The age-herald., 1898-05-07
SENATE TALKS OF
 POSTAL AFFAIRS An Amendment to Reduce Pay
 of Railroads SUPPORTED BY PETTIGREW Faulkner Said It Would Destroy Half the Rail- roads in the South--The Number of
 ArmJ Surgeons Increased
 to Fifteen.
SUPPORTED BY PETTlGREW


 bill to increase to fifteen the number of surgeons in the United States army and to authorize the secretary of war to em- ploy as many contract surgeons as he might deem necessary.
 Almost the entire session was consumed by discussion of an amendment to the postoffce appropriation bill providing for a reduction of 20 per cent in the compensa- tion of railroads for the transportation of mails. The amendment was still pending when the senate adjourned until Monday.
 In requesting a conference upon a pen- sion bill MT. Gallinger, chairman of the pension committee, said that the house had tacitly adopted a rule that in case where general officer had no questionable status in the pension department no pension ex- ceeding $30 month would be granted, but in such cases where pension was already being received the pension might be in- creased to $50 a month. Mr. Gallinger made the statement, he said, in order that the senate might realize the futility of press ing for pensions of s75 or s1Oo month.
 Pettigrew's Amendment
 The consideration of the postoffce ap- propriation bill was resumed, the pending question being upon the amendment of- fered yesterday by Mir. Pettigrew provid- ing for a reduction of 20 per cent. in the amount paid to railroads for transporta- tion of the mails Concerning the amount Mr Quay pointed out that section or the pending bill provided for a joint commits sion consisting of three members or the senate and three of the house Of represen- tatives to make a thorough investigation of the entire subject touched by the off added that the committee on postoffces and post roads already had made partial investigation of the matter and had before it for ex- animation officers of the principal roads or the country. This investigation had shown that the amount paid for transportation of mail was much less in proportion than that paid for the transportation of freight or express matter. MT. Quay then had read some of the statements made on the subject to the committee, as he said sar- castically, Ito prepare for the political diatribes which are to follow my tre- marks"
 Not 8 Righteous Action
 After the reading of the statements by the clerk, MT. Quay said the adoption of MT. Pettigrew's amendment would result in reducing the compensation of the rail- roads $s,e00,000 without any evidence as to the results or righteousness of the &C., ton. He maintained that the investiga- ton authorized by the pending bill ought to be made before any action was taken.
 MT Pettigrew supported his amendment. He said that the statements presented by MT. Quay were purely ex parte in their nature.
 The railroad officials presented their own statements of fact and drew their own con- clusons from them. He did not regard this as evidence. He charged that ex Second Assistant Postmaster General Nei- son was only a creature of the railroads and that he had worked in the interest of the railroads. The present second post master general MT. Shalenberger, MT. Pettigrew declared, has been captured by the clerks beneath him-clerks who were put into the department when railroad off, cials were at the head of it. This, he said, was the reason, why Mr. Shallenberger in his report, had stated that the rates for carrying mail during the past fifteen years had declined 49 per cent. The only way to ascertain whether the government was now paying less for mail than itspaid if teen years ago was to figure from what was paid then, what is paid now and the weights of the mail for the two periods. This he had figured out, and was prepared to say that the post officials statements were utterly inaccurate and valueless.
 Pay More Than Express Companies
 MT. Pettigrew maintained in the course of an analysis of mail and express sta- tistics that the government paid ten times as much for the transportation of the mails as the express companies paid for the transportaton of their matter
 Mr. Faulkner presented a strong argu- ment against the Pettigrew amendment He declared that it would destroy many Of the railroads in his own state, fully one-third of those in the southern states and many throughout the country. He presented an elaborate analysis of the evidence adduced upon the subject by the postoffice and post roads committed of which he is a member rod officials and officials of the department had actually agred that the price now paid for mail transportation was entirely reason- able He was however, in favor of the creation of commission provfuo6 TOT in the bill thoroughly to investigate the whole subject and submit it's report and recom- mendations to congress.
 Mr. Quay moved that when the senate adjourned today it be to meet on Monday next. The motion was agreed to. Unani- nous consent was then given that final vote on the bill should be taken before ad- journment on Monday.
 MT Hawley chairman of the military af- fairs committee, presented a house bill to increase the number of surgeons in the army by fifteen and in emergencies giving the secretary of war authority to appoint as many contract surgeons may be necessary, the salary of each not to exceed s15O amonth. The bill was passed
 A resolution was adopted directing the committee on manufactures to investigate the adulteration of food articles by manu- facturers.
 Adjourned until Monday.
 MRS. WlNSl OW'S SOOTHING SYRUP,