Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1905-12-15
rom our regular correspondent.)

'Sss Sss SSoW SViitS Up
(From our regular correspondent.)
WASHINGTON, d. c., Dec. 7.
OF course there is nothing much
thought or talked of in Washington
these days except the news of Congress
and the new bills introduced. Since
the Speaker was sworn in on the meet.
ing of the House there have been q
little over 5000 bills presented in the
House and Senate. OF these it 10 said
that about 400 stand some show OF
passing. 1t will be nearly 200 by the
time the session closes and of these
few will be OF national interest. Many
Of the bills are old regulars, private
claims Gnd the like that come up at
every session aud have been before
Congress for q generation with no
more show of passing now than they
had on the day they were first intro.
duced. Others are bills Of interest to
only q particular locality, and then
there are scores of bills all covering
the same ground. There are half q
dozen Railroad rate bills, several pure
food bills and other measures dupli-
Gated many times over. Some are
bills introduced by the opponents of
the very measures they are supposed
to represent, for instance, one pure
food bill is the creation OF u clique OF
manufacturers who have any thing but
pure food legislation At heart and hope
merely if their bill passes it will thro W
the enforcement Of the law into de.
partment that has little interest in it
and will make the measure die q death
of inanition.
There are barely half q dozen meas.
ures in which the country at large is
really interested. Chief of these are
the Panama Canal and the Rate Bill.
The Panama Bill, which will apprO.
pirate $l6,5OO.OOO for the immediate
work on the canal, has already been
taken up in the House by unanimous
consent and there is every prospect
that it will be passed before adjourn.
ment for the Christmas holidays. As
to what rate bill will get the right Of
way is . more debatable question. The
Townsend bill has been introduced
again in Q little different form from
the Esch. Townsend bill of the last SEES.
sion and there is the bill Of the Inter.
state Commerce Commission, which
has been amended by the Senate Com
mittee on Interstate Commerce. There
are also six other bills to the same
end, none OF which have received the
stamp Of unqualified approval from
the White House. In fact the Presi.
dents message was beautifully vague
on this important point and it left the
matter of rate control almost 40 much
up in the air % It was before the mes.
sage went in. There is good deal Of
talk that the President is already
trimming on the rate squestion and
that he is willing to take the best thing
that offers in that line. Certain it is
that the message made no concrete
recommendation, but as in all the
other paragraphs OF its $4,000 words,
Was devoted to moral precepts and
eeneralities which Congress might be
assumed to have already acquissced
10 which a. matter of fact they not
lived up to in the past by . good deal.
There are . good many billie already
introduced that indicate tendency to
centralize affairs under federal control.
Representative Hearst of New York
has bill for the federal control Of tel;
egraph lines; Representative Murdoch
has another for the control Of life in
surance companies by the Treasury
Department; another is for the control
Of corporations doing either an inter-
state or foreign business, several meas
ures are to prevent money contribu.
tons by corporations to campaign
funds aud two to prevent the unlawful
use of private cars on railroads for the
purpose OF covering up rebate giving
another is to establish Q percel post
and another to create . governmental
postal saving bank. There are many
other measures of centralizing ten
dency but these are among the most
prominent and which touch most
nearly the life of the average citizen.
IL IL ealu tnat speaker cannon mas
little fear of any OF the bills that he
is opposed to, as he has placed very
conservative men, that is to say his
own men, at the head OF all the i'm.
portant committees OF the House and
any bill that does not meet his per.
sonal approval will stand . good
chance of being pigeonholed or of get
ting to the House in such shape that
it will be killed either there or in the
Senate. The bill for the creation of .
parcel post is one that will cause .
severe fight if it ever gets out OF the
committee. There are immense in.
terests arrayed both for and against it.
As the case stands, the United States
is the only one OF the great civilized
powers that has not parcel post and
even the United States has q conveu.
ton OF that sort with some foreign
countries, for instance Mexico and
Great Britain had q parcel post that
carried goods 70 New York though we