Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1901-01-18
WASHINGTON VI i'm LETTER.
THE HOUSE DISPOsIEG OF III.
PORTANT LEGISLATION.

| IUHVANI LEt4SAA44VNs
Status Of River and larbor and
Shipping Bills-Tierce Efforts Of
Opponents to Defeat the Latter.
Nut the Lobby IL Becoming Uneasy
and Scents Defeat. e.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 16.--The house Of
representatives 10 keeping up its record
for businesslike promptness In dispos-
ing of important legislation, and the
number of bills accommodating In the
senate that have passed the house has
already become appalling. The house
has disposed of the new apportionment
by fixing q basis of representation that
viii result In q membership of 1856 In
the house Of representatives In the FIJI
ty-eighth congress to b elected 10 10O2.
It 10 not expected that this bill will
provoke any discussion In the senate
when It reaches there, 40 II 10 purely .
house affair. ...f
The river and harbor Improvement
bill IL also under way In the house, and
q vote upon 1t will doubtless have been
taken before this reaches the eyes OF
its readers. This bill, carrying appro-
priations for nearly $4,000, 600 as .
subsidy to the nations commerce. may
be amended In the senate either by re-
auctions or increases. The improve
ment of our rivers and harbors is be-
coming a colossal work, and few peo-
pie realize that as much money has
been spent in that work during the
closing decade of the last century as
was spent in all the years of our gov
ernment's existence preceding that dec
ade. It cannot be doubted, however,
that the nation reaps benefits from the
improvements far in excess of expend-
itures in the accommodation Of rivers
and harbors to larger craft that carry
freight at reduced rates.
- ..
While the river and harbor improve
ments are benefit to the shipping Of
all the world, not q dollar Of taxes
being collected from shipping to help
bear the enormous expense of the i'm
provements, such improvements new
ertheless are In the most emphatic
sense q direct government aid to COM
merce and industry. River and harbor
improvements by the government es-
cape the odlous word subsidy" as 4
characterization, and hence the aid Is
not offensive to many people who OPP
pose government aid when the name
applied to the latter takes the form Of
expression Of subsidy" or Of bounty"
The only real difference in the govern
ment expenditures for river and har-
Dor improvements and those for the
building up Of ito own merchant ship
ping Is that the first benefit 10 the ship
ping Of all the world alike. while the
benefits Of the other are confined only
to American craft.
-.
While the shipping bill 10 not under
confederation III either branch Of con-
gress at the present time It 10 never
thsless one of the most absorbing top
ico in political and in private converse
lions at the capital. It occupies IN
amount Of space in the dispatches sent
out from here to the newspapers Of the
country fully equal to that enjoyed by
those measures that are actually under
discussion and in process Of passage.
Not only are members finding that the
country Is deeply interested in the
passage Of the measure In question,
but the direct and urgent requests
they are receiving from their constit-
uents In favor OF its passage are hav-
ing most favorable effect. The enc
mics Of the bill concede that II It can be
brought to vote IN the senate ito
passage ia assured. They are natural
y, therefore, bending every energy and
straining every nerve in order to pre-
vent vote In the senate.
Ever since the Sd Of January the SEN
ate has been almost absorbed In its
discussion Of the army reorganization
bill, and no man 10 able 70 predict the
end. At the present writing q vote
has not been arranged for, and, a.
though there are those who look for the
end during the week just closing, it
would not be ut al remarkable IL It ex-
tended well into the next week II not
beyond. Heanwhile % the Alibusters
expect appropriations bills are &C.
cumulating, and all other business 10
suspended in the senate until provision
is made for the army necessary to en-.
able the president to carry out the law
In our territorial possessions.
-.
One Of the most significant things Of
the times is the efforts that are being
made by the antishipping bill lobby,
representing foreign shipping inter.
ests here, to prove that there is not the
least bit Of need for any legislation.
The lobby is getting frightened at the
awakened newspaper demand for the
passage Of the bill, and the
fact has at last been widely published
that new American ships means reduc-
ed ocean freight rates with direct benc-
fits to our farmers and manufacturers.
This truth, once II sinks deeply into