Middletown transcript., 1905-11-04
WASHINGTON LETTER

This week, unlike last week, with tn
Presidents Civil Service order and hi
admonition to his cabinet to keep mur
> when newspaper men were around, hs
produced nothing sensational. 1t may b
) because the most sensational figure il
American politics is off on the heaving
His daughter, however, has come bacl
; and has denied the ridiculous stories tina
have been told about her, especially tn,
one that she jumped into tank of wate
and the otl!er story, not ridiculous tha
she is engaged 10 be married. The Pres
dents last day Oh land at New Orlean:
appears to have been the most strenuous
of his trip. lie vas absolutely unable tc
gee the town or even to make speech be.
cause there were SO many people.
49,
The forces are gathering in Washing
toni allude to the political and social
forces which make Washington during
the Winter season the center of interest
on this continent. Some Members and
Senators are already here and others,
who are not here, are represented by their
wives who are arranging for winter
homes, either in detached houses, apart
ment houses, hotels, or boarding houses,
as their tastes may be and their eXeche-
quers afford, Washington is better pre-
pared to receive this Winters contingent
than ever before. To all appearances
there has been almost excessive building
of fine apartment houses, and it can not
well be seen but that the over supply will
| produce the usual effect OF reduction in
rents. To all appearances visitors will be
able to walow in apartment houses at
reasonable expense, and hotels in their
competition for guests have been COM
PEELED to lower their prices also.
~
With regard to political questions, the
most prominent, of course, are those re-
lating to Railway Rate Legislation and the
Panama Canal. The Senate Committee
on Railway Rate Legislation of which
Senator Elkins is Chairman, has already
resumed its sessions in Washington,
while Senator Foraker and Taft in Ohio
and two rival conventions in Chicago are,
through their speeches, assisted by the
press, gazing the country a foretaste OF
the debate that will be held in Congress
this winter. Senator Foraker, from his
sick bed, has launched bolt at Secretary
Taft, charging him with the atrocious
crime OF being one with Mr.. Bryan and
the Democratic party in favoring federal
control of the railroads. This and similar
charges and the fact that the President |
needs and is expecting to receive Demo- |
cratic support, plainly shown that on this |
question at least there will be no adher-
ence to party lines. The Democratic sup
port Of the Presidents contention is in
deed remarkable. Said Ex-Governor |
Campbell Of Ohio, himself once promi- |
nent as Presidential candidate: at is a |
mistake to attempt to combat public |
opinion. We are here to endorse Presi.
dent Rooseveit's plan of Government |
regulation of railroads. President Roose-
velt's demands are reasonable and it is /
mistake to oppose them. Some people |
think man who wants the railroads |
regulated by the Government is social
ist. If this is true, then perhaps | may
be called socialist although | have no
sympathy with the theories OF that creed.
| am opposed TO Government railroads,
but want fair play Discrimination in
railroad rates must be stopped. Public
opinion is more powerful than the wealth
and influence of the railroad" These
words uttered at the Chicago Convention
and the words of Ex-Governor Van Zandt
when he said: "We are not the enemies
of the railroads. Time will demonstrate
that we are their friends. In my opinion
they are making a mistake to oppose so
measures as the proposed
to the Interstate Commerce
law, indicate the conservative feeling of
the country as voiced by men of national
prominence. At the same convention,
the chairman said: "We want to draft and
pass strong resolutions upon the subject,
to appoint committees from every State,
to get right after the Senators from their
states with the proceedings of
this meeting. If they are with the Presi-
dent, we want to know it, If they are
with the corporations, we want to know
t."
~
There is movement among CONNER
,ial men in New York to hold a conyen-
ion in Washington for the purpose OF
the consular system of the l
government and of making recommenda- {
ions for its improvement. There is a c
aissez faire element in the State Depart t
nent and elsewhere that attempts to up
lold our present consular system and per- t
onnel and is never tired of iterating that a
We have the best consular system in the 9
world and that other nations concede it. 8
II course this all comes from ignorance C
nd provincialism. The English and a
ierman consular systems are better than
urs in that their consuls ace accom-
lished men of business and of the world, y
lways speaking the language of the >
ountry to which they are accredited and =,
speaking two or three other +
anguages, thus being able readily to COM =
nunicate both by pen or tongue with the .
uthorities OF the posts to which they
re accredited and with the commercial :
ouses with which they have business. :
t is rare that an American consul, unless =.
l.-l, |