Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1911-02-02
SENATE MAY KILL
COMMISSION BILL
House Republicans Agreeing on
DaIzeIl Measure but It's Fate
Is in Doubt.
MAY PROBE NAVY ACCIDENTS
Department Reused by Many Recent
Disasters-Speaker Cannon's Hour
Giass-Mine Fatalities More
Numerous in America
Than in Europe.
BY GEORGE CLINTON.

BY GEORGE CLINTON.
Washington. Members of the ways
and means committee having refused
sanction to the Longworth tariff com
mission bill and having endorsed one
said to be more to their liking, the
Republican leaders of the house are
now more in a mood to pass the
legislation which the president has
asked.
There are some wide differences be-
tween the Longworth bill and the Dal-
zeil bill which has supplanted it, but
there is a feeling that the progressive
Republicans will not refuse to vote
for the substituted measure, believing
as they do that it is an advance along
lines which they have blazed The
difficulty will come in the senate,
where the chances are very much
against the passage OF any tariff legis-
lation at this session. The progress
sives say that their conservative Re
publican brethren will not be in the
least sorry if the bill fails to become
a law.
In the meantime Democrats are
Jubilant because of the disagreement
which has come to the Republicans
over the form which the tariff COM
mission legislation should take. I'm
Questionably the Democracy in Con-
gross believes that the party will be
better off if no commission bill is
passed this year The progressive
Republicans accuse their conservative
brethren of playing into the hands of
the Democrats, and the conservatives
retort by saying that the progressives
have been playing into the hands of
the opposition for two years. All is
not peace in the Republican ranks
and recent discussions on the tariff
by the Democrats have shown that
the spirit of amity is not dwelling
entirely unmolested in their camp.
Army to Get AeropIane Fund.
The house of representatives has
put into the army bill an appropria-
ton OF S125,000 for the use of the sig
nal corps of the United States army
in aeroplane experiments. For a year
the signal corps officers have had an
aeroplane on their hands and have
not mad money enough to put it to
use. 1t was not the war department
alone which urged congress to grant
money for flying purposes, for petit
lions came from all over the United
States from persons who are interest
ed IN the new art, and from other per
sons who thought that if Great Brit
ain, Germany, France and some of the
other nations were making arrange
ments to fly and to drop dynamite
bombs into the enemy's camp, the
United States ought to be prepared in
some way to check the game provid-
ed it should come when some foreign
nation intended to try to play it Sin
our back yard"
To Probe Navy Disasters.
Accidents have been of such fire.
quent occurrences on the United
States men of war recently that it is
probable the navy department will or
der a comprehensive investigation to
find out if there is not something back
of the disasters which can be cor
rected.
The recent peculiar explosion en-
the battle hip Delaware, resulting in
the killing of nine men, is now being
made the subject of inquiry by
board consisting of eight naval Off
GERS Of high rank and standing. This
particular accident is the first of the
kind which has occurred in the navy,
and machinery experts and engineer
ing officers are puzzled as to its
cause. 1t Will be remembered that
recently there has been an overhaul |
ing Of the different bureaus in the
navy department and that changes
have been made. The thought is that
it is possible the shifts in the super
vising bureaus may have been detri- |
mental to the proper inspection of
original construction work. The whole
matter is to be gone into thoroughly
and it may be that some of the
changes which were made after in
finite pains and study of the navy
bureau management must Of necessity
be made back again
Cannon Uses an Hour Glass.
There is a fine old clock in the
house Of representatives whose hands
frequently are turned back on the last
day of the session in order that the
fiction Of adjournment at a certain
hour may be maintained. Speaker
Cannon, however, does not trust to
the clock to let him know when a rep
resentative has reached the end of
the five minutes allowed him in which
to speak to a measure under the five
minute rule. On a desk in front of
Mr.. Cannon stands an old fashioned
hour glass, but one from which nearly
all the sands of time" have been re-
moved so that which is left takes five
minutes to the second to run through.
When member arises to talk the
speaker turns the glass and starts the
sands to moving. He keeps one eye
on the glass and one eye on the
house. When the last grain has run
through the tiny aperture down
NOTICING WHAT ONE SEES