Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-18
At THE WHITE HOUSE
R. A. BaI|inger to Be Commits
sioner of General Land Office.
IMMIGRATION COMMISSION
President Wants Authority to Ap-
point One.
SHIP SUBSIDY MESSAGE DATA
President Obtaining ALI the Facts Pos
sible-Beveridg to Speak
on Child Labor.
SHIP SUBSIDY MESSAGE DATA

The President today sent to the Senate
the name of R. A. Ballinger of Seattle for
commissioner Of the general land Office, to
succeed w. A. Richards. This place was
first offered to Capt. Jack" Greenway,
the former Yale athlete and officer in Col.
Roosevelt's regiment of Rough Riders, but
Capt Greenway declined it on account of
his private business interests in northern
Minnesota. The place was then offered to
Philip B. Stewart of Colorado, but was
declined for a similar reason.
1t has been understood all along that the
President was looking for "a twenty-thou-
sand-dollar-man' for this position, although
the office pays only a quarter as much as
that In Mr.. Ballinger, to whom the place
was offered after Mr.. Stewart declined it,
the President has, it is said, found the kind
of man he was looking for. The new
commissioner is a member of leading
law firm in Seattle, and has a practice
which yields him several times as much as
the federal office to which he is about to be
appointed.
He was recently mayor of Seattle, being
elected by a large ma jOrity a result of
reform movement in the city, and after
1t had required considerable persuasion to
induce himto accept nomina ton. During
his administration he did much toward
purifying the police administration and in
cleaning up the city. Many public i'm
provements. for which the city was bonded
for millions of dollars, were begun or COM
pleted during his term Of office, which ex-
PRED in April, 1906.
Mr.. Ballinger is graduate of Williams
College, where he was classmate of
James r. Garfield, who is about to become
Secretary of the Interior. He and Mr..
Garfield have always been intimate per-
sonal friends.
An immigration Commission.
While the President will not send to
Congress special message on immigration,
as has been so frequently stated, unless
1t is found possible to get through the
present session satisfactory immigration
bill, it is his intention at this time to ask
authority to appoint an immigration COM
mission to study the question; to go abroad
and investigate the reasons actuating i'm
migrants In coming to the United States,
and to go more fully into the whole mat
ter than has ever before been attempted.
This commission will report to Congress,
which, for lack of complete official informal
ton, Is not in harmony as to immigration,
resulting in disagreements between the Sen
ate and House and no legislation. The
prospect at this session is that there will
be a repetition of this disagreement, with
out legislation of any kind. The President,
earnestly DESTROYS of wise and proper i'm
migration legislation, believes that both
houses of Congress could be gotten to-
gether by data prepared by a commission
in which there would be general confidence.
Data for Ship Subsidy Message.
Representative Humphreys of Washington
today handed the President some facts as
to shipping on the Pacific coast which the
chief executive desired for use in his mes
sage to Congress advocating ship subsidy
legislation at this session. The President
is obtaining all the data available before
writing his message, which will be sent to
Congress some day next week, the day not
having been decided upon. Ship-subsidy ad-
vocateS say the message Will be strong
and convincing one and that it will bring
the wavering into line and insure accept
ance by the House Of the bill that has been
agreed upon, at the same time making an
comes for settlement in conference of the
differences that now separate the two
houses on this question.
Senator Beveridge to Speak.
Senator Beveridge today introduced to the
President, G. F. Dunn head of the Interna-
tional Boilermaker's Unien, who is asking
for an increase of the salaries of the boil
ermakers employed on the isthmus of PAN
ANA, in the construction of the canal. The
President gave Mr.. Dunn hearing and
said he would take the matter up with the
Panama canal commission.
Senator Beveridge will speak in the SEN
prevented by the Brownsville affair. If the
latter prevents, as is probable, he will talk
on Wednesday, illustrating his speech by
many pictures. Senator Beveridge says he
is absolutely satisfied that the point of I'M
consttutionality cannot be properly made
against his bill The President is in full
accord with Senator Beveridge's child
labor bill.
Senator Lodge had a long talk with the
President this morning prior to the cabinet
meeting, and it is presumed that he dis
cussed the phases of the Brownsville affair
as developed in the Senate yesterday.
Presidential Nominations.
The President today sent to the Senate
the following nominations:
Commissioner of the general land office,
Richard A. Ballinger, Seattle Wash
Register of the land Office at Boise, Idaho,
Addison T. Smith.
$ Collector of customs, district of Wiscas-
set, Maine, Daniel H. Moody.