The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1907-02-28
rTimes News Burenu.1

Washington, Feb. 2S-Well, here we
are in the last week of the official life
of the short session of congress, and
the prophecy made at the commence
ment has been fully carried out. The
appropriation bills have been put in
shape for passage, and that will be
about ALL" Individual members and
minority combinations have shouted
about proposed reforms. but with little
effect. One statement of the past week
should not be taken too seriously, and
that was that there would be a deficit
in the revenue of the government of
$1O0,O0O,0OO.
That is killer" to the tariff re-
visionists. Yet the country will have
tariff revision, and that all too soon.
There is no man that Roosevelt can
place in the presidents chair strong
enough to Withstand the growing SEN
timent for revision of the tariff, and
within four years the matter will come
up for consideration. Then watch out!
Manufacturing today is being overdone
in many lines of trade, and with tariff
tinkering on hand the captains of
finance" will go slow for a year or SO,
and this will include the shutting down
of some factories. When the newspa-
pers are giving prominence to the clos
ing Of these factories, the thought
suggestion will be conveyed to other
manufacturers, and action thereon will
converge into one of the biggest panics
ever known in the country. OF course,
this is all bosh. The writer is an
alarmist. Anyone today who can put
two and two together is an alarmist.
Yet you paste the statement in your
hat that there will be a Democratic
president in 1912 to receive the blame
for the panic brought about by the
above conditions.
Washington has some great officials.
We have had great postmaster gen.
eral, so they tell us. A man of tre-
mendous ability. In the business world
man is said to be good business
man who can build up the business If
his company and at the same time hold
or increase the ratio of profits. The
expenses of the postoffice department
are the largest in the history of the
country, and who can not run any
business proposition if given sufficient
money. Having run the expenses of
the postal service to over $500, 000, 900,
Cortelyou is to be given the run of the
largest money box in the Countrywide
treasury OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES it is to be
hoped that his money sense will be
satisfied.
This matter of the pushing to the
front of particularly intelligent clerk
stenographer is a reminder of what
Representative ]. Adam Bede said at
recent dinner of the Menus club:
81 have long ago found out that the
cabinet officers did not run the govern
ment-indeed, have very little to do
with it. When 1 want any information
or favors l go to the boys in the diff
ferent bureaus and divisions. If I
asked the secretary for the same in
formation he would get it from the
same source, only colored to suit the
views of the man at the head who did
not know the details of the matter"
Considerable irritation has, been
aroused this winter by the attempts 10
give additional authority to Chief For
ester Pinchot ard blanket additions to
the forest reserves of the country. 1t
pays to have the president for per-
sonal friend, for that would appear to
be a step to rapid promotion. Senator
Hepburn expressed himself to the SEN
ate thus. "You are simply giving this
100000 as plaything into the hands
of this splendid gentleman, who chal-
lenges the admiration of this august
body because he is a good fellow"
When the proposition to increase the
pay of members of congress was up
for consideration, it was given out to
the country that mileage and all other
extravagant extras would be cut of,
but here comes. up the matter of al
lowing the same old steal of 20 cents
a mile. This is sublimely ridiculous
when cognizance is taken of the fact
that the railroads are compelled in
many states to carry passengers for
two cents a mile. A matter which