The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1904-01-14
FOR RIVERS
AND HARBORS
PRESSURE WILL BE BROUGHT
ON THE COMMITTEE.
EAGERNESS is EXPRESSED
And Interest Come to House Commit
tee in Decision as to Whether Bill
Will be Introduced in Interest of
This Rivers and Harbors Work.


Will be Introduced in Interest of
This Rivers and Harbors Work.
Washington.-It is probable that
the Committee on Rivers and Har-
bors will reach final decision next
week as to whether or not it will re-
port bill to the House at this ses-
sion. Expressions of the most eager
interest IN its decision are being re-
celved by members of the committee
from all parts of the country, as well
as from other members of Congress-
Ii there is to be bill at all, it must
equal at least the amount carried by
the bill OF two years ago, that is $685.
100000 in direct appropriations, and
authorizations of about $40,000,O0O
more. These authorizations would
provide for continuing contracts for
projects recommended by the board of
United States engineers. There is
even greater outside pressure for a
river and harbor bill than there was
two years ago, while the number of
plans for Improvement of waterways
that have received the scientific ap-
proval OF army engineers, as required
by law has greatly increased. 1t is
announced that the committee will
consider these projects strictly upon
their merits and that it's decision can
not be Influenced by favoritism or po-
htical influence. The composition of
the committee is such as to support
this claim Of tn high standard of it's
work. With policy of economy ad-
vocated by the president and by the
republican leaders in congress, there
may be vigorous protest against the
framing of such bill. Even should
the committee decide not to report a
bill at this session it will give hear
1ngs upon all the large projects Of i'm
provement, so as to have the prepare
ton of bill we'll under way for the
next session Of congress.
Some interesting facts about pres
ent conditions in Hawaii have been
presented by the Department Of Com
merce and Labor. The figures show
a steady decrease in the number of
natives and steady increase in the
number of persons Of foreign birth,
= - saes4easknd Chinese. The
cspecIary Japanese a. v,sess.,s,tat;on Ia
entire number of sugar plaSssssas. l on Id
borers is 42,242 of which 81 are
japanese. Sugar, of course, eontinsSes
to be the principal crop though a
number Of other tropical products are
receiving effectual attention, includ-
ing coffee, tobacco, sisal fiber, manila,
hemp, vanilla beans and pineapples.
The experiments with sisal grass, be-
gun with In the past two years, have
given great encouragement and lead
those engaged in the experiments to
the belief that Hawaii may become
an extensive producer of that valu-
able fiber of which the importation
into the United States amounts to
more than $13,000,0o per annum in
value, and are steadily increasing.
Sugar continues to be tn largest pro-
duction of the island and the crop
of 1903 was the largest ever produced,
aggregating T5,000,000 pound against
333,000.000 pounds in 1902. The
commerce Of the Hawaiian Islands for
1903 is given at $26,o00,000 Of ex-
ports and $l4,0o0,0o0 of imports. OF
the imports more than $10,000,000
came from the United States. Of the
exports practically all are to the
United States.
Representative Dalzell, Of Pennsyl-
vania, has introduced a bill providing
for the consolidation Of third and
fourth-class mail matter to be ad-
mitted at the rate of / cent for each
two ounces. He also introduced bill
authorizing the Postmaster General to
accept all regularly issued publica-
tions for transmission in the mails at
bulk rate Of 6 per cents a pound
WuCH JlOb LcWCl tuaH wv 3IC
presented at one time, and that the
publication shall have at least four is
sue year and each copy shall weigh
at least one and half ounces. Sec
ton 2 of this bill states: "That regu-
larry issued publication, as herein de-
scribed, and not coming within the le-
gal requirements for admission az sec
ond-class matter, shall hereafter be
designated fifth-class, with admission
to the mails as herein stated He
also introduced bill providing that
at least 1000 identical pieces of third
and fourth-class matter may be &C
cepted fer transmission through the
mails without postage stamps affixed
provided the postage shall be paid in
full therein.
Nj Al. -