The Savannah morning news., 1904-12-19
BY r. NJ. Larner.


Reports.
BY r.. NJ. Larner.
Washington, Dec. 1S-At the Capitol,
Postmaster General Wynne's crusade
against the letter carriers and the rural
free delivery lobby, is generally ap-
proved by senators and representa-
tives.
1T is a notorious fact" said veteran
congressman, discussing the subject,
yesterday. that every branch of the
government service sustains WELL
paid lobby in Washington, to look after
legislation of special interest to their
respective calling. If the other men,
hers of the cabinet will follow the
example of the Postmaster General,
the entire service will be benefited"
Senators and representatives resent
the constant interference of the walk
Ing delegates" representing the army
the navy the revenue marine, the
printers and binders, the men in the
navy yards. and even the clerks in
the executive departments. Many un-
successful attempts have been made to
suppress the army and navy lobby
which is said to be all powerful In
legislation directly bearing upon the
personnel of those two very important
arms of the service.
Have Faith in Lobbies.
These lobbies are sustained by regu-
lar assessments made upon the em-
ployes throughout the service. from
the highest to the lowest. The strange
part of this story is that when the
| persons assessed are asked why they
| submit to such unjust taxation, they
| boldly assert that they believe IL is to
their interest to spend their money in
that way and 1t is nobody's business.
| Time and time again legislation has
been enacted TO improve the conditions
OF certain government employees upon
the recommendation OF heads of various
| departments. Members of the lobby
interested may not have had an inkIing
| Of what was to be done. yet the walk
| ing Delegates claimed all the credit for
the favorable legislation and the poor
| dupes, who are assessed refused 70
listen to any criticism Of the lob
| by
The reform has started pretty far
down, beginning with the poorest paid
members Of the postal service, but
there Is possibility that the good
work VIII go on until the high rollers In
the other branches Of the government
are called down by executive order.
Christmas mt the Capitol.
There is already an air of Christmas
cheer pervading the Capitol. During
| the next day or two there will be q
general exodus of statesmen from
Washington for their respective homes
10 spend the holiday season, which ex-
| tends to Jan. s, next year. Many
| senator's, and q few OF the wealthy rep
resentatives have permanent homes i'm
| Washington. but the great majority
are only resident here during the ses-
| sions of Congress. Senator Fairbanks.
Of Indiana; Foraker, of Ohio; German.
OF Maryland; Cockrell, of Missouri:
Knox, Of Pennsylvania; EIltins, Of
| West Virginia; Wetmore, Of Rhode Is
land; Hansbrough, of North Dakota;
| Speaker Cannon. Representative Dali
zell, Hepburn, Of Iowa; and a few 9TH
ers maintain establishments here all
the year around.
senator Stanford and the Pnges.
Christmas does not mean as much to
the little page boys Of the Senate now
as 1t did when the late Senator I,e-
land Stanford. of California. was a
member Of that body. Senator STAN
ford assumed the role OF Santa Claus,
and with the assistance of the late
Isaac Bassett, the old white haired as
sistant doorkeeper, distributed IS gold
pieces to each OF the little boys who
waited upon the members OF the Sem
ate. 1t was the custom Of Capt. Bas-
sett to send to the United States
mint, few days before Christmas. and
obtain for Senator Stanford as many
bright, new IS gold pieces as there
were boys on the Senate pay roll
Christmas Eve the presentation was
made In the name Of the Senator from
California. Senator Stewart, OF Ne
vada, looks like Santa Claus, but he
has never attempted to do the STAN
ford act with Sc gold pieces.
Livingston and the Cotton.
Representative Howard was COM
menting upon Representative Livings-
toms resolution to provide for an in
vestigation OF the cotton crop reports
made up and distributed by the Agri-
cultural Department. He says he
never saw so much cotton piled up in
the state of Georgia as there ia al
present. All along his route TO Wash
ington he saw cotton piled up In al
most every warehouse, barn and stable
he encountered.
The owners OF cotton. says Mr.. How
ard, are greatly depressed blythe slump
In the price Of cotton, and II will be
a very gloomy Christmas for many Of
them. For the first time IN the his
tory OF cotton growing, the poorer
classes. the tenants. who grew the cot
ton, are not the sufferers by the fall
ing prices. The latter sold their cot
ton TO their landlords long ago at tho
rate Of and 9h cents per pound. BY
this means some OF them were enabled
10 pay off debts which had been sus-
pended over their heads for a number
OF years
Senator CLAY viii leave here the lat
ter part OF next week 10 spend the
Christmas season with his family AZ
Marietta. After the recess he win re-
turn 20 Washington accompanied BY
Mrs. Clay. and expects 10 be located
at the Cairo Flats for the remainder OF
the session.
Champion Seed Distributors.
Representative johnson OF Spartan
burg, s. C.. has been awarded the
champion belt AZ the boss distributor
Of garden seed IN the present Congress.
Some Of his colleagues asserf that hy
actual count he has sent out 70 IN
dlviduai constituents. 1000 packages
of garden seed this session. with
each package he has sent q letter ana
~ can reel on the names and the ad-
dress n almost every person who has
been thus remembered hy him HaV-
Continued On sirsh Pags.