Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1901-02-08
Especial correspondence.
Washington. ID. c.. Eel

80 ~
In every short session of congress, about
the LIST of February, gossip about an extra
session always springs up. This year is no
exception to the rule. The Philippine stu.
alton and the Cuban constitution are the
provoking causes in this case. The presi.
dent and cabinet are DESTROYS that the re-
quired legislation in regard to these subjects
should be speedily perfected, and every
body knows that there is not time for it be-
fore the 4th of March. Hence the enter
p%rising reporters have jumped to the onclu-
sion that there must be and will be an ex.
ira session, but nevertheless it is dollars 10
doughnuts that there win not be.
Here and there a senator or represents
tive is reported as opining that such a ses
sion is probable. But most of the old
timers will have none Of it. ut is all news
paper talk" says Representative Payne, Of
New York, the leader OF the houes. And
the veteran Senator Hoar, when informed
by a youthful scribe that there was a great
deal Of extra session talk in the air, beamed
upon him graciously through his spectacles
and calmly inquired: ANY more than
%usual?"
The fact is, that though there is 4 great
deal of unfinished business in both houses,
as usual, the work OF the session is far more
advanced than commonly in the short ssS
sions. To be sure, there are, aside from
the appropriation bills, two or three i'm.
portant measures which the majority de-
sire to pass before congress adjourns, and
which are still in the early stages OF devel'
opment. Most prominent among these u
the pending shipping bill for the develop
ment of a new American merchant marine.
According to the custom of the senate, this
bill has been taken up and laid aside half a
dozen times already this winter, suffering
repeated postponements at the request OF
other interests, but its managers now have
cleared the decks for action and announce
their intention Of keeping at it without
yielding to anybody until it is disposed Of.
The shipping bill has been greatly misun.
derstood in many quarters, and has thus en-.
countered much unreasonable opposition,
most of which, in the light of better knowl.
edge of the subject, has now been with.
drawn. At first n great many thought that
the bill was simply intended to give a lot
OF public money to a few big corporations
which are already comfortably supplied
with funds. like the American line OF steam.
ships, the Pacific Mail company, the Penn
~sylvania Railroad company, and what SEN
ator Vest alluded to in his recent speech
against the bill as that poor, emaciated.
starving corporation, the Standard Oil
company" In point OF fact the biz grants
comparatively very little aid 10 the larger
and richer existing companies. It's chief
benefits will go to the owners Of low-power
freight steamers of large cargo capacity, and
to the farmers, miners, metal-workers
merchants, manufacturers and industrial
artisans generally, whose business or wages
will be greatly enhanced by the new ship.
building and commercial activity engendered
by the bill.
The democrats in congress are making Q
dead set against the bill, but their attitude,
as viewed from a disinterested outside
standpoint, is rather comical. In the first
place, a great many democrats all over the
country, and including the southern states,
are known to be strongly in favor of tbs
bill, which, they see, would enlarge theil
business, and would be especially advan'
tageous to cotton-growers. This is the posi-
tion of the most important southern bust
ness organ, the Manufacturers Record Of
d. Baltimore. Again, it is curious to see ths
democrats making so much fuss about the
expenditure of So, zoo, 900 called for by the
bill, when they make no such combined op
position to the $l45, 0O0, 900 for pensions, the
$40, 10000 for the navy, or the $50, DOC, 00t
for rivers and harbors. Indeed, the demo
Gratis from the Mississippi river valley
which is the chief beneficiary Of the big river
and harbor bill, it is thought may relent
little from their pitiless hostility to the 80,
900 1000 shipping bill if they find that un
less they do relent their pet $50, ooo, 900 up
preparation may be endangered.
Commander briggs, executive officer o
the auxiliary cruiser st. Louis during tn
Spanish war, remarked with emphasis tn
other day, in conversation on the practica
merits of the shipping bill, that according
to his experience "the actual value of tn
st. Louis to the navy in the war was NOR
than the total amount OF the proposed sub
kidy during the whole 10 years Of its opera
bou. Inc St, LOUIS, ~ VIII DC TeHeh
bered, is one of the swift steamships Of tn
American line which was used as an aux
iliary cruiser in the war. Commando
briggs explained further that il tho Span
iards had not known that the st. Louis an
her sister ships of the American line wer
in active service as warships, they woul,
have sent some of their Spanish vessels u
to our Atlantic coast to devastats our sea
board cities, according to their original in
t%ention; but they were deferred by the cor
sid eration that they had no vessels whicl
could cope with such speedy and powerful
cruisers as the 81. Louis, st. Paul, Yale an
Harvard. And yet Senator Vest declare
the other day that such auxiliary cruiser,
drawn from the merchant marine, would b
Of no use to the navy or to the country, an
that all the talk about them was "a subte,
fuge' and "a mere glamour"
be
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