The Caucasian., 1909-06-20
The CONFERENCE
COMMITTEE.
Talk About What Legislators
Will Be on 1t.
WILL Be VERY IMPORTANT. !.

| LnS SHaTaSSCE III tHC Sil ~ 0e
Adcpted-WhoTl Go to Seattle?-The
| Discussion Over Improvement of In
land Waterways.
| Washington, June Ill Especial. i
1t has not yet been determined def
nitely how many will constitute the
conference committee to settle the diff
ferences between the senate and the
house on the tariff 1t is conceded that
Senator A1drich and Representative
| Payne, chairmen of the finance and
ways and means committees respec-
| lively, will be two of the conferees.
Mr.. Burrows Of Michigan is the sec
ond member of the senate committee,
and Mr.. Penrose comes third. Sena-
tors Daniel of Virginia and Money of
Mississippi are the ranking Democrats
on this committee. But If there should
! be five senate conferees instead OF
| three 1t is not probable that Mr.. Money
| will be one, as he can barely see and
! his general health Is not good. Rep
| resentative Dalzel of Pennsylvania
certainly will lie one of the house con-
| ferees, and Mr.. Clark will act in that
capacity for the Democrats in the
event only three are named. but II
| FIVE are selected Mr. Underwood of
Alabama, should his rank on the com
mittee be cons sidered, also would be
one of them. # there are five men
from each branch there may be some
shifting around Mccall of Massachu-
setts is the third Republican on ways
and means. Speaker Cannon might
jump Hill of Connecticut over him as
Mr.. Mccall has not always voted or
tariff matters to suit Uncle Joe.
Congressional Junket to Seattles
A nice trip is being arranged for
fifteen of the representatives and ten
of the senator's. 1t all depends upon
whether concurrent resolution offered
by Congressman Rodenberg Of Illinois
gets through this session. Congress
was formally invited to attend the
Alaska Yukon Pacific exposition at Sc
attic, and Mr.. Rodenberg thinks that
the invitation should be accepted and
committee, as suggested, should be
named by the president Of the senate
and speaker of the house. OF course
the expenses of the trip will be paid
out Of the public treasury in the event
combination is not formed to spoil
the plans of those who hope to land
on the joint committee to be named.
Statements About Waterways.
Getting hold Of the recent report oe
the inland waterways commission, Cor
respondent William e. Curtis sprung
a series Of articles that have agitatea
those who are urging more liberal ap
preparations for the improvement Of
the waterways. This report called at
tention to the decrease in tonnage on
rivers. In statement prepared by
Secretary Ellison of the national rivers
and harbors congress it is admitted
that this is correct as to the Missis-
sippi, but he points out that there has
been a very decided increase In local
and way tonnage, which has increased
In practically the same proportion that
the through tonnage has decreased.
There are today mere steamers engaa-
ed in local short trade routes from
various points on the lower Mississippi
river than were engaged In the same
business twenty years ago. This in
crease Captain Ellison gives out for
the information of public men and de
clares thae it !las been most notable q
Memphis, ViGksburg and Natchez. He
also calls attention to the fact that /
foreign countries the type of steam
boat built in the United States anC
which is pecu' iarly suited to rivers O
shoal water il being constructed ami
that a Pittsburg firm is building such
boats in large numbers to be shipped
to those countries.
Representatives Called Back.
The Republican leaders of the house
are gradually calling their members
back to washington They will try Z
prevail upon them to remain here ccE-
stantly until the end of the session,
for they have a number of things t.
pass upon outside of the tariff before
that bill gets into conference. and they
do not know what obstacles the Dem
ocrats may throw in their way The
calculation is that the tariff bill ough:
to be sent to conference somewhere |
between the Goth and 30th Of June
Evidence of Business Depression.
In the year 1908 the steam and elec.
tric railroads OF the United States pur-
chased more than 112,00o,00o cross ties. |
costing at the point Of purchase over |
56,000.000. an average of 80 cents per |
tie, according to statistics just made |
public by the bureau of census in CO.
operation with the United States for
est service. This was some 100000 I
ties less than the quantity purchased |
in 1907, when the total was approxi-
mately 153. 100000, the highest ever
recorded. The decreased purchases in
1908 were, of course, chiefly due TO the
business depression which affected ey-
cry line of industry. This forced most
of the roads t0 pure ha co only tho tfac |