Middletown transcript., 1906-04-21
WASHINGTON LETTER

WASHINGTON, d. G. April 18th, 1905.
WHILE there is temporary lull in rate
" legislation, tile Marine Committee Of
the House is having its hands full with
the hearings OH the ship subsidy bill.
There have been number of prominent
hearings were commenced last week.
Former chief constructor Bow'e once of
the Navy and now of the Fore River
Ship Building Co., spoke in favor of the
bill. He contradicted the testimony of
Edwin Camp, saving that while there
was no difference between the price of
English and American steel in American
yards, steel was 25 to 80 per cent.
cheaper in English yards than it was
ent times in the past underbid English
ships, it looks as though they had been
selling fully quarter cheaper abroad
than at home. But Mr.. BoWles is no
longer an officer of the navy. He is i'll
the employ of private ship building
firm, and he naturally wants the subsidy
bill passed. There were a number of
other witnesses and letters from interested
ship owners, saying that if the subsidy
were not granted all of the American
Pacific lines would be forced to go out of
business. 1t was pointed out that the
English and japanese lines engaged in
the Pacific trade received large subsidies.
amounting to several hundred thousand
dollars each, while the most that any OF
the American lines received was $l2, 900
for carrying the mails. As matter Of
business, it was urged, this carrying trade
ought to be saved to the United States
and the only way of saving it was by
subsidy. Nothing has yet been done in
the way of reporting the bill, however,
and it is a question whether the Speaker
will ever give it chance on the floor.
~
1t is a matter of some interest to all the
people of the United States and especially
to the people of the west, that the Presi-
dent has injected himself into the fight
against the illegal fencing of grazing land
on the public domain. There has been
law formulated by the Secretary of Agri-
culture, with the approval of special
commission, for the leasing of grazing
lands to cattle owners in the west at
very nominal price. The income from
the leases would pay for policing and
seeding such parts of the range as needed
it and improving the watering places on
which the cattle depend. But so long as
the fences that have been illegally erected
remain in place, it will of course be i'm
possible for the small cattle owners to
take advantage of the new law. The
President he#e~eEE, hes intinaated lis lis IL IL
tention of giving the big cattle owners a
reasonable time, say sixty days in which
to remove the fences that they have
erected in defiance of law at the end OF
that time if they refuse, to prosecute them
vigorously.
In line with the law which will
straighten out the fencing tangle of the
west, it has been decided also to amend
the laws under which western coal lands
are being taken up. 1t has been gener-
ally understood tor long tiae that much
fraud was INDUCED in to get these lands,
but no one had any idea of the existent
Of the business till the Secretary of the
Interior put the Geological Survey to
work in conjunction with the Land Office
to find out just where the western coal
lands were and what measures were nee
essary for their protection. The Survey
has now mapped roughly the larger coal
beds OF the west, showing that there are
immense areas in Colorado, Utah, Wyom-
ing, Montana, Idaho and New Mexico
where there are great coal measures,
much OF it Ignite but some good bitumin-
GUS and some anthracite. Railroads and
private companies have been taking this
land by the thousand acres as "agricul
tural land'' and paying for it at the tate
Of $150 an acre, whereas it should have
gone as mineral land at $40 an acre at the
lowest. The work of the Geological Sur
vey has just banked one steal of 81 ,500,-
900 though much of the land in the vicin-
ity had already been fraudulently taken
up and worked out. Now there is being
a map prepared by county aud township
lines showing the location Of the coal
lands, and these will in the future be
saved to the government with saving to
the public that owns them Of several
millions Of dollars.
~
There has been great scramble among
the i'friends Of labor" in the Government
printing office to keep the printing Of the
Patent Office Gazt tie from being let u,
contract to some outside bidder. Til.
work is one OF the most useless on which
the Government printing Office is engaged