The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1904-12-16
OUI, WASHINGTON LETTER

WASHINGTON, D. c., December 10
Mr.. ED1ToR:-The agitatin Of an extra
session in the Spring has measurably sub
sided, but the tariff revisionists are still
insistant and the proposition now at the
front is that an extra session for its set
Element shall be held next Fall-say,
from September 1st to the regular time OF
meeting in December. This suggestion
seems likely to take the form of a deter
mination shortly, for it solves the prob
lem to the satisfaction of all members of
the majority party.
1t is also pretty certain that there will
be very little legislation at this session
except the regular appropriation bills
This conclusion is concurred in by the
men who makes the program; by Messrs.
Allison, Aldrick, Fairbanks. Lodge and
others in the Senate, and Cannon, Payne,
Hemenway, Grosvenor. Dalzell and 9TH
ers in the House. Bills alleged to be for
the benefit of the Philippine Islands have
already passed the House and will proba-
bly, become laws during this session.
The bill providing for two new states
may also pass. The appropriation COM
mittee of both houses are decidedly
against general rive and harbor bill
and large public buildings bill, though
an incessant clamor for both is kept up
by those whose constituents helped re-
elect the present administration and de-
mand some more barrels of "pork." In
the House Speaker Cannon has with
much eandor sounded the alarm of "A
big deficit in the Treasury" and he will
use his great influence against tapping it
for hundred mlllion-dollar appropria-
tions. In the Speakers chair and out of
it, with gavel in hand or only with po
tent forefnger appraised he calls attention
to the fact that there has been an elec-
ton which decided against the med
dlers" and revisionists and the latter
think that he calls attention to it with
"damnable iteration" Their cries for i'm
mediate nourishment will probably be
temporarily Quoted by the promise of
chance to tap Uncle Sans Pactelian res
ervoir next autumn, when the corn is
full of kernels and the colonies full Of
corn"
The Presidents annual Sermon has
now been thoroughly digested. Indeed
q large part of it had been predigested by
something like score of members OF
Congress. 1t is felt to be SO chock-full
of beautiful moral sentiment and maxims
concerning correct conduct that it might
have been dictated by Marcus Aurileus
and Chesterfield. 1t shows that real
goodness is preferable to real badness
and will convince almost anybody that
right doing is more creditable than wrong
doing. In these respects it could not be
improved.
The people of this District are much
pleased that he gave whole column to
its needs and elaborated plans for It's ele-
walton to become a working model for
the whole country His demand for a
compulsory education law here is not
well timed; partly because we have com
pulsory education law now, and partly
because no compulsory attendance can
possibly be enforced here while the high
schools are 50 pampered and receive so
large proportion of the funds that there
is no shelter for the primary grades and
six or eight thousand youngsters who
ought to be receiving elementary train
ing are running wild in our streets and
alleys. What is needed here is vigorous
reduction of the high school curriculum
until all the children below the fifth
grade are sheltered under a roof and mar
shaled under a teacher.
If all the Communications of the mes.
sage crystalize into law, there will be
much stronger central government in
Washington than was ever contemplated
by the trainers of the Constitution. For
q long time the drift has been towards
centralization-the Executive in the
White House controlling nearly all the
great enterprises in which the people are
engaged. Mr.. Roosevelt would add to
Vic CAloIIuk lloG LuC SOutIOA VI A111AOouS,
banks, trust companies, insurance, fac
tory conditions, hours of labor on rail
ways SC. He would have Federal COM
missioners to inspect all rolling stock;
to decide on all through rates of freight;
to hold inquest on railroad accidents; to
enforce the block signal system and reg.
ulate airbrakes; to enforce sanitary con-
ditions whenever laboring men are as
sembled. AS there are over million and
a half of cars and engines, Il STE, 000) and
several times that number of wheels to be
hammered on and brakes to be tested, it
would obviously require good many
men and good deal of money for their
adequate inspection. And how much
more complete would it be than the Gen.
eral Slocum inspection. The II, 900 &C.
cidents which occur in the United States
yearly involving 5000 deaths and 10000
persons injured, would require large
army of coroners and vast multitude of
inquests. This would be building up
beaurocracy of tremendous proportions
which might cid in nominal socialism
and actual imperialism.
Above his colleagues cry for economy
Senator Hale has made his voice heard
demanding 100000 for statue of Benja-
min Franklin in this city. As we have