The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1907-04-05
OUR wAaHlNGToN LETTER.
WASHINGTON, 3 C. March 80, 1907,


remarks of one of the members of the
Interstate Commerce Commission who
was present at the conference at the
White House this week Of course
everyone has been waiting to see whether
the President would make any additional
statement as to his views and position,
the manipulators of stocks in Wall street
thinking that soothing statement from
him would have beneficial effect on the
paper valuation of railroad. But the
President has been keeping remarkably
quiet. for him, and the best that can be
done is to draw differences from the re-
marks of people who have talked with
him as to whether or not his attitude has
not changed.
One of the Commissioners who was in
vited to dine at the White House in COM
pany with several Of the other commits
sioners, Marvin Hughitt, the Commission
er Of Labor and several of the Cabinet,
was talking next day on the general rail-
road situation. He reviewed the case
disclosed by the Hartman Alton investi-
cation where it was shown that the road
had simply been ripped open and looted
like bank vault. He said that while
this possible was beyond the present
reach of the penal code, it was morally
as close to grand larceny as one could
come and keep out Of Jail. He instanced
number of other cases of high financial
juggling that W lille possibly not indicta-
BILE were officially as vicious as could be.
In conclusion he said: eff the law as it
stands cannot touch the men who do
this sort of thing, then the laws will have
to be amended so that they can be reach
ed. There is no difference to my mind
between the man who dishonesty &C.
quires million dollars and the man who
outright steals hundred. Society is
waking up to the fact that the two per-
formances are on exactly the same foot
ing and society will see to it that not
only is the high financial highwayman
ostracised but that the laws are framed
so that he can be convicted and given a
jail sentence" Of course this official was
not talking for publication, at least not
for quotation by name. But he was a
man who had just come from a confer
ence with the President on he particular
subject under discussion, and it seemed
a natural inference that the views he ex-
pressed conceded in general way with
those of his chief If this is the case, it
means simply what the President has
said before, that honest railroads or hon
est corporations of any other sort have
nothing to fear from the administration.
but that the railroads must be run hon
estly as real public service corporations,
and if more laws are needed to have them
so run, the laws will be enacted. Looks
rather as though there might be more
railroad legislation at the ext session.
Figures are published by the Census
Office showing that the population of the
United States is increasing steadily and
enormously and that it is now nearing
the 100,000,000 mark. The enumerated
and estimated population for the eonti-
mental United States for 1906 is given as
50. Gal $40 and for the continent and the
insular possessions, including Alaska
the enormous figure of go, 1872 $40. There
has been q general increase in density of
population from 26 to the square mile to
%, and the population of the cities has
| increased much more rapidly than thai
of the country. The general increase OF
the urban population, namely that of al
J the Incorporate owns, was 159 pei
cent. And this increase was still more
marked in the larger cities, the increase
in cities over $4,000 in population being
66 s per cent.
| Seeing that they have not gotten theil
increase of salaries, the government
clerks of Washington are trying to en-
large their income by reducing their ex
penses. They are going in for cooper
alive store where they think they will BIT
able to save money. This is significant
move. The price of all sorts of neces
SoiiSS hoo ooCh SoiuS uP dpiuly IL
Washington, more so perhaps in the las
| five years than in any other city of the
country. The government employees in
Washington number $4,000, quite large
proportion of the population, and if they
succeed in their cooperative scheme, il
will be great object lesson to the resi-
of the country. They propose to open a
store for groceries and provisions and to
enlarge it rs occasion demands and op
portunitY offers. They wish to d ;stribute
the stock in small sized shares among al
the government employees of the city
Anyone will be allowed to trade at the
store. but it will be run for the benefit OF
the clerks. 1t will not sell any cheaper
than the average of Washington prices
but a record will be made of what each
government employee buys and after de
Quoting . certain amount of the profits
| for running expenses and enlargement OF
| the plant. the remainder will be divided
among the clerks in proportion to their
purchases. This distribution of profit
will take place quarterly and will amour Mt
to the same thing as though the clerks
got their provisions considerably under
the market rate. The cooperative stores
have been run abroad, especially in Eng
land, for many years and have proved an
immense success. But whether they are