Middletown transcript., 1907-06-29
WASHINGTON LETTER

q long time been armed for tariff wa
without any additional legislation. Bu
this fact was only recently brought Il
light by digging up an old statute tba
had never been enforced. This law hal
been brought. into play already in the tar
iff dispute with France, and it is likely e
settle the question without much further
discussion. II will be available for uss
with any other country that chooses tc
take tariff issue with Us, and may thus be
rated as valuable discovery. It is an
old law under the meat inspection act oI
1890, and provides that the President in
case any product of the United States il
Disseminated against by foreign power
may select such products OF said foreign
power as seem desirable and prohibit
their importation into the United States.
The law against their importation is effec.
tive from the time Of the Presidents proc.
lamation, and he may modify, extend OF
wholly withdraw such proclamation al
tany time he sees fit. This is arming the
President with weapon Of retaliation
that it would be hard to equal. The
United States is SO nearly self-supporting
and besides has so many quarters Of the
world to draw on for all sorts of supplies,
that we would feel the deprivation of such
law very little. But it would enable
this country to strike any other nation in
its tenderest trade spot. We could pro-
hibit the importation of French silks or
wines to this country and while We would
suffer for neither wine nor silk, France
would lose market that she could not
possibly afford to part with. We could
cut off the importation of any or all Ger
man manufactures without feeling it to any
extent, but Germany could not afford to
risk her market in the United States. 1t
is very sweeping law, and one that
fortunately we may never have to call
into play. But the mere fact that we
have such law will 60 far toward help
ing US settle any foreign commercial dis
pute that arises in the future.
~
Rather to the surprise of the govern
ment, the bids for the new $40, ,000, 600
battleships, so-called, were far below the
expectation of the Department There
are to be two of these monsters, and they
are to be duplicates in many respects Of
the famous British Dreadnaught class.
They are TO be more powerfully armed
and it is likely in view of the experience
Of the Dreadnaught with turbine engines,
that they will not attempt this new de-
parture in marine construction. There
were muItitude of bids submitted, no
less than seven combinations being put in
by one firm. There were bids following
The Navy Departments plans, and there
we're bids that followed the original plan
IS to the hulls and differed as TO the en-
gines. Perhaps the most attractive of the
combination plans was one for cruising
engines Of the reciprocating type that are
economical OF coal at low speeds and with
auxiliary turbines that could be called
into play in emergencies when speed was
and economy nothing. The
lowest bid was from the Newport News
Ship Building Company for $3, ,9S7, 900,
and the next lowest was from the Fore
River Company for $4, ,48O, 900. The limit
of cost was to have been Sc, ,000, 600 for the
ship without guns or ornament and $4,-I
O00, 900 for these two items. But as it
now appears, the ships will cost much
less.
~
The award was made this week Of the
plans for new Bureau Of American Re-
publics in this city. This was quite a
noted architectural competition, as there
were 142 contestants including nearly all
Of the most famous architectural firms Of
the country. The building also is of in
terest in that it is the gift of Andrew Car
negie. The building and the furniture
will cost $3.50, 900, all of which will be
paid for by Mr.. Carnegie. The site cost
S200, 900 and this has been paid for by the
American Republics themselves. 1t is
gift much like Mr.. Carnegie's gift of the
Peace Palace at the Hague, and is likely
to be Of practical use to this hemisphere.
~
The trial OF Assistant Statistician Ewin
s, Holmes Of the Department OF Agricul-
ture, who is on trial for conspiracy in
divulging the cotton crop report before
the figures have been given out is nearing
its close. Some of the most sensational
evidence of the trial was given by New
York broker named Van Ryper, who
claimed thst be had proftted in part by
advance knowledge of the cotton crop re-
port. But according to bis story the
chief broker in the deal was Theodore
Price, also Of New York, at whose dicta-
ton the cotton figures were raised or low
cred as suited his needs in the market.
Van Ryper claimed that he was 'giyen
the double cross by Holmes, and the
inference is that be informed on Holmes
out of revenge. The chief interest in the
case just now is in the fact that it is
claimed the grand jury will indict big
New York broker for completely in the
steal, though ii had been understood all
along that he was to have been granted
immunity for turning states evidence.
~
The Department Of Justice has been
working for months past on what is
known al the southern peonage cases.
Assistant Attorney General Russell was
sent south some time ago TO gather evil
dencs, and though he did not get a.
much as he would have liked, it is claimed
that he found the real headquarters Of
the padrones was in New York and Phil.
adeIphia, where they get newly arrived
immigrants to sign labor contracts and
then ship them south into practical
slavery. The Department is going after
these firms, and it is believed that the
practice can be best broken up by strik-