Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1906-06-01
CANAL EMBROGLIO.
WORK STILL LIKELY TO MAKE
HASTE SLOWLY.

HASTE SLOWLY.
The Type Of Canal Still Undecided-Consress
May Leave the Matter for the President to
Decide - Patent Office Much Behind in Its
Work-The Commissioner Has Held His Pc.
sition too Long for Efficiency-The Stand
ard Oil Co. and Other Octopods to Be
Brought Under the Lash, for Party Results.
tFrom our regular correspondent.)
WASHINGTON, d. c., May "a.
Enemies of the Panama Canal are
gleefully over the thought
that after all there may be no action
by Congress on the type of canal at
this session and that the whole ques.
tion will have to 60 over or else that
the President will be forced to proceed
on his own initiative, which he has
right to do under the law. Now it lie
not as if he were a man who would
not proceed either. 1t is quite posi-
bic that if Congress leaves the gues-
ton open he will 60 ahead with lock
canal and leave the experts to fight
over it after the fact. 1t is not a step
that many men would take, but he is
quite capable OF doing it.
The case stands this way. Con.
gress wants to get away between the
10Th and 18th Of June. And then
there is the election to be looked after.
That will give impetus to the flight of
good many. The Panama Canal bill
will soon have to come up ON the re-
port OF the Senate Committee and that
favors the sea-level type. On the
other hand the President has pro.
nounced in favor of the lock canal
and to q good many minds that is just
about as good reason as any for the
Senate taking kindly to the other form
Of construction. However, the best
engineering talent OF the world has
been brought to bear on tho subject
and the experts were much divided, so
there may not be much to choose be-
tween the two types after all. One of
the latest arguments Of the Senate in
favor OF the sea-level type is the earth.
quake in San Francisco. They say
that such disturbance would put
lock canal out of commission. But
the chances are that such shake as
they had in San Francisco would lay
out sea.level canal quite as easily.
Still the point is that there is an ap.
parent deadlock between the Senate
on the one side and the President and
the House on the other. II the ques.
ton should be decided in favor of the
sea.level canal, it will mean revision
OF all the plans that have been pre-
pared, based on the assumption that
the lock canal was to be the type.
1t will also render of non.effect much
of the preparatory work that has been
done. 1t would not be at all surpris.
ing if Congress adjourned and left the
decision to the President, but If it
does, the chances are that the lock
canal will be we'll under way by the
time Congress reassembles.
1t looks az though the next place
where there might be house clean
ing is the Patent Office. The big bu.
reau is in worse shape than it has been
for many years past. The exsminers
are eight months behind in their work
in some divisions and there is no pros
pect of their catching up. This means
that il q man puts in an application
for patent it will be eight months
before the government gets ready to
take q look at il. After that it may
be q year or two years before the pa.
tent is ready to issue. The trouble is
principally with tho head of tho Office.
He is man who has held the position
for long time, and like q good many
other officials who have had q long
term on q fat salary he has let his de.
partment get into the habit of running
itself. Tho result is that though the
examining force has recently been in.
creased by Congress, the increase has
only left more time for . good many
OF them to smoke, visit and gossip.
The work is piling up meantime and
there is little prospect OF the force
catching up with it under the present
management. The Patent Office lie
one of the few departments of the
government that is self.supportipg.
1t is much more than that. The of.
fee now not only pays its own way
but has brought in revenue of 81.
600, 900 to the government. Mean.
time the man who has small patent.
able device out of which no might
make competency, or big concern
with some important feature of their
machinery that they want to protect,
have to wait the leisure of an ill.con.
Quoted Office to get an official hearing
on their claims.
There is every prospect that there
will be q battle royal over the prosecu.
ton OF the Standard Oil Company.
No one doubts that such a prosecution
is contemplated, though the Depart.
ment of Justice tries to look wise and
the Commissioner OF Corporations is
more mysterious than ever about the
preparations. A good enough reason
for the coming prosecution is that il
will be good politics. Whether the
corporation will be convicted or not lie
q question. In view of all the lucky
escapes it has had in the past, it is very
doubtful if it will. But such a prose.
cution would give flip to gossip and
would indicate that the Department OF
Commerce and Labor had gotten very
busy. II would also serve in some
measure to take public attention off
the refusal of Congress to take up tar
iff revision. So the prosecution may
be considered as good as begun.
There are several more installments
Of Commissioner Garfield's report on
the Octopus yet to come. They will
deal with the pipe lines, the foreign
trade OF the company and its business
methods at home. There is no ques-
ton that there is plenty of material at
hand for q prosecution under the Sher.
man antitrust law. But whether the
government would be able to make
any of the cases stick under the FL
kins' rebate law is q question. Con-
sidering the ease and fluency with
IL Al