Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-12-22
START FORAKER BOON
Several Members of Ohio Dele
CATION Think Taft Has
Other Ambitions
BENEFITS OF ALCOHOL BILL
BENEFITS OF ALCOHOL BILL
Investigation Of the Harvester Trust
Forerunner of Other Investigations to
Follow--ursent Deficiency Bill
Passed for Special Benefit of En-
forcing Pure Food Law.

washington, Dec. 22.-If congress
sional straws show which way the po-
litical wind is blowing. it is evident
that Ohio is to be considered in the
convention of 1908. The candidates.
of Secretary Taft and Senator Foraker
are topics of the political wiseacres to-
day In the capitol it is generally be-
lieved that Secretary Taft, having been
in close touch with President Roose-
welt, has little desire to take up the
arduous duties of chief executive, but
is laying plans for his ascendency TO
the supreme bench when the next va
cancy occurs. Close friends of the ro-
tund secretary OF war are authority for
the statement that he refused the Jul
dicial ermine this winter only because
he desired to finish up his work in the
Philippines and to see the Cuban en-
broglio brought to an end. In the ONO
delegation in congress there is a Well
defined movement in favor OF Senator
Eoraker's candidacy. Senator DICK IS
an avowed champion of his colleagues
ambitions, and Representatives Beldler
and Bannon this week came out In
public interviews, in which they heart
lily supported the junior senator's po-
sition. The presidential pillar OF
cloud by day and of fire by night seems
to have settled over Ohio. Indiana and
Iowa.
If an amendment to the free alcohol
bill offered this week in the senate is
accepted, every farmer in the country
will be enabled to have still in his
barn lot. Under the provisions OF the
bill, as originally framed, each distit-
Ter was compelled to have an individ-
ual warehouse, and the inspection OF
regularly appointed revenue officer was
necessary. This entailed such cost
that the farmers of the country would
not have enjoyed the advantages with
respect to the manufacture of the de-
natured alcohol for light, heat and
power purposes which it was originally
intended they should have. The
amendment seeks to remedy this by
authorizing the commissioner of inter-
nal revenue to make special arrange
ments for the denaturing of alcohol In
such small quantities as not to justify
this almost prohibitive expense. The
amendment seeks to establish the Ger
man system of distillation, which does
away with a great amount of governs
ment red tape and permits individuals
or groups of farmers to engage in the
60 olo OF ha
possible cost for governmental super
vision.
The special inquiry which has been
made by the Interstate commerce COM
mission In Minnesota concerning the
transportation conditions in the north
west is being watched here with great
interest. Tt seems that not only are
entire communities suffering greatly
from the inability Of the railroads to
transport coal, but the inquiry has de-
veloped the fact that the great grain
growing section is financially embar-
raised by reason of the lack of cars to
move the crops to market. Farmers
who had ample means to meet all obli-
cations, had they been able to turn
their products into cash, are unable to
meet them, and the depression is felt
all along the line That such a situa-
ton should arise In the hey-day of the
greatest prosperity that the country
has ever known, is taken by the friends
Of river navigation as a direct rebuke
to the government for it's policy with
regard to the waterways of the coun-
try. Had the Mississippi and the Mis-
souri, rivers been developed as they
should have been in the past, the vast
crops Of the northwest could easily
have been transported to market, in
dependent Of the railroads.
Pity the poor government clerk! If