The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-05-13

determined man in the Senate, when
it comes to matching wits, than SEN
ator Aidrich. He is very resourceful
He has brought it about that Senator
Hale of Maine should be one of the
conferees. Mr.. Hale has had a splen-
did training as a conferee. There is
no other Senator so much feared by
members of the House in a conference
as the senior Senator from Maine.
During nearly all his public life he
has been member of the appropria-
tons committee, and there is where
men are trained to become capable
conferees. They have a tremendous
amount of work to do in conference
every session and they become ex-
perts at it.
Chairman Payne of the Ways and
Means Committee, who will head the
House conference upon the tariff bill,
was a member of the conference that
adjusted the Dingley bill. But the
Ways and Means Committee has had
very little legislation to handle since
the Dingley bill was passed, and Mr..
Payne has had a limited experience in
that work. Representative Dalzell of
Pennsylvania will be Mr.. Payne's
right-hand man in that big contest.
He will be a tower of strength, for
he is experienced and astute and
knows the subject quite as thoroughly
as Mr.. Payne.
All the rest of Congress will have
to sit idly by, while this struggle in
conference is under way. 1t may last
week or it may last two weeks.
Much will depend up N the amiability
of the members, who after a fashion.
are the jurors that Senate and House
send away to a suite of rooms with
instructions to bring in a verdict
Bureau of Corporations.
The Bureau of Corporations is in
blue funk these days. One of the
least of its troubles is the frequently
reiterated report that it's commits
sioner and official head, Herbert Knox
Smith, may lose his place almost any
time and that some more conservative
investigator will be appointed as his
successor.
Much of the work of the bureau is
at a standstill. No one of the scores
of it's employees appears to know just
where he is at and the result is
more or less of decentralization. Some
Investigations are being continued. A
number of special agents are in the
field. The inquiry about the alleged
lumber trust is hardly half completed.
That alone is engaging a considerable
force of men. But Secretary Nage1 of
Commerce and Labor, of which de-
partment the Bureau of Corporations
is g part, is not urging the bureau
officials to activity. There are no re-
quests from higher up for Informal
ton about this and that corporation,
and the sequel is that the work of the
bureau is tagging all along the line.
Recent utterances of prominent Off
Gals, such as those of the Assistant
to the Attorney General, Wade Ellis,
about the uselessness of some of the
bureaus work has fostered an opin-
ion among the bureau workers that
the information they may acquire will
never be utilized. Consequently they
are discouraged and proceed listlessly
with their tasks.
During the great activity of the last
three or four years numerous tenn
porary employees were taken on, who
had not been subjected to a Civil Ser
vice examination. They expected that
later they would be placed on the per-
manent rolls, as the prospect for con-
tinued industry in the investigation OF
a number of trusts was assured.
few weeks ago 100 aspirants for pc.
sitions as special agents took the Civi
| Service examination in different State:
of the Union. Of this number only
| $50 passed successfully and now fine
| their names upon the eligible list
/ This means that a odly,snumber o
| men, who have been employed as spe
cial agents in recent times on the tenn
porary rolls, will not get back.
| Furthermore, although there is nov
| an eligible list from which to nam,
| special agents, the Department o
| Commerce and Labor is showing n,
| inclination to name such agents, as
| according to the plans of a few month
tago, were to be put to work speedily
Secretary Nagel is planning to g
/ away before long. to be absent mos
of the summer. and there is consider
| able question whether the additiona
| men will be named at all and whethe
| there is not to be a period of notabl
| stagnation in the bureau for ST
months or more.
| -s.$-ss-
Remember that taxes become delir
quent after Saturday. The ten per cen
penalty may be saved by your payin
today.