Connecticut western news., 1908-02-13
News of
 A Week Paragraphic Photographs of the Worlds Doings

IO the senate long list or appoint ments, including that of Milton Dema- rest to be law judge of the county of Bergen to succeeI Judge Zabriskie, whose term is about to expire. Among the other appointments made by the governor are these: Law judge of At l.lantic county, Enoch A. Higbee, reap pointed; prosecutor of Morris county, Charles A. Rathbun, reappointed; dis trict court judge of Jersey City, James s. Erwin, lppointed; commissioners l to revise the primary election laws, former Governor Stokes, Chandler w. Riker, Nelson Y Dungan; executive clerk, Charles A. Ransom of East Or ange. The two houses of the legisla- ture by party vote elected Henry J. | West Republican, of Camden, state comptroller, to succeed J. Willard Nor gan, and elected Charles Bradley O" Burlington state director of railroads
 When Charles W. Morse, former .'ice king and master of a chain of banks, arrives in New York onInext Saturday from, Europe, he will be arrested on a charge of grand larceny. He was in- dicted twice by the special grand jury
 
 1 Attorney Jerome, has been investigat- ing bank scandals. Morses bail was set at $10,OO0 in each instance. The | two indictments, which cover the same transaction, accuse Morse of having discounted a note for $100,000 which had been made by Morgan J. O'Brien | payable to himself and of having re- ceived a check from the Mercantile Ma | tional bank in the name of O'Brien | which he indorsed with O'Brien's name, and then deposited to his own credit in the National Bank of North Amer | ica.
 | A feature of the annual report of the l New York state tax department to the legislature is the severe criticism of the laxity of local tax boards in col lections under the special franchise l tax law. The blame for this neglect falls chiefly on the tax officials of New York city. The report says that at 1 conservative estimate there Is now due under the franchise tax law approxi- mately $22, ,250,0 900, of which about $21, ,650,000 is due in the city of New York alone. The assessments under | litigation. The report of Comptroller Glynn shows that the state is losing $2,OO0,000 year through evasion of the stock transfer tax law.
 Two bills, each seeking to create a state bureau of pensions, were intro. | duced in the New York senate by Sen. | ators Cassidy and Owens The Cassidy bill provides for the appointment of a commissioner of pensions at an annual salary of $3,OOO and would establish q pension scale for civil war veterans of 1 $8, $10 and SIP month for soldiers sixty, sixty-five and seventy-five years I old respectively. The Owens bill in- l cludes militiamen wounded in state service as. well as veterans and pro. vides a scale of $S, $10 and SIP a month for veterans of sixty-two, sev. enty and seventy-five years. The pen | sion commissioner Is made appointivG | by the governor.
 President Roosevelt's naval expan- sion policy was given a severe setback when the house committee on naval 1 affairs voted to recommend an appro- priation for the building of two battle ships of the Delaware class instead of the four battleships recommended by the navy department In his annual 1 report Victor H. Metcalf, secretary of l the navy, urged that congress appro- l priate approximately $69,OO0,00O foI l the building of battleships and war vessels of other types. The president was fully in accord with Secretary Metcalf and asked the Democratic l members of the naval affairs commit. tee to help put the secretary's pro- gramme through.
 I Senator Burnham of New Hamp- shire introduced in congress measure for the establishment of domestic rural parcels post at special rates of postage for the delivery of foodstuffs, dry goods, drugs, books and other merchandise. The rate of postage is to be cents for the first pound and Z cents for each additional pound or | fraction thereof and on parcels weigh. ing less than one pound as follows: Two ounces or less, cent; over two and under four ounces, cents; over four and not exceeding eight ounces, 3 cents; over eight and not exceeding IWGlfG OuuCcS, # Cculbs OfCI LWcif6 ounces and under one pound, cents.
 The recent completion of an order of 5000 tons of rifle barrels in the rough -or approximately 750,000 ri1es-by the Crucible Steel company of Newark, N J., for the Japanese government. which has been brought to public at tention by Hudson Maxim, the invent. or, Is forcible reminder of the ac. tivity of the Japanese in their warlike preparations. The rife barrels were shipped in small consignments to Yo- kohama, and ordnance men estimate that fully three-fourths of the guns were in the hands of the soldiers be- fore the last shipment was made from the United States. t
 Frank H. Hitchcock, first assistant postmaster general, on Feb. 15 will re- tire from the postal service to under take in part the management of the aamnaiOD of SQcrotary