The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1909-05-20
WASHINGTON
from our Regular Correspondent.

| Washington, d. c., May II, 1909
when will Congress adjourn9'
is the question put to the Vice
President, Speaker Cannon, Sena.
tors and Representatives whenever
they appear at the White House.
Speaker Cannon replied recently;
If you will tell me when the Sen
ate will pass the tariff bill | will
give you pretty good guess as to
when Congress will adjourn. The
only thing that moves and carries
the previous question in the Senate
is from 20 to 100 i'll the shade.
***
Every week further evidences
are given that the Senate is not in
good humor, and every day there
are outbursts offpevishness and ir.
ritation on the part of the members
of ;hat dignified body. The lead
schedule, so far as pig lead is con-
cerned has been disposed Of, and in
the las; few days the earthenware
and chinaware paragraphs have
provoked mitch debate. The opin-
ion is quite general that the real
tariff bill will be made in confer
ence, and that such a bill will be
turned out as the President can
sign. At present the President
and Congress are not in perfect ac-
cord in regard to the BILL but there
is every reason to believe that COM
promise will be the effective meth.
Cd by which the bill will be shaped
into what it should be.
~
When President Taft sent to the
Senate the nomination of Henry
Groves Connor. Democrat, for
judge of the Eastern district of
North Carolina, he cnly carried
out his avowed policy of appointing
the best lawyers he can to places
on the federal bench. whether they
be Republicans or Democrats. The
contest for the place has been a
bitter one md the Republicans of
the Eastern District of North Caro-
lima recently urged the President
ROT to appoint Democrat even if
he had to so out of the district to
find suitable Republican for the
place. The nomination of Judge
Connor did not come as a surprise
to those who have followed the
matter closely. He is regarded at
the White House as a man of liber-
al views and was on the bench of
the supreme court of North Caro-
lima for about ten years, aud before
that for a number of years was
judge OF the superior courts.
~
Washington is much disappoint-
ed over the failure of Congress to
provide funds for the construction
OF gas plant and balloon house at
the Fort Myer aerodrome. On ac-
count of the lack of app, opriations,
Gen. James Allen, the chief officer
of the signal corps, has been forced
to change his plans for the aero
nautical trials and tests at Fort
Myer this summer. The army
motor balloon No. I, purchased last
fall, will be shipped Immediately
to Fort Omaha, where a modern
hydrogen gas plant and balloon
house have been erected. The
change in the program, however,
for the balloon flights will not in
tertere with the plans for the
Wright Bros and Herring aero
plane trials at Fort Meyer.
**A
The Signal Corps of the army is
to make experiments, also, with
view to increasing the range of
field wireless telegraph equipment.
The apparatus now in use is car.
ried on pack animals, and is capa-
BILE of sending and receiving mes
sages twenty-three miles. A set
OF portable wireless apparatus of
German manufacture has been re-
Gently purchased for trial. The
equipment is carried on wheels in
stead of on the back of mules, and
it has range of over hundred
miles. -Four horses are necessary
to haul the vehicle, which is equip
ped with an extensible mast capa-
BILE of elevation to the height of
sixty feet. The German apparatus
will be carefully examined and
tried, to determine if it possesses
any advantageous features which
may be adopted by our service.
*+*