The age-herald., 1900-05-18
SENATE DISCUSSED
 POSTOFFICE BILL Amendment to Reduce Amount Paid Railroads Was Lost PNEUMATIC TUBE SYSTEM
MT Wolcott Vigorously Opposed the Amendment Appropriating $75o.ooO to Maintain the Service-He Claimed
 the Scheme Was Monopoly

| ate today. The committee amendment of the extension of the pneumatic tube serv- | ice created some debate and was under I discussion when the measure was laid aside for the day. Mir. Wolcott chairman of the committee postoffices and post | roads, vigorously attacked the committees proposition to appropriate $7500 900 for pneu- matic tube service declaring the extension of the service was unnecessary, and the | appropriation waste of public money. Mir. | Mason of Illinois quite as vigorously sup ported the proposition. An amendment of MT. Butler of North Carolina, to reduce | by ten per cent the amount to be paid the railroads for the transportation of mail | was rejected, Il to l.
 The senate agreed to a further confer ence the District of Columbia appro- | priation bill.
 conference was agreed to on the naval appropria ton bill. and Mir Hale of Maine, l MT. Perkins of California and Mr Till | man of South Carolina were named as con | ferees.
 bill was passed granting pension to | General Robert c. Dyerenforth of $50 a month
 l MT. Jones of Arkansas, offered and had | adopted a resolution calling upon the sec- retary of war to inform the senate how many Filipinos have been killed and wounded since the beginning of hostilities, | and also how many have been captured, and are now in our possession. A bill was passed to provide for the refunding of certain moneys illegally assessed and col | lected in the district of Utah. | MT Platt of Connecticut chairman of l the committee on resolutions, with Cuba l said he would seek an early opportunity 1 to reply to the speech of MT. Bacon of Georgia, delivered yesterday, not in oppo- | sition, but to correct some statements | made by MT. Bacon.
 l The BI CleIUp
 MT. Wolcott of Colorado called up the postoffice appropriation bill and it's read | ing for amendment was begun.
 committee amendment was agreed to
 providing that in case the postmaster gen | eral shall rent cancelling machines and l motors, he shall pay therefor, as an an- | nual rental, sum not exceeding 15 per | cent. of the cost thereof.
 When the committee amendment appro-
 priating $750,000 for mail transportation by | pneumatic tubes was reported Mr. Wolcott
 asked that it be passed over, as it was
 certain to create much discussion. He
 said he differed from the committee on the | proposition.
 MT. Woleott also said he opposed the
 southern fast mail subsidy and the sub
 sidy for the carrying of mail between l Kansas City and Newton, Kan. No post
 master general, he said, had ever recom- | mended these subsidies.
 | committee amendment struck out a | part of the paragraph relating to the rail-
 way mail service and provided for 1,6S2 clerks at s1,2O0 each, 3SO5 clerks at s1,O 900 each and 1,9S7 clerks at 800 each.
 The final section of the bill was ate committee amendment providing for the continuance of the commission to investi- gate the question whether or not excess sive prices paid to the railroad com panies for the transportation of mails
 MT Pettigrew questioned the advisabiity of continuing the commission, as it had not yet made report upon any subject.
 MT. Wolcott, chairman of the commits | sion, made an explanation of the difficult ties encountered by the commission in ob- | taining the information desired He said | more than 1000 printed pages of testimony had been taken by the commission in all parts of the country and much of it was | very valuable.
 l Fair Isas,s of Compensation
 An effort had been made to get al a fair I basis of compensation for the railroads It 1 had been said by some that 1-cent letter l postage could be reached but he did not | think 60 per cent. of the mail matter of | the country would be carried at small per cent. of the cost and one-cent letter post | age adopted at the same time He thought | by the end of the present year the com | mission would be prepared to report. In l the unfinished state of the commissioners
 work he thought man could submit a
 fair report or a logical plan for the com | pensation of the railroads.
 MT. Pettigrew opposed the continuance of
 the commission because, he said, it stood | in the way of reducing the compensation | of the railroads by at least $15, 900 900 a | year. The amendment was passed over | temporarily.
 MT. Butler of North Carolina offered an | amendment, reducing the amount of the | appropriated by the bill for railway trans l portation of the mails from $33 S70 900 to $3O,- l 4S3,O0O; and directing the postmaster general to reduce the compensation to be paid rail- roads from and after July l, 1900, for the | transportation of the mails by at least 10 per cent per annum from the present rate | MT. Butler said he proposed again to sub init facts which he had presented to the | senate three or four times before as to the excessive cost of transporting the mails.
 Scheme 10 Delay Reduction
 He believed the postal commission which the bill sought to continue was a scheme | to delay the reduction of the costs of trans porting mail. In a brief reply to MT. But | Ter and MT. Pettigrew, MT. Wolcott char | acterized some of their statements as wild l Vasaries' Whlch would be regarded as
 preposterous, if they had not fallen from the lips Of so conservative a statesman as l the seantor from North Carolina" | MT Clay of Georgia said that to simply | name the senate members of the postal l commission, Senators Wolcott, Allison Chandler and Martin, not to mention the house members Messrs. Loud, Moody | Catchings and Fleming was a sufficient | refutation of any charges against the conn | misison.
 l
 l The amendment of Mr. Butler was reject 1 ed by Il to fl. The committee amendment extending the life of the postal commission l was then agreed to without division l MT. ButleF made point of order against the committee amendment appropriatng $5O,OOO for the transportation of mail by | pneumatic tubes. on the ground that it was new legislation, but the point was overruled by the chair (Mr. Frye) l Pneumatic Tube Scheme