Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1907-07-05
WASHINGTON LETTER.
tFrom our Regular correspondent

tFrom our Regular correspondent
Washington, ID. c.. June 29.-Wit
re the presentation of the instructions c
bh the various countries at the Hague,
ne begins to be seen that the princips
'. work of the present session of the cor
D. ference is likely to be arbitration. Th
rs proposals of the American delegate
le have not yet been all submitted, but i
If is known that they left the State De
> partment with this policy strongly i'm
c pressed upon them This government
3 knew as well as the others that ther,
r Was not enything practical to be &C
e complished this year in the reduction
] of ornaments. and it decided that next
9 to reducing ornaments the best thing
0 was to get the nations to agree to re-
0 frain from using them so far as posi-.
I BILE. The arbitration is likely to as
sumo the chief place in the delibera-
tions of the conference with this cOun
try taking the lead. 1t is thought that
. something more practical than the old
arbitration treaty can be framed and
if it is there is little doubt that the
, countries represented will all sign it..
This ls certainly step in the right
direction. A man may insist on his
liberty to carry gun, but if be can be
TRAINED not to pull it, the public peace
/ is just as we'll conserved. And even
tually, he may get in the habit of leav
ing bis gun at home.
Formal complaint was filed with the
Interstate Commerce Commission this
week against the sO-called shipping
trust. This trust consists of the Ham,
burg American, the North German
Lloyd, the Wilson Line, and the Scan.
danavian.Amer line. The COM
plant grew originally out of the ar
rangment that these companies were
alleged to have made with the Ameri-
can railroads for pooling their immi-
grant traffic. It was charged that the
steamship companies. that is to say
the Hamburg American Line flor that
was the dominant factor in the trust)
routed the immigrants as it chose
from the point of embarkatien to the
point of destination and that the traf-
fic was divided up between the rail |
roads without regard to competition |
in this country and with little regard
even to the wishes of the immigrants.
This was rather bad, but though the
immigrant was many in the aggregate.
he had few friends individually. Be-
side that there was no law in the Uni
ted States against pooling passenger
traffic. But there is a very stringent
law against freight pooling, and it is
now charged that the Hamburg Ameri-
can Line extended it's Jurisdiction to
the freight of this country both going
and coming. A manufacturer here if
be wanted to reach freight market,
had to route his freight as the pool
dictated or he was crushed Immediate
ly. 1t is pointed out in the complaint
that it is rather hard for a company
owned and controlled abroad to have
the entire say as to how freight shall
be carried even in the land lines in the [
United States. 1t will make long.
toilsome inquiry to look into the mat
ter, but 1t Is assuredly coming. l.
Almost everything is put up to the
Interstate Commerce Commission these
days. and the lates complaint that has
been made Is by the banks against the i
express companies. There are less than
3 dozen express companies and there
are $500 banks represented in the
Their grievance is against
The express companies doing money
transfer business. Almost everyone
1as had occasion at some time or other
10 buy an express money order. casha- 1
Die as the advertisement reads IN "any
one of 10000 offices in the world" 1t
Is convenient and not very expensive
service and is appreciated by the pub
lie, especially by travellers abroad,
whatever they may have to say of the
practices of express companies as
rule. But the banks say that the ex-
press companies are taking the bust
less that legitimately belongs to them
Ind they ask that the companies be
,njoined from carrying on the money
transfer business any longer. One OF
The sore points where it is claimed the
express companies add insult to injury,
g that they do not even take the trou.
Ole to keep a sufficient amount of cash
IN hand in their Offices in the small
Or towns to cash the ordinary run
If order, but instead they direct
;he holder of the order to the nearest
oank which has to cash the order as
l matter of policy with It's customers.
znowing that the order is perfectly
good but that it will lose money by the
The young emperor of China has
been graciously pleasedto send per-
,onal message to the President thank.
ing him for remitting the portion of
;he Chinese indemnity that is owed to
The United States over and above the
actual expense of the United States in
Helping to put down the Boxer upris-
ng. The message was delivered to the
President this week by Sir Chentung
Liang Cheng, the retiring Chinese
who was guest at luncheon
It Sycamore Hill prior to his sailing
or China. 1t will be remembered that
he Chinese indemnity pledged to the
United States amounted to about 500,
700, 900 with interest. This China was
paying off in instruments as she was