Daily Arizona silver belt., 1910-01-09
In The Halls of Congress
BY TAV.
Special Washington Correspondence.

Although some of the republican leaders real ize that the Humphrey ship subsidy bill is al- most as offensive to the people as was the Payne Aldrich tariff bill before its passage, the measure which will open the 'pork barre" to private shipowners is to be damned through congress regardless of consequences.
 The railroads the tariff trusts and all the other special interests that are represented in congress have added their O. K. to subsidy leg islation. With President Taft using every source of leverage at his command to secure votes for the measure, the only hope for its de- feat lies in a coalition of democrats and in surgents.
 When it is considered that a ship subsidy is popularIy viewed as class legislation of the most vicious kind, and that it has been turned down by such representative commercial organ izations as the New York chamber of commerce as both American and impractical in theory, it would seem that in forcing such law upon the,people the republican leaders are absolutely indifferent whether the next house is lost to the party now in power or not. Either that, or else hope for republican, success in the ap preaching congressional elections has been abandoned and the Aldrich-C Cannon men are out for all the ''pork" that is to be had in the comparative short time which remains before their forced retirement to private life
 What is the real significance of the desperate attempt of the republicans to pass a ship sub sidy bill at this time! From what viewpoint will the average citizen be likely to view the situation!
 The plan now is to pass ship subsidy bill within the next few days. If this is done, it will mean that the first important legislation to pass at this session was measure that will ben eft only few already rich men. 1t will mean that congress deliberately turned it's back upon legislation desired by the people to first serve the special interests And as if to make more evident their contempt for public sentiment the republican leaders have given the country to understand that while ship subsidy bill is to be passed, no attention is to be paid at this ses- sion to postal banks or statehood for. Arizona and New Mexico, which, it will be recalled, were promised in the republican national platform in as clear-cut English as could possibly have been employed
 Political blindness is the only expression can think of to describe the action of the re- publican leaders in persisting in their plan to pass ship subsidy bill at this time, y said Rep resentative Henry T. Rainey of Illinois, one of the best posted men in the house on shipping and navigation laws. "The leaders in charge of the majority side of the house are simply drunk with power. They need only little more rope, and the job will be complete.
 eff this ship subsidy bill IS passed, y said Mr. Rainey ''where will the $5,000,000 that is to be paid annually to the ship owners, come from? The subsidists answer: Why, it is not planned to use the profit of the foreign mail branch of the postoffce department, which is approx imateIy $5,000000 annually.'
 This IS no answer to the question, however The posto1ice department is running at loss of $l75OO,00O; that was the deficit last year. If you take the $5000,000 of profit derived from the foreign mail service to give to ship owners, 1t will simply mean the deficit will be increased by that amount. Any school boy can see that.
 Now, if we give $5,000,000 to these ship owners, someone must foot the bill! And the government has no funds except those which it collects by taxing the people,
 In few words, therefore, ship subsidy leg islaton is law to further exploit and oppress all the people for the further enrichment of muti-miionaires
 The experience of France alone shows that the idea IS wrong Her heavy subsidies, though draining the treasury, have utterly failed to produce the result anticipated while the com merce of Norway in proportion to it's wealth and
 inhabitants makes an exceptionally fine show ing, without any subsidies whatever
 ''It IS true that Germany DayS subsidies hut