The Penn's Grove record., 1911-05-19
PENIS GROVE. N. j.. FRIDAY. MAY 10. 1911.

liam Lorimer and Simon G~uggenhelm,
on three important committees-those
on agriculture and forestry, postoffices
and postroads and military affalrs. AS
~Guggenheim is also put on the conserV
alton of natural resources commlttee-
doubtless in view of lis services 10
that end in Alaska-it seems a pity the
gentleman from Illinois should ne
have joined him there. The politlcal
beneficiary of the lumber trust, which
is so rapidly ~obliterating our forests
ought to serve on that committee Win
the political representative OF the
combination which is grabbing our
mineral lands all through the west
and in Alaska.
But the District of Columbia does
not find any humor, grim or other
wise, in the appointment of MI. Lori
mer to be a member of the District
committee-the governing body OF THIS
one disfranchised community IN these
United States. The people OF the DIS
trict have had troublous times In the
past, but they face this particular
disaster with failing hearts.
Reasons for the Appointment.
Now dear gas, bad street car serv-
ice without universal transfers and
extortionate telephone tolls are evils
that the people of the District have
long been fighting without success.
They apprehend, and probably with
uoo-or %L1+ or;~anr &c ono Of their
rulers will be found Oh the side OF
those who control these municipal ut1l-
tiles. The senators responsible for
this most amazing appointment ex-
plain it on the ground that he had
served long in the Chicago common
council and should know about NUM-
| cipal affairs.
What probably caused the appoint
ment is the personal interests of Mr..
John r. Mclean. This gentleman
owns outright the Washington gas
| company and Is a dominant factor in
the other public service corporations.
He also owns a bank which has al
ways been kindly to speculative
statesmen, and a newspaper which can
reward with bouquets or punish with
brickbats. Senator Lorimer is a man
of McLean's own heart.
Old Proposition Revived.
The demand of Representative
D~ifenderfer of Pennsylvania for infor-
nation concerning the alleged corrupt
relations existing between war and
navy department officials and a Mas
~sachusetts shoe manufacturing con
Germ may have results unexpected by
it's author. The Pennsylvania con
gresham insists that money and in
fuence have been used to give a GER
tain firm a monopoly of all contracts
with the army and navy. Forced to
accept the challenge, Representative
Gardner of Massachusetts introduced
a resolution calling upon the secre-
taries of these two departments for
all information bearing Upon such con-
tracts.
Just about the time this was done
there was being quietly debated In the
cloak rooms a renewal of the agita-
ton, long abandoned, for a statute
WllSh oLOutu give W CdUlISI
seats-but not votes-on the floor of
the house Of representatives. The
proposition Is not a new one, having
been offered in Civil war days by Sen
ator Pendleton of Ohio. But at that
time congress was too occupied with
"a matters to give it attention and
it was lost in the clash of arms. Its
revival just now is somewhat due to
the activity of Mr.. Perry Belmont,
who, though no longer in congress, en-
joys the privileges Of the floor by
virtue of past service in the house.
LaFoIIette's Protest Ignored.
Senator LaFollette's vigorous, al
most im~passioned, indictment of the
ruling forces in the United States SEN
ate for their denial to the progressives
of proper representation on the fnflu-
entail committees was r~idiculously
without effect. Probably the senator
expected as much, but Injured as he Is
to the Indifference and even hostility
of his colleagues, he must have been
chagrined that his formal protest pro-
duced only the curt response of Sena-
tor Gallinger that while arithmetically
the ~progressives were entitled to 100
places, they got 114.After which he
committee slate was put through. OF
course Senator G~allinger's retort was
beside the mark. What LaFollette
was protesting against was not the
number of committee places given the
insurgents, but the character Of those
places. The great committees on
finance and interstate commerce, hav-
ing to do with the tariff and the rail-
roads, he charged, had been deliber-
ately packed against the interests OF
the people. Nevertheless the regular
Republican steam roller rolled as re-
morselessly over the band of progress
sives as 1t did at the Chicago conven-
ton of 1908. The Democrats took no
part in the fray, holding it to be a Re
publican quarrel only.
But the LaFollette protest will read
we'll in the middle west. A very sys-
tematic poll of voters taken out there
by one of Arthur Capper's farmers
papers showed that for first choice
Roosevelt led prodigiously, with La
Toilette second; the second choice OF
the voters put LaFollette in the lead,
with Bristow second; while their
third choice kept LaFollette in the
lead. with Cummins second. The size
of the Roosevelt vote was a surprise
to politicians here. So, too, was the
bad showing made by Taft, who never
reached higher than fourth place. The
paper. the Valley Farmer of Topeka,
Kan. has a circulation almost wholly
Republican. Yet some Democratic
votes were cast and Taft ran about