Omaha daily bee., 1902-03-10
FATE OF THE IRRIGATION BILL
Clear Majority in the House FavOrs the
Senate Measure,
PRESIDENTS ORDER AGAINST LOBBYING
Employees of Departments Continue
the system in spite Of RoOsevelt's
EdIct-Demand OF cities for
Public Bundinss.
tFrom a stan correspondent.l

WASHINGTON, March 9.-(Specisl.)-
The senate has disposed Of the irrigation
bill. What will become Of the measure In
the house is an open question. 1t is EVIL
dent that Speaker Henderson is not par
t~icularly favorable to the irrigation policy,
Notwithstanding the fact that both political
parties committed themselves to 1t in their
last national platforms. There is, however,
a decided determination upon the. part Of
the western and northwestern men to force
to the house to take action and no one has
been more Industrious towards this end
than Representative Francis @. Newlands Of
Nevada. In point Of population Nevada is
the smallest state In the union, but few
states, even among those ranking as the
nrst. are represented in the lower house Of
congress by a moro able, painstaking and
considerations man than Mr.. NewlRnds. II
has not always been the largest states that
have had the ablest representation in Wash
ington. For many years the state Of Maine
outclassed them all, that is. when that great
quartet, Reed, Dinglsy, Boutelle and Mill
ken, filled the four seats assigned TO Maine
In the lower house, Delaware has sent men
like Bayard, Salisbury and Gray to the
senate.
Mr.. Newlands undoubtedly has a personal
interest In securing irrigation legislation,
for no state in the union will more greatly
benefit from the introduction OF a national
policy Of water storage and distribution
that will Nevada. Then, too, it must be
remembered that no member representing
the arid and semi-arid region had had such
a long period OF continued service as the
Nevada member. Nor has anyone studied
the subject. in all its bearings in every
country Of the old world which has at
AO,n&NoA .af-oNN1 a. ALA ~aNo-k - NAA L.
vestigation made by Mr.. Newlands. Should
the house finally adopt the senate bill or
any similar measure, success will be due
largely to the efforts Of the western men,
who formed a committee early in the session
and who selected Senator Warren OF wy
oming for chairman and Mr.. Newiands for
secretary. This committee succeeded in
bringing together the various opposing ele-
ments and Il has neglected no opportunity
to impress it's views upon it's colleagues. So
we'll has II carried on iP work that there
is today q clear majority In the house IA
vorable to the policy Of irrigation.
Prohibition of Lobbying.
In spite of President Roosevelt's order
prohibiting employees of the departments
engaging in lobbying. q great deal Of work
OF this sort Is going on. TIL most indus
AA0uo poAnOAo uuA liz INV last AluuNu nhho
been some OF the chiefs Of divisions OF the
scientific bureaus Of the Agricultural de-
partment. The malls have been literally
flooded during the lost week or two with
letters from all sections OF the country, urg-
ing members to vote for larger sppropria-
tions than the committee on agriculture
seems disposed to recommend. All these
letters evidently emanate from one source
and that is the bureau OF plant industry
In the department. 1t 10 natural that ex-
perts employed In scientific bureaus should
use every means available for increasing
the scope OF the work which they are
called upon to perform. but the plant In
dustry people are said to have exceeded the
limit. II all demands Of this kind should
receive attention 1t would take the entire
surplus to run the scientific bureaus of
the government for one year. As 1t Is,
the committee on agriculture has been ex-
tremely liberal to these bureaus OF the
Agricultural department and the money pro-
vided will undoubtedly materially aid the
secretary in extending the inquiries. which
have thus far proved Of such enormous
value to the farmers Of the country.
tn action Of the Colombian government
In the matter of the Panama canal has
made 1t practically certain that the offer
Of the French company will NOT, be ao-
cepted by congress. Evidences multiply to
indicate that the Central American coun-
tries. through which the canal might be
run, look upon the United States as a gold
mine. Costa Rica and Nicaragua propose
to get a bite from Uncle Sam 8 surplus
IL they can, and the action OF Colombia
was undoubtedly taken with the idea of
dividing the t40.0 00. 900, which the French
company asks for its so-called assets.
Probably the complications which have
arisen and the Developments which have
been unearthed will result In, multiplying the
action during the present session OF con-
gress. In any event, the prospects for
canal legislation seem to grow DINNER.
Demand for Public B~uiIdInss.
Some idea Of the demands Tor public
buildings which are annually presented t.
congress can be gathered from a remark
made by Supervising Architect Taylor, whC
said; up to date l, have had 1855 bills fol
new public buildings submittsd to me fol
reports upon the necessity for them sinct
this congress assembled in December. This
number does not take into account the bill
presented for additions to public building
already constructed. There Is one OF thii
latter class" continued, Mr.. Taylor, which
has been occupied less than a month anC
It 10 already entirely too small for tn,
business Of the postofAce in the town II
which It Is situated. I refer to the post
once building In Beaumont, Tex. The posta
business Of Beaumont has grown SO enorm
ously within the past few months that thu
building which YVES adequate for the re,
quirements when designed Is now alto
Eether too small for the work which mus
be done there"
what do you think Of the proposition
submitted to congress some years age b,
the late Senator Paddock Of Nebraska 10
q general Law to provide public building
in all towns where the postal receipts reacI
a certain ngure7" Mr.. Taylor was asked.
81 think" he responded. ut would be
good thing for congress 70 authorize
commission consisting Of the postmaste
general, the secretary OF ths interior, tn
secretary Of the treasury n the attorue
general. which should have jurisdiction q
these matters. The commission should b
required to report from year to year I
congress which towns ought to be supple
with public buildings. They are the cabine
l1faearu counlnO int cInaaUf nankaok w.ttk A.