Daily Kennebec journal., 1900-12-12
CAPITAL CHAT.
Interest in Ship Subsidy and
Oleomargarine Bill.
Maine Will Get About What She Asks
for Rivers and Harbors.
Not Much Fear OF Maine Losing Ono Of Her
Representatives.

I-Besides the War Revenue repeal bill,
| which affects some interests to the ex-
| tent OF many millions annually and
the Ship Subsidy bill, which means the
ultimate expenditure Of immense for
| tunes the ELECTROMAGNETIC bin
passed by the House last week loomed
up in the path of national legislators
as the biggest object of this session
| OleOmargerine cannot be sold in Maine
without violation of the law but the
Maine dairymen are nevertheless
deeply concerned over the fate Of the
measure and the three Maine mem
bers all voted in favor Of it. If the
| bill becomes law it will virtually
stamp out the sale of oleomargerine
which represents an investment Of
large sums of money and the employ
| ment of thousands Of people.
There were protests loud and deep
| against the passage Of such a bill by
many men who actually voted for II
| but these protests were chiefly con
! fined to the cloakrooms It's passage
which the farmers all over the coun-
try have demanded, illustrated better
than any previous legislation the fact
OF representative government based on
| the viii OF the people. One may count
| fifty members of the House whose
political life would have ended with a
| vote against the measure and who.
nevertheless. believed that they ought
not to support ii, not for any inter-
est in the oleomargerine industry, but
| because they regard il as unwise to set
a precedent for repressive legislation.
| Representative Payne of New York.
| chairman of the committee on ways
and means-the position that the late
| Representative Dingley of Maine held
fought the measure from the be-
| ginning. but he comes from large
| agricultural district in central New
York and many of his constituents
| declaimed loudly because of his atti-
| tude. He remained silent during the
| debate but on the roll call swallowed
| his scruples and voted for the bill.
| His colleague, Representative Wads-
worth of New York. chairman OF the
agricultural committee that framed
the bill, persisted in his opposition to
| il and voted against it, but in favor
| of substitute that would prevent
fIaud in the sale Of oleO.
Before the end of this week the
River and Harbor Appropriations bill
ought TO be out of committee. An ef-
| fort is on foot to place the large ap-
priation asked for the further i'm
provement of the Kennebec on the
Sundry Civil Appropriation bill under
the mead OF continuing Improvements
Ihat is Tor the purpose of relieving
| the River and Harbor bill Of certain
items that still more Maine projects
may be cared for A member of the
committee. who is very friendly to
Maine people. told the Journal corre-
spondent today that Maine will get
about what she wants anyway" and
he knows pretty well what he is
talking about. 1t is probabIe that the
bill will be passed next week so that
the Senate can get at ii as early as
possible
The friendship for Maine men is
everywhere apparent in the political
life Of Washington. II pervades the
House of Representatives., although the
proverbial selfishness Of officialdom
fiourishes there. In the days Of the
old Maine delegation large sums of
money We're obtained for the improve
ment OF Maine rivers and harbors but
this fact is not used as a bar to fur
ther appropriations az might be the
case with states that have furnished
less illustrious men. But large por-
tion of the working members of the
House owe much Of their promotion
and many former favors to the Maine
men who for six years practically
ruled that body, something that
furnishes good basis for the grant
ing Of favors even in the present
II will be a very interesting test
when vote is reached on the bill to
place Capt. G. A. Boutelle OF Bangor.
on the retired list Of the navy with the
rank Of captain. The bill, which Rep
resentative Burleigh introduced, was
given practically unanimous
vote in the committee on naval affairs
last week, and is now on the House
calendar, where it can only be taken
up. under existing conditions. on a call
of committees. ii is true the Demo
cratic members of the committee did
not vote for the bill but they did not
vote against it. acquiescing in the
action taken. There is deep and
widespread sympathy for Capt !
Boutelle in the House and personally |
every man would like to aid him. The
HDAtNeI. VIII 10 some
extent oppose the bill on principle, not
on personal grounds.
Representative George z. Foss Of
Chicago. the young Republican who
visited Maine during the State cam
paign, is now the full fedged chair
man Of naval affairs. He is thirty
seven years old, the youngest man who
ever held such responsible place
He has been in Congress six years and
has more than a passing interest to
Maine people because he il native of
Franklin county, Vermont. and was
intended by his father as future stu
dent of Colby College. Instead Of
that he graduated at Harvard. He
comes of Baptist stock and his family
have long been friendly to Colby. His
father lately sailed for a trip to
Europe
This is q gala week at the Capitol.
for there are many visitors come to
. h.