The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1911-01-06
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER

OUR WASHINGTON LETTER
Washington, D. c., December 80, 1910
Mr.. Editor:
With the close of the holiday season,
there is a renewal of activity in~the ex-
ecutive, legislative and judicial branches
of the government in Washington.
Barely two months of the life of the
present Congress remains, for at the
hour of II M. on the 4th of March the
61st Congress will expire by limitation.
Then nearly twelve months must
elapse before the Congress elected last
November can assemble and begin the
work for which it was elected. This is
an exceedingly clumsy arrangement,
for it not only puts off for tomorrow
what ought to be done today, but null
tiplies the delay by nearly four hun
dred days However, let the heather
rage because inasmuch as the remedy
must be through legislation, it is almost
impossible of attainment.
A measure of prime Importance
which will be urged by the President,
the Secretary of War, the Secretary of
State and by members and Senators in
both houses of Congress, is the prompt
fertilization of the Panama Canal, es-
pecially at it's western end. Defenses
against modern dreadnaughts cannot be
improvised in night, and it is impos-
sib lie to exaggerate the Importance of
protecting a work upon which SO much
money has been spent and which is so
vital to the protection of the Pacific
coast.
The new year opens with the United
States at peace with all the world, but
the words of Patrick Henry, Gentle
men may cry Peace, peace, but there
is no peace" are just as true now as
they were in 1776. There is no peace
in the family, no peace in the apart
ment house, no peace between owners
of adjoining farms, and the United
States, having extended its borders to
Panama, the Hawaiian Islands, the
Philippines, Guam and the Aleutlan
Islands, is in perpetual rasping attritlon
with the rest of the world. 1t might
be better if we could give away or sink
the Philippines and let the Japanese
pouchers have all the seals on the
Pribilof Islands and escape quarrels by
combining ourselves to antebellum
boundaries, but we are in situation
of having and holding and can't let go.
Therefore, it is wisdom to strengthen
our hold with warships and fortitica-
lions.
It is doubtful if the Mikado's govern
ment knows anything about the alleged
wireless stations that certain Japanese
are said to have built on the lonely
coasts of the Philippines; or that
Japanese merchants are smuggling
arms and explosives to our always
more or less rebellious Philippine
defendants. What stupid contratemps
it was, anyhow, of the Spanish war
for us to have forfeited Cuba and to
have fastened the Philippine milestone
around our neck.
Representative Longworth of Ohio
has come back to Washington with the
complete draft of bill creating a
tariff commission, and it is said that
Payne, Aldrich, Dalzell and the rest OF
them are in favor of such a commission
and that legislation on the subject Will
be completed before the 4th OF March.
The bill as drafted creates commls-
sion of five members each with
salary of $500 and of the membership
not more than three are to be OF the
same political party. The central
office is to be in Washington, but the
commission is empowered to meet any
where and is given wide power OF
collection and collection of facts. The
bill authorizes the commission to go into
the cost of production of all articles
and to investigate the wages PAID at
home and in foreign countries, also the
prices paid for raw materials, whether
imported or domestic. The maximum
ID minimum clause of the present tariff
law is reenacted in the bill. The mem
bers of the commission are to be APP
pointed by the President.