Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1888-01-28
WASHINGTON LETTER.
WASHINGTON. JAN. %,

w Aon1S04OAts y <A&ts AOs AS~>''
For do notbingness, the present
Congress is a long ways ahead OF all
its predecessors. The House Com
mlttee on commerce Rave the subject
OF the Reading Railroad now before
them. IL has been informally dis
cussed, aud the fact developed. that
abopt one half the committee are OPP
posed to any Congressional iDvestl
CATION, believing ifany is necessary,
it is within the province of the In
ter State Commerce Commission to
make it. The question will be call
ed up again to morrow, when dele
cation of Knights of Labor who
want a Congressional Investigations.
will endeayor to get a hearing.
Congressional investigations are
always popular with a certain class
of Con gressmen, particularly II the
corporations aud individuals happen
to be wealthy. Imprcunious Con
grassmpn want all the opportunity
for fat pickings that they eau get,
aud they are sure to make the most
of their opportunities. The latest
proposed investigation is that pro
vided by Mr.. Ma on's bill, which
proposes to empower a Congression-
al committee to investigate all The
trusts and combines that have been
entered Into by firms, corporations,
and individuals in Coal, Sugar, Min
ing, aud kindred subjects. The
House Committee on Manufactures
has unanimously agreed to report
this bill favorably and they are ex-
pected to do so early this week.
Then these impecunious Congress
men will begin to indulge in cham
payne and tcrrapin stew, and to ride
TO aud from the Capitol in coupes in.
stead of the plebeian street cars and
berdics.
1t is said there is a strong lobby
with unlimited cash behind them,
who are here for the express purpose
of opposing this bill. fit were not
for this lobby 1t is extremely doubt
ful whether the investigation would
ever have been proposed.
just why Secretary Villas, late
Postmaster General, should have
been willing and apparently anxious
to go down a grade IN official digni
ty as he did in accepting the port.
folio Of the Interior Department, has
been quite puzzling to great many
people. The whole matter is ex-
planned, however, by the following
official order which was made public
on Saturday.
Secretary Villas has relieved As.
.lstant Secretary Muldrow OF the
care of supervising land decisions,
and in the future he will devote his
personal attention to them.
Which means in plain English
that from this time on, the entire
public land system of the United
States is to be manipulated in the
interest IF Cleyeland's re election.
Keep your eye on Villas and his land
dec slons between now and next
November.
The Postoffice Department has is
sued a circular giving the construc.
ton that the Department will put
upon the new law concerning the
amount of printing or writing that
may be placed on the wrappers OF
second, third, and fourth class mail
matter. This new law received the
Presidents signature on Saturday.
| The anti Randall Democrats in
Congress ore wild with joy over the
defeat of the Randall candidate for
the craftsmanship of the Democratic
State Central Committee, of Pennsyl-
vania, and the passage by that com
mittee of resolution strongly en-.
dorsing Cleveland and commencing
his recommendation for reducing the
tariff. Mr.. Randall keeps cool, and
says the result will not change his
legislative course one iota, but he
does not intimate what that course
will be during the present session of
Congress. But it is safe to say that
his opinion on the tariff has not I'M
dergone any change since the adj
journment of the forty ninth Con
gress. 1t is claimed by anti-internal
revenue men, that Randall is with
them in their EXTREMIST measures,
while others Will tell you that he
only favors the abolition of the to-
baccO tax and still few, very few,
others will tell you that he will favor
the bill for reducing the tariff, that
will he reported by the Committee
on Ways and Means. The fact of
the matter is, no one knows what
Randall intends doing. He has not
committed himself. His enemies
think that bis defeat in Pennsylvan-
ia will deprive him of some of his
prestige and power 10 the House.
| We shall see.