The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-02-13

pS " ooSoion-iouS uSuC over IL, with
the probabilities against there being
any legislation worth name this ses-
sion. The Hepburn bill is far from
what the railroads want, but it is not
quite as bad as they feared. The way
an impartial outsider looks at it was
illustrated very we'll today in the COM
ment of Ray Standard Baker, the
magazine writer, who certainly has
no great love for corporations of any
sort and who has been devoting all
his time lately to an arrangement of
the railroads, based on testimony gath
cred from official sources. He was at
the interstate commerce commission
today, looking up more evidence on
which to continue his campaign. When
asked what he thought of the Hepburn
bill in the shape it finally got through
the house, he said: II think person
ally, that it is a good measure. Ii
has some faults and I do not think
1t goes far enough. But 1t goes in the
right direction. believe it is going
to pass the senate, and it certainly
ought to-" OF course this is the opin-
ion of only one man, and he is a radi-
cal. But it is the expression of a
man who has spent much time in the
study of railroads, and one who has
no particular ak to grind. So as an
opinion it ought to be worth some
thing.
There is an increasingly bitter fight
on the details Of the Panama canal
bill. Mr.. Patterson has moved to
strike out the provision abrogating
the eight hour law on the isthmus.
Such motion furnished the very OPP
portunity that the enemies of the
canal want, fight for time and de-
lay. No one who knows anything
about conditions on the isthmus
imagines for minute that the abro-
cation of the eight hour law there
would have the slightest effect on the
labor situation in the United States.
Whether the canal is built by the con-
tract or by the commission directly,
the labor will not be American. AM
erican laborers will not go to the
fsthmus. and could not work there
10 sA0y Wv III LAC SC1GSS IL lu6y went,
But the opposition to any sort of a
canal, and it is a strong opposition,
is willing to make use of the labor
demagogue or anything else it can
get hold of to hurry the measure and
add embarrassment, delay and expense
to the undertaking. There has as yet
been no vote taken on this feature
of the measure. and the object of the
opposition will simply be to delay
vote as long as possible.
The prospect of trouble with China
is again commanding attention. There
is no question that the outbreak there
rs more serious than had previously
been supposed. Advices to the state
department show very bad state of
affairs, and the military establishment
in the Philippines is being made ready
for any eventualities. There is a light
cruiser squadron that can be placed
OF the China coast in short order, and
If necessary troops can be transported
and landed with little delay. 1t is not
thought that matters will reach this
acute stage, but the government is
quite prepared for them if they do.
The Chinese government continues
polite and conciliating, as usual, but
there is small question that the out
break is. anti-American rather than
anti-foreign, and that it is being fos-
tered by the other foreign elements,
the Japanese, the British and the
Germans in the order named, who see
menace in the constantly growing
trade of this country with China, and
serious strategic menace in our po-
sition in the Philippines.
Now that the secretary of the navy
finds how drastic, the mandatory dis
missal law for hazing at Annapolis
is, and how II the law is really en-
forced 1t will result in cleaning out
practically all of the midshipmen ex-
cept the fourth classmen, who have
nobody to haze, he is weakening on
the law and wants It repealed. There
is no question but that the mandatory
dismissal law is mistake. It makes
no distinction between the various de-
grees of hazing, and promises to rob
the academy of most of the upper
classmen. When one considers that
the education Of a cadet costs the gov.
eminent about $4,000 this is no small
matter financially, to say nothing OF
the inconvenience it would cause the
service to be deprived of the bulk of
three classes just at time when It
wants naval officers badly. So the sec
rotary is now consulting with num-
Der OF members in congress with
view to getting the present law re-
pealed, and it is just possible that the
president may be urged to grant par
dons to the eight cadets who have al
ready been dismissed, though there is
q question whether, under the law,
even he could reinstate them.