NEWS WORTH REMEMBERING
News Worth Remembering SELDOM has a week brought forth a succession of more momentous and sensational events than those that have transpired during the past few days at the national capital. The...
...The Speaker attempted to minimize the significance of the event...
...By the close vote of 149 to 146 the House decided that its members of the joint committee should be elected instead of appointed...
...Price and Shaw, as well as the course taken by Mr...
...Both parties have agreed to arbitration by the government commissioners...
...Pinchot said, "Price and Shaw concede that what they did transgressed propriety, but, measured by the emergency which faced them, by the purity of their motives and the results which they accomplished, their breach of duty sinks well nigh to insignificance...
...The list of House members had been unofficially given out several days before...
...It is charged that these agreements "prevented, eliminated and destroyed competition by fixing arbitrary and noncompetitive prices," and levied an "unlawful tax upon the people of the United States, amounting to $5,000,000 annually...
...For the last few months, the recommendations of Insurgents of the two Houses for appointments in their states have been disregarded persistently...
...On January 5, President Taft sent to the Senate nominations for members of the new court of customs appeals, authorized under the Payne tariff law...
...He had served in six sessions of the House and was a member of the ways and means committee of the special session which passed the Payne tariff bill...
...The American Civic Association has moved its headquarters from Harrisburg, Pa., to Washington, D. C. The work of the Association is growing in importance and scope, and the subject of City Planning will be taken up in connection with the work which is being done toward civic improvement, generally...
...I wish to make this distinction as emphatic as possible," says the President, "because I conceive that nothing could happen more destructive to the property of this country than the loss of that great economy in production which has been and will be effected in all manufacturing lines by the employment of large capital under one management...
...Another amendment offered by Representative Cooper of Wisconsin provided that all hearings by the investigating committee should be open to the public...
...His dismissal has set loose a flood of conjectures as to its probable effect upon national politics and upon the congressional investigation of Secretary Ballinger...
...When Representative Miller of Minnesota made a statement last week that Postmaster Hitchcock had declared that no more federal patronage would be bestowed upon those Insurgents in Congress who did not support the tariff and other measures having the sanction of the administration, deep feeling was aroused...
...The bill does not differ essentially from those introduced at other sessions of Congress, except that it provides that no steamship line owned or controlled by a railroad may enjoy the benefit of its provisions...
...6. Power should be given the interstate commerce commission to suspend the application of new rates for a limited period, but the absolute power to initiate rates should not be granted...
...An article in Hampton's Magazine by Admiral Robley D. Evans, declaring that the Canal will never be a profitable enterprise, has renewed discussion on this phase of the undertaking...
...4. The interstate commerce law should be amended so as to permit shippers to select routes for the shipment of their freight...
...Many arrests have been made by the police for attempts on the part of strikers to peacefully persuade strike-breakers to join their cause...
...Pinchot approved the action of his assistants, Messrs...
...Speaker Cannon in a speech at Kansas City a few weeks ago declared that the Insurgents must be treated as enemies...
...Another Congressional Inquiry Congress has been aroused to action by the fact that in one year the cost of living has increased more than 11 per cent...
...At this conference it was decided to dismiss Mr...
...It is the first substantial victory the Insurgents have won...
...This association was organized in 1905, according to the indictment, and held quarterly meetings at which prices were fixed, and the amount of trade each member was to enjoy was carefully apportioned...
...It was strenuously opposed by the Democrats and a few Republicans...
...The "Open Door" in Danger The United States government has invited the cooperation of the powers in a plan for the ownership of the railroads of Manchuria by China...
...When the resolution was first introduced it was freely charged that its purpose was to allow the "packing" of the committee and the subsequent whitewashing of the Secretary of the Interior...
...Recently J. Pierpont Morgan secured control of two life insurance companies with many hundreds of millions of resources, and during the last week was prominent in the merger of two trust companies with combined deposits of $210,000,000...
...He said that Price and Shaw, in an official report they had themselves prepared and which Forester Pinchot had transmitted to the Secretary of Agriculture, showed that they had endeavored "to direct public attention to the imminent danger that the Alaskan coal fields, still in government ownership, might pass forever into private hands with little or no compensation to the public...
...Hitchcock denied this, but admitted that the matter was under consideration...
...News of the Trusts On January 7, the Paper Board Association, comprising 140 prominent paper manufacturers, was indicted, charged with being an illegal combination in restraint of trade...
...This is a part of the general labor fight on the United States Steel Corporation...
...7. Railroads should be prohibited from acquiring stock in competing lines...
...This suit will go far to show whether the Sherman anti-trust act is effective or not, and the decision of the court will be awaited with interest...
...That the responsibility for this increase cannot be laid entirely, if at all, to the retailer is made plain by the action of the commissary general of the Army, who, in asking for an emergency appropriation to purchase food for the remainder of the fiscal year, stated that the cost of rations has advanced from 19.65 cents per ration to 22 cents...
...One resolution calls for a committee to be appointed by Congress with authority to investigate the entire question and fix the responsibility, while the other calls on the Department of Commerce and Labor to furnish statistics on the question...
...This letter was read by Senator Dolliver on the floor of the Senate...
...This, with Mr...
...Glavis a megalomaniac, submits correspondence attempting to show that the Forest Service had meddled in the affairs of another department, and states that there are no grounds for assailing the integrity of Secretary Ballinger...
...This information, Mr...
...Shaw, from the service, on the ground that they had themselves destroyed their "usefulness as helpful subordinates of the Government...
...Whether Speaker Cannon or the administration is responsible for the withdrawal of patronage for the Insurgent members of Congress, is a question which is being discussed in the press...
...Pinchot's dismissal was based upon a letter he had written to Senator Dolliver...
...It is Mr...
...The Department of Agriculture is conducting an investigation, but may not be able to adequately determine the effect of the tariff on the price of commodities...
...After stating that he had reprimanded Price and Shaw for violating official ettiquette, Mr...
...The insurgents fought hard to take away from the Speaker the power to appoint the members of this committee and their success is taken by the press of the country to indicate that Cannonism in the House of Representatives is crumbling away before the assaults of the Progressive Republicans...
...It is expected that under Mayor Gaynor the police will respect the constitutional rights of citizens...
...That England's laws for the protection of labor are advanced is indicated by the fact that the New York legislative committee investigating into the operation of the employers' liability act has been presented with a bill by the labor bodies of that state, which is based on the English statute guaranteeing relief for injuries without regard to the question of negligence...
...The Insurgents assert they will not forego their honest opinions and convictions and the interests of their constituents, and meekly accept the word of Cannon and Aldrich as law, no matter what the issue...
...The people of the whole country were profoundly stirred by this event, for Gifford Pinchot is one of the most popular officials in public life, and enjoys to a rare degree the confidence of the whole people...
...I was interested to find out if possible," Mr...
...Patronage...
...The President will take up the matter with the Secretary of Commerce and Labor and Labor Commissioner Neill...
...It is announced that the Republican Congressional Committee will refuse to lend its support for the re-election of any insurgent members of the two houses, and it is said will even make an active fight against certain members of the House in the coming elections...
...Pinchot added, was of a nature proper to be made public "unless there are secrets which the people of the United States are not entitled to know concerning the source, nature and progress of claims made for portions of the public land...
...I do not mean to say that there is not a limit beyond which the economy of management by the enlargement of plant ceases...
...News Notes The message which Governor Hughes sent to the New York legislature on January 5, contained a recommendation that the legislature refuse to ratify the proposed constitutional amendment conferring upon the federal government power to collect an income tax...
...Price and Mr...
...They were all "standpatters...
...5. The interstate commerce commission should be empowered to pass upon classifications of commodities...
...There seems little chance for a bill to be passed at this session of Congress, at least, although it is backed by the President, for members of Congress are not anxious to face their constituents at the rapidly approaching congressional elections, with a record showing them to have voted for the measure...
...A steel trust with a capitalization of $500,000,<?00 is now in the process of organization in Canada...
...Governor Fort of New Jersey is said to hold like views upon the subject...
...To Representative Norris is accorded the credit of leading the insurgents to this victory...
...Special Attorney General McReynolds, speaking for the government, described the growth of the trust, which represents a consolidation of $400,000,000, and pointed out how impotent competition necessarily would be with a corporation dominating and controlling the purchasing price of raw material, and the markets for the finished product...
...He was kind enough to reply to my inquiry at some length, giving a candid—because he is not capable of any statement that is not truthful and candid—statement of the actions of the employees of the Bureau of Forestry which was subject to the criticisms which had been directed against the Bureau...
...That the United States is several centuries behind the rest of the world in regard to labor legislation is the belief of G. Bernard Shaw...
...On top of these events came the long looked for special message of President Taft, containing his recommendations with regard to important legislation...
...The exportation of American food products, wheat and meats in particular, has fallen off so sharply in recent years, that the repeated warnings of James J. Hill are receiving more serious consideration than ever before...
...On the same day, the report of Attorney General Wickersham called for by the Ballinger investigation resolution of Saturday was sent to the Senate...
...He declares that those guilty of violating the provisions of the present antitrust law will be prosecuted...
...It is announced that James A. Taw-ney, Representative from Minnesota, one of Cannon's lieutenants, will be actively opposed by the progressives of his district and state and that public sentiment is decidedly against him...
...The demand for a tariff commission with powers as great as those of other nations imposing a protective tariff, is becoming more insistent, in view of the facts which the cost of living discussion has brought info prominence...
...Morgan's connections with the National City Bank, the largest in the country, and other large aggregations of capital, makes it possible for him to control gigantic financial operations and gives control over great industrial concerns...
...In New York City, 40,000 girls, shirt waist makers, are out on a strike...
...8. Legislation should be enacted to prevent the over-issuance of stock and bond issues on the part of common carriers...
...In the Senate two resolutions have been introduced for a like investigation...
...He gave as the reason for this recommendation, the fact that the law would impose a tax upon state and municipal bonds, limiting their powers...
...But it is evident that he and his followers are in the last trenches, fighting with the fear of political death in their eyes...
...The bill confers on the President, military, civil and judicial powers, including the power to make laws...
...In a letter, he states that the conditions in the cotton mills of the South are horrible and recommends that the United States pass laws such as are in force in England...
...The strike has already spread to Philadelphia and it seems almost certain that the factories of New England will soon be involved...
...The tendency toward consolidation and "trustification" is not only evident in industrial circles but in the financial world as well...
...However, this apparent attempt to make the bill acceptable, is not regarded seriously, for it is pointed out that the railroads may with little trouble organize a holding company for their steamer lines...
...At present the roads are controlled by Japan and constitute a standing menace to the peace of the world, for they form a means of attack on Russia's Siberian possessions...
...I took the liberty of inquiring of the chief of the bureau, a man, I think, conceded by all to be a public servant with a high standard of fidelity to public duty...
...In view of the fact that all army rations are purchased at wholesale prices, the increase here is not traceable to the retail dealers...
...Ship Subsidy Bill Introduced On January 4, Representative Humphrey of Washington, introduced a ship subsidy bill...
...On the same day came the news that the insurgents in the House of Representatives had won an important victory over the Cannon forces...
...The strike of railroad switchmen, which has been in progress for several months, seems near settlement...
...The government's suit before the Supreme Court for the dissolution of the tobacco trust, was opened on January 3 in Washington...
...On the 5th, the House passed the Mann bill abolishing the Panama Canal commission and centralizing the government of the Canal zone in the hands of the President of the United States...
...It was stated that those Republicans who did not support the President's program in every particular, would be regarded as Democrats, and so treated jn the matter of patronage...
...The resolution of Representative Hull, calling for an investigation of the causes of the situation, recites that the American Sugar Refining Company is selling sugar at two cents a pound more in the United States than in foreign countries, that the prices of cotton and woolen goods have been arbitrarily increased, that "the price of meat h**s been raised by the meat trust enough to enable Armour & Company a net profit of more than 35 per cent, on its capital stock, in a year," and that the prices of most of the necessities of life on which tariff duties rest have been raised above the world's level of prices...
...The principal recommendations of the President are: 1. That the Sherman anti-trust act needs no amendment, but that a national incorporation act should be passed by Congress...
...Taft Sends Message On the 7th, President Taft's message on amendments to the interstate commerce act and the Sherman anti-trust law, was sent to the House of Representatives, and was received with intense interest...
...But if the Insurgents are to meet opposition, it is not so certain that the "standpatters" will find the road to re-election smooth...
...This is the first of the special messages on the important legislative questions confronting Congress to be submitted by the President...
...3. Traffic agreements between railroads should be permitted under the supervision of the interstate commerce commission...
...Hill's contention that unscientific farming is the cause of a shortage in the food supply of the country...
...These women, receiving from $3 to $9 a week, have found conditions of labor intolerable...
...L. R. Glavis, in arousing the public to a sense of danger with respect to the Alaskan coal land claims...
...In that report the Attorney General calls Mr...
...Who Withhold...
...2. A commerce court consisting of five Circuit judges should be established to pass upon decisions of the interstate commerce commission...
...With the roads controlled by China, the open door would be guarded by all the powers and equal opportunity given to share in the commercial development of Asia...
...I asked him what activity if any his department had in promulgating and keeping alive these accusations...
...And the House of Representatives decided that it would not trust its Speaker with the duty of appointing the members of this important committee...
...Insurgents Win Victory Scarcely less dramatic and significant was Friday's vote in the House of Representatives by which Speaker Cannon was deprived of the power to appoint the House members of the Ballinger investigating committee...
...It was he who presented the amendment taking the power of appointment away from the Speaker, for the express purpose of preventing the packing of a committee...
...The President directed a lengthy communication to each of these officials, and Secretary of Agriculture Wilson supplemented them with brief notes of dismissal...
...Labor Legislation Needed The American Federation of Labor presented to President Taft on the 6th a formal charge that the steel corporation is illegal and asked for an immediate investigation of the trust, which they claim is operating in defiance of the law...
...Dolliver said, "what activity, if any, the Bureau of Forestry had in connection with the accusations against the Department of the Interior...
...Pinchot Summarily Ousted Mr...
...Pinchot and his assistants, Mi...
...It is purposed to form an international syndicate to finance the project...
...The Eastern question seems as far from a final and satisfactory settlement as in 1900...
...In this letter, Mr...
...President Tart in that part of the message dealing with trusts says the object of the anti-trust law was not to "interfere with a great volume of capital which, concentrated under one organization, reduced the cost of production and made its profit thereby and took no advantage of its size by methods akin to duress to stifle competition with it...
...The whole country was electrified on the 8th by the news that President Taft had dismissed Chief Forester Gifford Pinchot from the Government service...
...Pinchot's letter to Senator Dolliver, President Taft called a hasty gathering of his cabinet...
...Upon hearing of Mr...
...and where this happens and combination continues beyond this point, the very fact shows intent to monopolize and not to economize...
...James M. Griggs, Representative from Georgia, died at Dawson, Ga., on January 15...
...The strikers have the support and sympathy of many of the most prominent women of New York, but it is charged that the police force has exceeded its power and has aided the employers in attempting to break the strike...
Vol. 2 • January 1910 • No. 2
