Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1911-06-23
AFFAIRS AT WASHINGTON.
CURRENT NEWS OF THE
WEEK AND EVENTS OF
IMPORTANCE IN WHICH
PENNSYLVANIA
FIGURES.
Special to the News Item.

Representative Wilson of Penn
sylvania has introduced bill "To
provide employment in the Depart
ment of Commerce and Labor for
persons sixty-five years of age and
upward, and prescribe the duties
and fix the pay of same, and for
other purposes" He also has
another measure providing the
manner in which prisoners arrest
ed for crime in one state, where
the offense was committed in anoth
er state, shall be extradited. The
measure seems to cover the affairs
of cases like that of the Los An
geles Times dynamiters, and is in
line with the Democratic criticism
of the existing laws.
The debate on the Democratic
wool bill has been brought to a
close and in the consideration of
this important subject of legisla-
ton the delegation from Pennsyl-
vania have taken a prominent part
in the debates. The venerable
Serene Payne, author of the Payne
Aldrich tariff bill, has been in
charge of the Republican side of
the debate, and his great know
ledge of the subject of the tariff
has been the means of strengthen
ing his party position before the
country. OF course it has been a
foregone conclusion that the action
of the Democratic caucus would
settle the fate of the bill in the
House, as this latter great body
has simply been the echo of the
caucus agreement since the begin
ming of the special session. No
one seriously believes that the bill
will pass the Senate, and it is
even doubtful whether it will be
considered in that branch of Con-
gress.
There is an apparent deter
mination to investigate anything,
everything and everybody, and to
do it right away In Washington
it is we'll known that the State
Department has always spent small
sums of money for secret iuvesti-
gatoins, most of which have been
carried on in foreign countries.
There never has been time when
such expenditures have been
brought into question. The Dem
ocratic probers have been picking
out the items that appear in the
record of the State Department,
and by insinuation have sought to
cast discredit upon Secretary Knox
and other officials. OF course,
Washington understands all this,
and pays no attention to this last
attempt to make political capital,
but in the country itself the neces-
sity of expenditures of this char
acter are not so we'll understood
and it is part of the ''peaunut
politics. that are being played in
the Capital to attempt to create an
impression that great branch of
the federal government has been
subjected to petty graft
Representative Field of Kentucky
must be disappointed in view of
the fact that a resolution intro
duced by him two or three weeks
ago asking information as to
whether criminal prosecutions have
been begun or are now pending
against the American Tobacco
Company and other institutions af-
fected by the recent decisions of
the Supreme Court, has got no
further than the pigeon hole of a
Committe. Some of the Republi-
can members have suggested to the
gentleman from Kentucky that it
might be well for him to read the
newspapers.
There is considerable speculation
as to who will manage the next
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