The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1907-06-21
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
WASHINGTON, d. G. JUNE Is, 1907.

has been delayed so long. But the expla-
nation probably lies in the fact that Sen
ator Dupont, the new Senator from Del
aware, is the head of the trust and is pow
erful in politics as his election to the Sen
ate proves. The recent investigation of
the trust by the bureau of corporations
and the Department of Justice indicate
that it is one of the most complete mon
opolies ever devised in any country. 1t
has followed the methods of the Stand
ard Oil Company in beating down and
breaking up competition. 1t has run its
rivals one after the other out OF business
and bought them up when it was conven-
lent after their business had ceased to be
profitable. The result is that although
there are lot of nominally independent
companies still operating, they are all or
nearly all under the direct management
of the trust which controls about IS per
cent. of the powder output, larger pro-
portion of the finished product than was
ever controlled by the Standard Oil.
Pro badly the thing that has moved the
government to proceed against the trust
is the increasing cost of powder for the
army and navy. There are bids formally
opened for powder supplies as formerly,
but the officers of both the army and navy
know that it is farce. The same COM
| pany presents all of the bids under differ
ent names and if there is any difference
| in the price it is because the trust wants
| some particular mill to do the work in
stead of some other. Efforts to establish
government powder factories have been
successfully fought in the past, and if
the country we're to be plunged into war
next week, it would either have to con-
fscate the mills of the powder trust or
else pay whatever price the trust choose
to name for firing every gun in the army
and navy.
One of the most important pieces of
archaeological work ever done in the
United States has just been reported to
Washington. 1t is the partial completion
of the work of excavation at the casa
Grande." Most people know that the
Casa Grande has always been ranked as
the most important and impressive of
American ruins. The translation of its
| Spanish name is 1.-THE Big House., and
it is located in southern Arizona where it
has been known to the scientific world
since the conquestador Alvarado first en-
tered that section in mis- search for the
tabled Seven Cities of Cibola. 1t is a
great building something less than 100
| by fifty feet in area with walls in some
places thirty feet high.
1t is built up of adobe concrete with
| wooden door and window frames, and is
different from any other Indian censtruc-
ton of the southwest. 1t is such a re-
markable structure that the government
some years ago made an appropriation to
help preserve it from the effects of the
weather, and last year DR.. Walter Fewkes
of the Bureau of Ethnology was sent
down there to do little more protective
work. But instead of confining himself
to the work he was sent to do, he COM
menced excavating, and the result is that
he has unearthed what was the ground
floor of the house which is 400 feet by
235, and 80 feet high, making the original
house small by comparison. What the
world has known for three and half
centuries as the Casa Grande, is merely
the delapidated top story of an immense
ly larger structure. It seems to have
been the cetadel of the Pima tribe against
the attacks of the Navajos and Apaches.
1t is by far the most remarkable ethno-
logical discovery ever made on this con-
tinent and has won DR.. Fewkes much
credit from the branches of the Archeo-
logical Society all over the country.
It will be of interest to users of the
weed to know that the Treasury Depart
ment has officially decided that tobacco
is necessity and not a luxury. The
case came up in an appeal to the Comp
troller over an expenditure for tobacco
for some laborers who were held IN quar-
antine in Panama. There was 1850
WoIlu VI GOudCCo uouSuI LOT lle laDOrerS,
and the item was questioned by the dis
bursting officer. The Treasury decide d
that it was an expenditure for one
of the necessaries of life within the mean
ing of the act. The decision went on to
say that whatever might be the moral or
hygeinic aspect of the case, that tobacco,
especially to the laboring classes, was SO
much part of their regular ration that
it must be ranked as a necessity, and the
item was allowed in the account.
The Trea sury is called on to render a
number of interesting decisions, and an
other even more curious than this was
made some time ago where it was decided
that man could not possibly tell how
old he was and could not be convicted
of perjury in swearing falsely on the sub
ject. The case came up under the civil
service act where a Treasury employee
had stated his age at a certain figure and
where it was proven conclusively that he
was at least five years older. 1t was
shown in this case that the man had gone