The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1906-09-07
WASHINGTON LETTER.

Nothing short of the placing upon meat
products of labels which will not deceive
the public is the ultimatum which Sec.
rotary Wilson has delivered to represen.
tatives of various packing houses who
met in Washington.
Hereafter if the packers want their
goods accepted for interstate shipment
they must bear labels more specific than
those used in the past. 1t will not do,
for instance, to state merely that a
package contains sausage. The. label
must distinctly describe the article and
plainly show that the sausage is made
entirely of pork and beef combined or of
other ingredients. The same rule will
apply to other products.
The eliminations of certain advertising
features on the labels also will be insisted
upon. The packers were particularly
solicitors regarding the meat products
already put up and held in stock, but
Secretary Wilson assured them it was not
his intention to open every package, but
to select a certain percentage Of them,
and if they were found to be as represent.
ed he would authorize the issuance of
labels for the entire lot, certifying that
it had been inspected and had met the
requirements of the law.
~
Shippers of the country are taking ad-
vantage of the new Railroad Rate law to
seek relief from the Interstate Commerce
Commission for what they regard, as uu.
reasonable or unjust conditions imposed
upon them by the railroad companies.
Petitions are being received by the COM
mission from shippers involving not only
questions that are raised directly by the
recently enacted Jaw, but including some
old questions into which an 5endeavor is
being made to breathe new life. 4
~ As So ~
The principle of the "open shop will
be applied to the postal service, accord
ing to decision reached at the depart.
ment at conference between Postmaster
Fred A. Busse, of Chicago, and Acting
Postmaster.General Hitchcock and Sec
ond Assistant Postmaster General
Shallenberger.
The visit of Postmaster Busse to Wash
iugton was brought about by the an
nouncement recently made of the pro.
posed formation of national labor union
of postal clerks in utilization with the
American Federation of Labor. The de-
termination was reached that so long as
the postal clerks or other postoffice em-
ployes conform to the rules and regula
tons of the Office and do not attempt to
coerce or in any way modest those who do
not enter the union there will be no
objection TO the employees afiliating with
labor organizations.
~
Chief Engineer Stevens, in computing
the amount of cement required in the
construction of the Panama Canal, using
lay figures, said that to assemble the
amount of cement needed would require
I25 carloads day for two years. This
would amount to oI,25o carloads.
The climate of the Isthmus of Panama
is such that cement cannot be kept in
good condition for more than three or
four months and the problem of shipping
is of no little concern to the commission,
which points out that as the facilities for
shipping from England to the Isthmus
are better than from the United States,
and the foreign price frequently has been
found to be below the domestic price, it
is not unlikely that the greater part of
this gigantic contract may be given to
foreign dealers.
~
Judge Charles E. Magoon, the Govern
or Of the Panama Canal Zone, and Unit.
ed States Minister to Panama, will be
given the delicate task of pacifying the
Filipinos and paving the way to give them
some measure of selfgovernment. He is
slated for the Governor Generalship of the
Philippines, to succeed General Smith,
who will retire next summer.
Governor Magoon is expected to reach
the United States within few days. He
will remain in this country few weeks.
and then will go to the Philippines as
Vice Governor General, and become the
head of the Government there when Gen.
Smith retires.
~
Discrimination and unjust rates were
the charges brought before the Interstate
Commerce Commission Saturday under
the new rate law against many important
railroads. Two complaints, each iuyolv-