The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1907-04-04
WASHINGTON
From our Regular Correspondent.

From our Regular Correspondent.
Washington, d. c. Mar. 80, 1907.
It is little curious and rather
laughable despite the seriousness of
the situation to see how Secretary
Cortelyou flew to the aid of Wall
Street almost as soon as he was set.
tied in the Treasury Department.
The first thing that he said on tax.
ing Office was that he was tired of
seeing the government called on at
every turn to bolster upthe stock
market, and the one thing he in
tended to do was to divorce the
Treasury from Wall Street This
was fiue resolve and lasted almost
a week. Then came the squeeze
in money, and the new Secretary
came to the rescue with additional
deposits in National Banks. Then
came the panic, and the things that
Secretary Cortelyou has done to
help the situation were more far
reaching than those attempted by
any of his predecessors. 1t was all
perfectly proper too. The financial
system of the country is such that
the Treasury has to help out Wall
Street when the big gamblers get
down toward their white chips, else
there is a disturbance in the real
industries of the country. But it
was rather amusing to see how
promptly Mr.. Cortelyou spread the
landing net as SOON as he found he
had to.
***
There is one thing at least in the
course the Treasury has pursued.
1t shows that there is no real hosti
lity toward the railroads and the
big financial interests OIL the part of
the Administration. The Secretary
of the Treasury has increased de.
posits with national banks, he has
anticipated the interests on govern
ment bonds, and done all the other
things necessary i'll the premises.
He has gone further than any other
Secretary also in that he has accept
ed certain high class railroad bonds
as security for circulation. The
bonds admitted to this distinction
are those accepted by the legisla-
lures of New York and Massachu-
sets as saving bank investments.
The measure is a practical one OF
relief, but its most important aspect
is that it gives the moral endow-
ment of the government to railroad
securities as it has never been CIV
en- before. In this way it ought to
do a good deal to restore confidence
and show that there is no hostility
on the part of the government to-
ward the railroads.
INK
Washington is preparing to suffer
this summer one of the penalties of
the Pure Food Law, il common
probably with all the other cities of
the country. 1t Is raise in the
price of ice cream soda. This at
first glance may not seem a subject
of national Importance. l use it
for illustration only. 1t is s,gnifi-
cant. Before the Pure Food Law
was passed, one of the chief argu-
ments used against it in Congress
by all the manufacturers was that
they did not need such law, as all
their food products were pure any
how, and the law would make no
difference to them. Now that the
law is working, every manufacturer
without exception has declared that
they have to raise the price of their
products because the Pure Food
Law has compelled them to Use so
much more expensive material.
Soda.ice cream is only one of a
thousand things that has received a
boost in price. Practically every
thing else in the preserved food
line has gone up and the country is
footing the bill several times over.
Yet many of the labels that have
been passed on and approved by
the Department of Agriculture
under the new law are about as
misleading as they could we'll be.
"Cauned roast beef" is labelled
Just as it was before the law was
passed, and it is no more roast beef
than whitewashed fence is a Dore
painting. Stearine is allowed i'll