in Alaska, and a laying of the responsibility for the acts for which he has been criticized upon subordinates...
...He again told of being paid $1,000 by Browne for voting for Lorimer for Senator...
...with the knowledge that 47 Republicans had decided to "insurge" in order that with the aid of the Democrats they might once more secure a reduction of the Speaker's power, there is little reason for wonder at the sudden transformation of "regulars" who have heretofore regarded the work and power of the Speaker as too sacred to be dealt with by their unhallowed hands...
...President Taft signed the bill the same night...
...Regulars and progressives joined in voting for the passage of the bill...
...It is not likely that the two territories affected will become full-fledged states until a short time before the presidential election of 1912...
...He denounced "demagogues, uplift magazines and the self-constituted critics of the daily press...
...Senator Dolliver referred to the President as one following the views of the standpatters in Congress "in the delusion that he is their leader...
...I never dreamed that I would be called upon to defend myself against the charge of taking seriously the President's speeches and the party's platform pledges...
...Sixty days will elapse before the rest of the bill becomes effective...
...Progressives have been accused of being traitors to the Republican party, of deserting to the Democratic party, and of hamstringing the President in his efforts to c?.rry out the platform pledges...
...The cotton textile industry is one of the most highly protected under the Payne-Aldrich tariff law...
...Paul speech cf June 11 in which was pointed out the control of national affairs by special interests through their hold upon politics, came the speech of Senator Dolliver of Iowa...
...In 152 southern mills, women constituted 27 per cent, of the total and children 20 per cent...
...Refuses lo be "Read Out" Following hard upon Gifford Pinch&t's St...
...For some weeks it has been rumored that before the present session was over, a great uprising against the Speaker and the House machine would take place, but the passage of this rule may have put an end to such a possibility...
...The highest officers of the government, legislative and executive, have set on foot an organized defamation of the Insurgents...
...To Upbuild the Party Senator Dolliver spoke of his support of the candidacy of the President, of his earnest hope that he would "stand against the conspiracy of greed and avarice that would enslave the party...
...He outlined his position and that of his progressive colleagues in such terms as these: "I shall fight Republican rottenness, but I shall do it as a Republican...
...He did not mince words when discussing the President's attitude toward the Progressives and ridiculed his defenses of the Payne-Aldrich tariff bill, asserting that the figures he had used were "a grotesque table of reduction in duties which was prepared by a paymaster in the army," and that other "bogus figures" were bein^ used to "bolster up" the law...
...An amendment proposed by Mr...
...The views of the Progressives were expressed in this language: "I notify all parties that I have no intention of leaving the Republican party...
...Among the men indicted are James A. Patten of Chicago, who cornered wheat a year ago, and Eugene B. Scales of Houston, Texas, supposed to be one of the leading lights of the pool...
...I share the univer^ sal disgust of making a great executive department the headquarters of the awkward squad of politics...
...I reject the terms and shall contend for independence within the party...
...Cannon Speaks Again Speaker Cannon gave his opinion of the new rule adopted by the House on the preceding day in his characteristic manner...
...The Republicans were a unit in voting for it...
...Mitchell Urges Accident Insurance John Mitchell, former head of the United Mine Workers, speaking in Chi-cago on June 16, made the statement that the United States had the worst laws in the world for the protection of labor, and' advocated industrial accident insurance legislation and other acts to protect the worker...
...C. S. Funk, general manager of the company, in an interview given on the 16th made the statement that the company had abandoned the old "trust" policy of concealment, and declared that last year when the Missouri suit was started, the company had sent its books, and officers to testify, without resisting the attempt to secure evidence...
...The parts of the bill empowering the Interstate Commerce Commission to investigate and suspend new rates will go into immediate effect in accordance with the President's agreement with the railroad managers a few weeks ago...
...Conservation Bill Passed After a debate in which Senators Heyburn and Hughes took occasion to express their disapproval of Mr...
...The briefs prepared by the attorneys for Mr...
...Insurgents and Regulars lining up together on such a proposal, all the Democrats except one joining the other members in an attempt to give to members of the House the right to represent their constituencies without obtaining the Speaker's consent...
...The confeience devoted its time to perfecting the phraseology of some uf the provisions and recasting others in order to give them strength to withstand the attacks expected to be made on their constitutionality...
...I do not fight to destroy the party but to upbuild it...
...The Progressives had made little reply to these charges, until the senior Senator from Iowa arose in the Senate on June 13 and delivered one of the most striking and stirring speeches of the present session of Congress...
...Foe or Friend of Conservation...
...Gallinger, in speaking of such a commission, said: "If the misfortune overtakes us of having at the head of the commission the gentleman mentioned, (Mr...
...It proceeds from a so-called campaign committee, presided over by a multi-millionaire promoter of street car franchises, with a treasury filled with rotten money...
...The Senate at the same time authorized the issuance of $30,000,000 worth of certificates of indebtedness to provide for the completion of irrigation and reclamation projects already under way...
...It cannot be done by lying about me or by calling me nr.mes, such as free trader or Democrat...
...He defended himself and claimed that the new rule gave the House no more power over legislation pigeon-holed in committee than it has heretofore possersed...
...They saw Representative Smith of Iowa making a "leading speech" in behalf of a rule to curtail the Speaker's power...
...The conclusion reached by the lawyers for Glavis and Pinchot after a study of the evidence is that Mr...
...Six Democrats joined the majority...
...It will be difficult to get me out of the party...
...Dixon offered an amend-: lent, subsequently withdrawn, which aroused the ire of some of the western senators...
...One of the witnesses for the state, a Democratic member of the legislature, testified that Senator Lorimer himself had solicited his vote and had secured it, though there had been no explicit promise of financial reward...
...i .iichot's conservation policy, and the movement which aims to giv • greater powers to the government in the control of water power sites, mining lands, etc., the conservation bill deemed by the President most urgent was passed by the Senate on June 15...
...Selfishness of parents, poor health, discontent with school, the failure of the schools to fit the needs of all the children and the desire of the children themselves for the money to be earned are given as causes for the presence ef child labor...
...Tlie bill contains practically the same general provisions as th'.>e contained in the Senate bill, Senator La Follette's analysis of which was printed in La Follette's of June 11...
...A provision is also included which gives the President authorization to immediately appoint a commission to make a study of the question of railroad capitalization, and the issuance of stocks and bonds...
...Happenings in Congress Under the terms of the rivers and harbors appropriation bill passed by Congress and awaiting the President's consideration, an engineering board is to be appointed to study the feasibility of the lakes to the gulf deep waterway project.—The House has authorized a $30u,COO appropriation for raising or lemoving the wreck of the battleship Maine from the harbor of Havana, where it has lain since the time of the explosion which resulted in a war.—It is probable that a new vacancy will soon be created on the Supreme Bench of the United States...
...Glavis sum up the evidence and ask: "Is Mr...
...The action was a distinct surprise to many...
...These will be put to a general vote and if accepted by the people of the territories must be approved by the President and Congress...
...The state has closed its case and the testimony for defense is now being heard...
...Developments in Lorimer Scandal The trial, begun in Chicago last week, of Lee O'Neille Brcwne, Democratic member of the Illinois legislature, brought out testimony corroborating the statements made by Charles A. White in the Tribune and before the grand jury, and by other legislators who testified before that body...
...The sub-committee that will be appointed may delay its work because of the necessity that some of its members return to their own states to campaign for re-election...
...I do not purpose that my remaining years shall be given up to a dull consent to those conspiracies which would rob the people to multiply private wealth...
...He said that the company would not resort to legal technicalities in order to avoid investigation but would freely submit to inquiries.—The Pullman car company has asked for a rehearing of the cases in which the Interstate Commerce Commission ordered a reduction of sleeping car rates.—On the 25th ouster suits were instituted by the State of Missouri against the Armour, Swift and Morris packing companies and several other smaller companies composing the National Packing Company...
...He found that nearly 70 per cent, of the children employed entered factories, while a large percentage of the others were occupied where there was no prospect for the future...
...Of the men operatives in the New England mills, 48.6 per cent, received less than $7 a week, while 55.5 per cent, of the females were paid less than that amount...
...Cannon's speech, Representative Tawney objected and prevented further discussion...
...with the necessity of facing inquiring constituents an unpleasant reality soon to fee endured...
...Child Labor in Cotton Mills A report of the bureau of labor shows that in forty-six New England cotton mills investigated, 43.3 per cent, of all operatives were women and girls over sixteen years of age and 5.2 per cent, were children under sixteen...
...It is rumored that Justice Harlan will also retire within a short time, and that Lloyd bowers, solicitor general, will be appointed by the President when a vacancy occurs.—Secretary of State Knox denies that he will resign in order to accept the Republican nomination for governor of Pennsylvania, "Cotton Pool" Indicted An entirely new application of the Sherman anti-trust law was made on June 17 when the New York federal grand jury for May handed in an indictment against eight men, who are said to have formed what is known as a "cotton pool...
...The Commissioner states that the social dangers and injuries outweigh the physical injury connected with the employment of children in industry...
...Finchot), I can see nothing but trouble ahead...
...The final briefs in the Ballinger-Pin-chot investigation were filed by the attorneys for the "prosecution" and "defense" on June 13...
...Ju^.ge McSurely barred, testimony relating to the distribution of jackpot funds...
...Cannon Deprived of Fewer Last week the public was given opportunity to witness the novel spectacle of "regular" statesmen strongly advocating by speech and vote and with apparent enthusiasm the passage of a rule to further limit the already somewhat crippled power of the Speaker of the House of Representatives...
...The act provides that the territories shall call conventions to formulate constitutions...
...The speech was made while the Senate had under consideration the sundry civil appropriation bill, providing $250,000 for the carying on of the work of the tariff board...
...Least of all can it be done by taking from my neck the millstone of political patronage...
...For Eight Hour Day An investigation of the conditions and amount of child labor within the state has been made by Labor Commissioner Beck of Wisconsin...
...The most important change was the adoption of the House long and short haul provision...
...Gore bringing the friar lands of the Philippines within the operation of the general land laws of those islands was defeated, as was an amendment offered by Senator Beveridge withdrawing from entry the coal lands of Alaska, and providing for their leasing...
...It gives to the chief executive the power to withdraw public lands pending examination to determine what their final disposition shall be, and pending action by Congress toward the formulation of a definite government policy of conservation...
...In the Southern mills 7.9 per cent, of the men operatives, competing with w.smen and children, received less than $7 a week, while of the women and girl operatives of all ages in the southern mills, 86.1 per cent, were paid a lower amount than that...
...White took the stand for the state and repeated his story of corruption, as already summarized in La Follette's...
...During the spring it was frequently charged that the cotton market was being manipulated by speculators, but Mr...
...He declared that he would not surrender the dictates of his conscience on the altar of party regularity...
...The report continues: "In leturn for the fatigue, the occasional danger, the mental arrest and the nigral and social injuries resulting from their labor, the girls commonly earn from $2 to $4 and the boys $3 to $5 a week...
...They are charged with composing a trust to control the price of meat and to destroy competition and restrain trade.—It is reported that the railroads of the country have not cancelled orders for improvements and new supplies as generally as it was thought they would at the time the government restrained by injunction the advance of freight rates .hat had been agreed upon...
...The House passed the bill on the 18th without even a roll call and with little debate...
...It is believed that no great amount of curtailment and retrenchment will take place, although some of the higher railroad officers express the opinion that the new law is very drastic and must be "wisely" administered by the Interstate Commerce Commission in order to prevent a depression of the transportation business.—Richard Parr, the customs deputy at New York who discovered the secret spring by which the sugar trust defrauded the government of many millions of dollars in import duties, has been promised a reward of $100,000 by the government...
...It provides that upon petition of any member a majority of the full membership of the House may discharge any committee from consideration of any bill and bring the bill up on the floor of the House for direct action...
Vol. 2 • June 1910 • No. 25
