The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1906-02-08

Il am responsible for a very con-
siderable increase in the expenditures
of the State Department In this re-
spect." said Secretary Root. when
catechised by the House Committee.
Il do not know whether / have an un-
duly expensive way Of doing business,
but it very frequently happens-it is
happening every day-that business is
slow process of the mails, and has to
be conducted by cable. Other coun-
tries are doing 1t. paying four or five
or 10 times over what we do for that
purpose. l want to know what our
ambassadors and Ministers are doing.
[ want them to know also what we are
doing.
Il am just now organizing, or try
ing to organize. a new system in the
State Department, under which auto
NAUTICAL information will be given con-
stantly--I mean without my having to
direct it in each instance; information
conveyed to our ambassadors and Min
listers as to everything that goes on here
affecting their work.
For example, if / have an important
interview with the German Embassa-
dor regarding the tariff between us and
Germany, our ambassador in Berlin
will be notified of it Immediately
Again, if he has an interview OF inn
portance with the Government to which
he is accredited, we shall be informed
of it Immediately here, so that we shall
not be going on about two weeks at a
time without knowledge as to what is
happening at the other end of the line.
That is going on all over the world, and
that is expensive"
Representative De Almond has in
troduced a bill in the House providing
for the changing of the time of con-
vening Congress and inaugurating the
President. 1t SAYS.
THAT the members of Congress shall
meet In regular session the first Mon
day, on or after the fourth day of
March next following the election of
the members of the House of Repre-
sentatives, and on the first Monday in
January in the next year thereafter;
and the formal inauguration of the
President shall be the last Thursday
in April"
There was a story afloat that Ex-
President Cleveland would go to Cali
fornia TO make his home. OF course,
the Ex-President denies the story. And
equally, of course, it could not be true.
Once on a time by great effort Presi-
dent Cleveland got SO far over to the
that it nearly tipped westward. That
was when he laid the cornerstone of
the Y. NJ. G.. a. Building in Kansas
City, Mo. He was astonished to find
civilization, electric lights, cable care.
and five and 10-story buildings that ia:
west; that was back in the late sos
but he does not yet know that there IS
much of the United States west of that
place. and yet we are about to make
one State, just one, mind you, that Is
as long as from Plymouth Rock to the
western point OF Lake Erie, and this
State is just about twice that distance
to the west Of Lake Erie. Oh. this is
a great country all right
Gov. Magoon, OF Panama, has been
in Washington. and he took occasion
to say that Mr. Poultney Bigelow tells
what amt so about the Canal Mr.
Rigelow has put up $1,000 and dares
the Canal Commission and Mr.. Cover
nor Magoon to prove that what he said
is a libel, and there you have it.
There is sad case Of divorce on the
dockets here. A woman married a
man last September-no, it was in Oc-
tober-and now asks for divorce. She
says that he induced her to marry him
by telling her that he was a Der
of Congress and that she should immc-
diately go into official society. She
found after marriage that her husband
was a night Waterman in the Agricul-
tural Department with a salary of $3.50
a year. So now she thinks she has
good grounds for divorce.
Carnation Day was very handsomely
observed in Washington. and SO gen
eral was the wearing Of pink carna-
tons that the price went up apprecia-
bly, by evening. Many big official
functions were held that evening and
afternoon, and pink carnations were
the floral decorations Exercises were
held in the schools, and, taking 1t al
together, 1t looks as though "Carnation
Inv l,os ocfax
This is the manly way in which Sec
rotary Of War Taft takes back his
criticism Of the Pacific Mail Line doing
business in Panama:
I'm my testimony before the Sub
preparation Committee Of the House,
made the statement that one of the
reasons why another American line
could not easily compete with the Pa
cific Mail Line in the business between
Panama and San Francisco and inter-
mediate ports was that the Pacific Mail
Company had agents at the Central
American and Mexican ports and did
in a sense a banking business or a fac
tor business. furnishing capital to
coffee and other planters to assist them
in doing their business, and that this
gave them a good will and a position
Of advantage which any other line
would find great difficulty in wrestling
from them.
Though I did not intend to criticise
the Pacific Mail for this method Of
business it has been 80 construed I'm
some of the newspapers of the Western
coast. I now have definite informa-
ton that have been misled in respect
to the business of the Pacific Mail at
Central American and Mexican ports,
and that they do not do either a factor
or banking business at any Of these
ports and never have.
II am glad to withdraw this enron
eous statement, which has been used
to the prejudice Of the Pacific Mail
Line"
At the dictation Of the Mormon
Church. which Is interested in the beet
sugar industry in Utah. Reed Smoot.
the Mormon Senator, will vote against
the Philippine tariff on sugar. The bill
contemr lates the admission Of Philip
pine bee, sugar free. and 1t is thought
that that will injuriously affect the beet
sugar interests of the West At the
same time, Senator Smoot says that he
is not dictated to by the Mormon
Church.
Women are always butting into the
game just when you don't know how
to get rid Of them and ara liable tn