Washington sentinel., 1901-02-02

4 p
upon the best means Of building up tn,
merchant marine and that it was a,
perfect as human brains could make Il
and ready for passage without any
amateur legislative tinkcring.
This was when 1t carried an unlimit
ed appropriation. What it would have
done for the country I'm its thus per
fected state the Lord only knows. Very
soon a howl OF protest went up from
Dan TO Beersheba against the "unlimit.
ed provisions" Of the measure. and an
amendment was accepted limiting the
appropriation to 100000 a year.
Ever since this time the elasticity of
the bills perfection has been drawn
upon. It's advocates have yielded inch
by inch until the bill has quite a DIFF
ferent complexion from the unphoto-
graphable Couutcnance that it at first
presented. But with all this carving
and splicing and remolding it retains
its essential feature of taking out Of
the pockets Of the whole people some
| S2OO,OOO,OOO for the benefit Of a favored
few composed mainly Of the lifetime
experts who drew the bill.
The critics to whom it's original pro-
moters have been yielding are all with
In the Republican party and among
those whose support has been counted
| on from the beginning. If the supposed
| friends of the measure have brought
| upon it the Disagreement that now ap-
1 pears, what would it look like IL its op-
| ponents drove their criticisms through
| It? Verify it would only be useful for
waste paper!
! This constant retreatng Of the advO-
Gates Of the bill does not indicate that
it is a measure founded on principle.
but that it is a desire 10 pilfer from the
treasury many millions for the benefit
Of private parties. None Of the changes
that have been made apply to the prin-
ciples or purposes Of the bill Those
originally provided for wanted to trans
fer from the taxpayers money to their
pockets 80 100000 a year. Finding that
they had overreached themselves, they
have gradually let others into the "di-
vide" Now all Of those originally in
md those let in and their various pot
swabbers and bottle washers are de-
clarlng that the bill has been perfectly
adjusted to the needs of the times and
AAdh rs DunchEG - OlAAJ "a UlNAAEA VI ~
few days. In sending out this bugle
note Of victory they have forgotten all
the Democrats and all the Populists
fgvhc -~rrs-A Ai.fa f,zst-af f-.ala an ,riri o7
Iue. They have also forgotten num-
Der Of Republicans who feel the same
sort of opposition. They have forgot
ten likewise the miscellaneous but ever
active pie hunters who have not yet
been let into the divide" The result
of this forgetfulness will be the failure
of the bill.
There has been no lobby in Washing
ton opposing the ship subsidy bill, but
there have been some very strong men
who have worked hard against this
measure as a matter Of principle. Some
Of these men have been Republicans
and some Of them have had no counec-
tion, directly or indirectly with the
Shipping business. They have been In
tensely In earnest. 1t is largely due to
the fact that they have not worked
along the usual lobby lines that this
bill has not yet been passed and In all
probability win not be passed. They
have absolutely stripped It Of its pre-
lenses and shown to the world that the
Standard oil company which controls
the Pennsylvania Railroad company,
the international Navigation company
and the National Transit company,
would receive not less than SjOOOO,-
600 out Of the $9OOOO,OOO provided for
within the next ten years and that it
would be n very easy matter for COM
bine to be formed by which they would
receive practically the whole subsidy.
| Those who were inclined to favor the
bill as a party measure are becoming
alarmed and are not willing that the
Republican party should shoulder the
responsibility for such a scheme.
There are many Republicans who DO
not oppose Boss Hanna I'm the Caucuses
| or the steering committee meetings
! who will still lend the weight Of their
influence to the postponement of the
bill. These Republicans are still not
satisfied with the methods Of division.
During the last days Of this rapidly
waning session they are getting all the
| concessions that they can get. They
know that they can now get many
| more concessions than they could get
| in a long session, where there would be
| the greater probability OF their being
| driven into line by the party whip.
| Having made these concessions in this
| congress. the favored few who at first
started out to bag all the game can
| hardly revert to their first purpose
| when the next congress conyenes. The
hope Of the reasonably good Republic
| ans is that I'm the next congress they
| can pass ship subsidy bill having in
| It the elements Of fairness to those en-
| gagged I'm the shlpbuildiug and the ship
| sailing business. The hope Of those op-
posed to the subsidy principle is that
the stencil this bill viii leave I'm the
nostrls Of the fair minded public Will
make it impossible 20 pass I'm the next
congress any sort Of a bin transferring
by any kind Of a division S2OO,OOO0oO
from the pockets Of the people to the
pockets Of special benedciarIes.