The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-11-13
INCREASE POSTAGE
 ON PERIODICALS Postoffice Officials Desire the Passage of the Bill AT THE NEXT SESSION Cannon's Position Is Responsible for Defeat of Some of His Colleagues in Congress Says an East
 ern Member
AT THE NEXT SESSION
BY RoDERIcK CLIFFORD

BY RODERIcK CLIFFORD
 Washington, November 12.-(special.)- l Officials of the postoffice department
 hope that at the coming session of Con gress they will be successful in securing
 a favorable report from the House com
 mittee on postoffices and postroads on the
 bill to increase postage on magazines and
 periodicals.
 Last session the House committee gave up severakdays to hearings on this sub | ject and much testimony was given to l show that an increase in second class
 rates on magazines and periodicals would l prove hardship to the business interests | of the country. One feature brought out
 at the hearings was that the deficit com
 plained of by the Postmaster General l which he said could be charged to second | class mail matter, was in reality due to
 the exorbitant compensation paid by the
 Postoffice Department to railroads for
 carrying the mails.
 l Members of the House committee on postoffces and postroads who have been here recently say that there is no ques- | ton but that there should be a revision of postage rates, to eaualize matters, but
 the newspapers and magazines should not
 be forced to bear the brunt of the revision
 to wipe out the deficiency. If the post
 office department Is In earnest they should let the officials charged with this
 matter give attention to the railroads.
 The members added. however, that there | will be no general revision of the potsal laws at the coming short session, for the
 reason that there are too many presl- dential measures to come up that failed
 of consideration last session.
 Speaker Cannon still continues to be a live topic of conversation among the re- publican members who come to town for | fe8days to look after department mat ters for their constituents. Only the other day prominent eastern member, who has supported Uncle Joe for four terms | as speaker, said to a party of friends: "I have never subscribed to the many mean things said about Cannon. He has been
 successful as speaker because we stood by him, thus emphasizing the fact that the majority rules But the point want | to make is this If Cannon had been less
 selfish and bowed to the force of opinion | as expressed in the newspapers of the country and let 1t be known that he would not again be a candidate for speaker, he | would have saved some of us from defeat and humiliation. know of some 25 Jmem- bers who regarded 1t as necessary to go | on record and say that they would not l again vote for Cannon for speaker. That | confession was made necessary by Uncle l Joes refusing to say anything on the sub | ject. Now. mind, do not criticise Can
 non, for he has in the past only carried out the will of the majority, and his suc- cessor in the chair, whoever he may De- will do likewise, or there will be anything
 but order in the House proceedings. In the opinion of Representative Smith | of Texas there will soon be a lineup on l the democratic side of the House on the | tariff question. He says the tariff prom l ises to be the issue of the campaign Of | 1912, and that in order to keep party lines straight 1t may be necessary for caucus | to agree on a programme.
 l An investigation of this hint has | brought to light the fact that there may I be a realignment of the democrats and
 republicans on the tariff. The majority | of the democrats in the House and the Senate are In favor of free raw ma- | terials, but the element that believes in protection as shown by the record, havo | always voted with the republicans. thus | offsetting the votes of the latter, who ad- Vocate the placing of raw materials on I the free list
 | In the many petitions received last ses- l sion from leading manufacturers the | statement was made that if the manu- l lecturers are to compete in the foreign | markets of the world 1t will be necessary I that Congress amend the tariff as to
 provide for free raw material. And this | promises to be the rack on which both
 parties will split in the next Congress, &C., cording to the veterans of the House. I President Taft will receive the full and hearty support of the members of the | House Tn his efforts to reform the meth ods of conducting the business of the de- partments so as to eliminate the many useless offices that have grown up In the last 20 years under the guise of facill- tating the public business.
 In this connection the name of Repre- sentative James w Tawney of Mime sota has been mentioned as just the man to assist Expert Cleveland. who has been employed by the President to supervise this work. MT. Tawney, as chairman of the House committee on appropriations, has had years of experience in dealing with departmental matters; he Is familiar with the details concerning the outgo and the income of the government. and is in every way qualified for the work. Incl dentally, 1t would provide a job for him. He is a staunch supporter of the admin istration. and President Taft showed his appreciation by doing what he could to save Tawney from the clutches of the insurgents in bis district, but without avail. Friends of Tawney say he would be just the one to turn on the light and expost the weak spots in the manage ment of the departments, because he would know just where to look for the weak places. AS chairman of the ap- propriation committee, MT. Tawney has consistently fought the bureau chiefs who are always asking for increases In allowances and more help. and while the gentleman from Minnesota was often successful in keeping down the budget in the House, the influence that failed with the representatives almost always | was successful in the Senate, where sev- | eral millions of dollars would be added | to the budgets in the shape of amend- ments.
 President Taft Is confident that he will | be able. with the help of Congress at the coming session to make record for | economy In the matter of expenses in running the departments for the next fiscal year. He want to give Senator AL drich an opportunity to help in the saw ing of some of that $500 o0000,o00 of exSrava- gance that he spoke of last year.
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