Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1901-02-07
Especial Correspondence.]
Washington, D. {

prising reporters have jumped to the conclu.
sion that there must be and will be an ex-
ira session, but nevertheless it is dollars to
doughnuts that there will not be.
Here and there senator or representa-
tive is reported as opining that such sesl
sion is probable. But most Of the old
timers will have none of it. 1T 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 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 il great
deal of unfinished business in both houses,
as usual, the work Of the session 10 far more
advanced than commonly in the short ses-
siops. 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 .
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 great many thought that
the bill was simply intended to give a lot
of public money to few big corporations
which are already comfortably supplied
with funds, like the American line of steam.
ships, the Pacific Mail company, the Penn
'ylvania Railroad company, and what Sem
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 bill grants
comparatively very little aid to the larger
and richer existing companies. Its chief
benefits will 60 to the owners of lowpower
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. -. +, -..-- ..-.a@ .
The democrats in congress are making =
as viewed from a disinterested outside
standpoint, is rather comical In the first
place, great many democrats all over the
country, and including the southern states,
are known to be strongly in favor of the
bill, which, they see, would enlarge their
business, and would be especially advan.
tageous to cotton.growers. This is the posi-.
ton of the most important southern bust.
ness organ, the Manufacturers Record of
Baltimore. Again, it is curious to see the
democrats making 50 much fuss about the
expenditure of 100000 called for by the
bill, when they make no such combined op.
position to the $l45, 900, 900 for pensions, the
$70,0oo,000 for the navy, or the $50, 00O, 900
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 a
little from their pitiless hostility to the &c.,
100000 shipping bill If they find that un.
less they do relent their pet $50, DOC, 900 ap-
preparation may be endangered
Commander briggs, executive officer Of
the auxiliary cruiser St. Louis during the
Spanish war, remarked with emphasis the
other day, in conversation on the practical
merits Of the shipping bill, that according
to his experience "the actual value of the
St. Louis to the navy in the war was more
than the total amount of the proposed sub.
sidy during the whole 10 years Of its opera.
ton" The st, Louis, it will be remem
bered, is one of the swift steamships of the
American line which was used as an aux.
iliary cruiser in the war. Commander
briggs explained further that if the Span.
iards had not known that the St. Louis and
her sister ships Of the American line were
in active service a. warships, they would
have sent some of their Spanish vessels up
to our Atlantic coast to devastate our sea.
board cities, according to their original in.
tention; but they were deferred by the con.
sideration that they had no vessels which
could cope with such speedy and powerful
cruisers a. the St. Louis, St. Paul, Yale and
Harvard And yet Senator Vest declared
tho other day that such auxiliary cruisers,
drawn from the merchant marine, would DO
of no use to the navy or to the country, and
that al the talk about them was % subter.
fugs" and "a mere glamour"
Most citizens, and most congressmen, viii
be inclined to think that an ounce Of approx.
al from 4 naval expert IS worth Il pound. 81
criticism from q political theorist. mn