The Springfield herald., 1902-12-19
WASHINGTON NEWS AND
Q CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS


of commerce bill, heard Commissioner
of Patents Allen, who disapproves OF ,
the transfer of the patent office to the |
proposed department of commerce. !
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury !
Allies informed the committee that the |
treasury department is willing to |
transfer to the proposed department !
of commerce the Bureau of 1mmigra-
ton, National Bureau of Standards. |
lighthouse establishment and coast |
and geodetic survey, to aid in form |
ing nucleus for the new department.
But the treasury is not favorable to
the transfer of the marine hospital
service. life-saving service, steamboat
inspections, Bureau of Navigation or
Bureau of Statistics, because of their
close relation to the treasury depart
ment. These five last named bureaus
are in charge of department officials
who have charge of other matters
also.
The increase in freight rates which
are shortly to be applied on the roads
running from the Mississippi river and
points beyond to the East and South
will be Investigated by the interstate
commerce commission, which has
fixed December 10th next as the date
for hearing to be held at the Offices
OF the commission in Washington. The
commission has issued an order re-
quiring the attendance at the time
of the chief traffic officials or other
representatives qualified to give in
formation of the following roads:
Michigan Central, Lake Shore & Mich
igan Southern. Erie railroad, Balti-
more & Ohio. Pennsylvania, Cleveland,
Cincinnati. Chicago & st. Louis. Wa
bash Railway Company. Baltimore &
In oct orr No
& Hudson River, Delaware, Lacka-
wanna, & Western, Lehigh Valley.
Pennsylvania Railway Company.
Southern railway. Norfolk & Western
| and the Chesapeake & Ohio.
A delegation of prominent citizens OF
San Francisco. consisting of r. p.
Schwerin of the Pacific Mail Steamship
| Company. w. w. Douglass, state comp
troller, and ex-Mayor Phelan, headed
by Senator Perkins, called upon the
| President to discuss with him the pend
| ing proposition to place the govern
ment transport service on the Pacific
in private hands, with headquarters in
Seattle. The Boston Steamship Com
pany, which runs out of Seattle, has
made a bid for the handling of the gov
ernment transport business on the Pa
cific which the War Department now
San Francisco are urging the govern
ment not to accept the proposition, as
its acceptance probably would result
in the loss to San Francisco of much
| government business. The delegation
informed the President that the peo-
| pie of San Francisco had erected a
monument TO commemorate Deweys
victory at Manila and the navy in gem
eral, and invited the President to at
tend the dedication ceremony while on
his trip to the coast next spring. The
President accepted the invitation and a
date will be named to suit his con-
veniencc.
The feature of the House proceed
| ings December 10th was thoughtful
speech by the venerable Galusha A.
Grow of Pennsylvania on the relations
between capital and labor. At the end
of the present session he retires at the
age of seventy-nine. after career in
public life extending over half a CEN
tury. His first speech in the House
was MANS Right to the Soil" He was
the author of the free homestead act.
His speech was regarded as his vale
dictory to public life, and was listened
to with close attention by his col
leagues. His conclusion was that some
sort of cooperation between capital
and labor was the only solution of the
impending problem. In conclusion Mr..
Grow said: "a labor strike is an un-
equal contest at best. 1t is a contest
of endurance between hunger and
| thirst of the human stomach and the
income of capital. Capital in such con-
tests loses none of its accumulation OF
wealth, unless an industry itself should
be destroyed; and in such case labor
would be the greatest sufferer. Some
method of profit sharing between en-
ployers and employees that would Sc
cure a harmonious cooperation OF
both. so as to prevent strikes and i'm
prove the condition of labor, is OF Vi
tai Importance to the general welfare,
for the pillars of the Republic rest
upon the comfort of the home and the
happiness of the fireside of labor"
The most important action of the
National Anti-Saloon League during
its annual session in Washington, was
the unanimous adoption of an address
to the public on the army canteen ques-
tion in which the charge is made that
high army officials have persistently
pursued a course extremely unfavor-
able to the anti-canteen law of Con-
gress. The address pledges the associ-
alton to do its utmost to defeat any
attempt to repeal the law until it has
had q fair and full trial, and says:
High army officials have most per-
sistently pursued course extremely
unfriendly to this law, and pursued it
in way that has thrown the whole
influence of the War Department with
the soldiers on the side of the distrust
of and dissatisfaction with the law.
and have persistently published mis-
leading reports concerning the effects
of the law The Anti-Saloon League
declares itself unalterably opposed to