The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-24
Big Deficit Is Looming Up In. the Treasury and k
 psnseS Are to Be Cut
FIGHT COMING OVER
 NAVY APPROPRIATIONS
President RooseveIt's Pet Hobby Will Hardly Be Aided So Much if Chairman Tawneys Views Are
 Carried Out

Washington, December 2s.-(Special)- The members of the House appropriations committee are mapping out their plans to prepare the first of the supply bills so that they may be taken up by the middle of January. Chairman Tawney is advs- ing the pruning process wherever it is possible. Within the past week he and other republican leaders in Congress have conferred with treasury officials and &C., cording to the record now being made the receipts are falling off so rapidly that it Is feared there will be a startling deficit in the government revenues at the end of the present fiscal year.
 This situation is giving the republican managers of legislation a most uneasy feeling. They are also afraid that it will grow worse when the country Is in the midft of a presidential campaign. and thai the democrats will be able to make political capital out of it. For that reason the republicans at this writing appear to be determined to keep down the appropriations to the lowest possi- ble notch.
 Evidently that is the programme of the leaders, acting under the instruction of Speaker Cannon, but it will be diff cult matter to whip the rank and file of the party into the belief that their local bills should fail in order to make a rec ord for strict economy.
 The indications are that a big fight will occur over the question of appro- prIating extra millions for the construc- ton of additional battleships and ar- mored cruisers. The shipbuildng con cerns are working energetically to have big appropriations for new ships, and they are confidentially counting upon the White House influence. inasmuch as Pres ident Roosevelt Is believed to be in favor of a navy much larger than the House republican leaders think will meet the re- quirements of the nation.
 Senator MalIory's Death.
 The death of Senator Mallory of Flor ida makes another minority vacancy on the important Senate commerce commit tee and as so many of the senior senators were advanced a peg or two in this Con- gross on committees, there is a possi bllity that Colonel Bankhead of Ala bama may yet be placed on commerce. As is well known this committee handles the river and harbor bills. The Alabama senator served so many years on the House rivers and harbors committee that a general hope was expressed that his valuable experience could be put to use at once in the Senate.
 Senator Mallory was also a member of naval affairs and the important com mittee known as Pacific islands and Porto Rico, Senator Foraker being chairman of the latter.
 Railroad Rate Question.
 The supreme court granted n motion today in favor of the state of Nebraska against the railroads, but it does not go far enough to get an idea to what the final position of that tribunal will be when it settles the stubborn fight between the state and federal courts in the matter of rates. In the Nebraska case the court merely sends the case back to the state for further trial there.
 It was hoped that the Minnesota de- cision would come out by this time. That was the first one of the so-called blanket injunetions brought to the highest court of the land. The attorney general of Minnesota on account of the lively clash between state and federal courts, was sent to jail. As soon as a decision Is given in that matter it will more clearly indicate what the final result will be in Alabama and North Carolina, the com monwealths in which the state and fed- eraI courts have had lively clashing.
 W. s.