The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-20
SUNDAY CIVIL BILL
 REV|VES DISPUTES
Secret Service and Railroad
 Accounts Are Included
CANAL HIM THE BIGGEST
Proposals Are Invited for Removing Wreck of the Rasteshp Maine From Havana Harbor With
 Consent Of Cuba.

Washington, February 19.-Two famous
 disputes between President Roosevelt and
 Congress were revived today when the House committee on appropriations report
 ed the sundry civil appropriation bill. One was the limitations of the use of the secret service of the treasury de- partment: the other the appropriation for
 the examination of accounts of railroads
 under section 20 of the Hepburn rate law The bill, the largest of all the general supply bills, carries an appropriation of S1S7 o22, GOT, $260oo,OO0 less than the esti- mates.
 The committee incorporated in the bill the same limitation that drew forth the severe criticism, of the President in his 1 annual message last December. For the enforcement of section 20 of the Hepburn | rate law s35O000 is appropriated, the same as last year.
 The sum of S350,00O was voted a year ago
 only after the President had written to the Speaker and called several members
 to the White House to consult on the
 subject. Testimony taken by the commit
 tee showed that during the seven months
 of the present year only $l,0oO of the
 fund had been expended, and in this
 amount was included the salary of F ex-
 aminers for whom maintenance was sug- gested by the committee year ago from
 another fund
 In the bill the President is authorized,
 with the consent of the republic of Cuba, to invite proposals for removing the
 wreck of the battleship Maine from Ea- vana harbor.
 The bill carries authority for the con- -f, 1f xrYr- cost S2,500000 to accommodate the geo. logical survey. the reclamation service, the general land office and the Indian bu-
 reau
 The largest article in the bill is for continuation of work on the Panama canal. For this purpose SS9, ,63S, 600 is ap-
 propriated or $4,0O0,OO0 more than is car [ ried in the current sundry civil appro- priation bill for that expenditure. There will be deficiency this year, however,
 of about $50Q0,000. The second largest | item is $19,574,514 for rivers and harbors construction work authorized by law An
 other large item is $1s,61s, 646 for the con
 struction of public buildings. For the
 cost of maintaining public buildings al
 ready erected there is appropriated s1,9o2- GOO for custodians and 1anitors. The bill also recommends at the urgent
 request of the Secretary of the Interior the appropriation of $I,OO00O0 for the pro-
 lection of the public domain and the in- vestigation of entries of public lands with
 view of determinating their value. This amount was increased at the last session from s250,000 to $500, 00O
 During the hearings on the bill an inves-
 tigation was made of the cost to the gov
 ernment of granting holidays, half holi- days and leaves of absence to the govern | ment employees in the District of Colum- 1 bia. It is estimated by the committee
 that this sum reaches fully $35OO, 900 an- nually. Of the $5,6S2OO0 Appropriated
 for printing and binding s10O,0O0 is to cover the holidays granted to the 4O00 employees
 in the government printing office $lo0-
 GOO to cover that of the holidays each week during July, August and September,
 and $325,000 to cover the annual leaves
 granted employees
 On the recommendation of the depart
 ment of commerce and labor the perma-
 nent appropriation including the head tax
 collected on every immigrant is aban-
 doned and specific appropriation for this
 service is made. During the present fiscal
 year the permanent appropriation has
 been exhausted and the department is
 faced with deficit Of s50O,OOO.