Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1912-06-26
WASHINGTON LETTER
Weekly Letter From Our Special
Correspondent.
NEWS FROM THE CAPITAL.
Brief Items of Interest to IOy a PeO-
pie, Written by an Iowa HS
Man. h
washington, D. c., June "a.


A Washington man has been given
ninety days for stealing typewriter
machine.
The Germans have evolved a
scheme for compulsory tipping. Its
introduction into this country will
be entirely unnecessary.
Senator Hepburn has served no.
tice that he will attempt to delay
votes on any further tariff bills un-
It'll he is assured of their defeat.
Lumber and timber manufactures
rank third in value of products,
among the industries of the United
states, according to census statistics
just published
The Senate has passed bill which
previously passed the House, rem
dering it unlawful to ship through
interstate commerce moving picture
films showing exhibitions OF prize
lighting.
The department of agriculture has
issued second bulletin or the maxi
ing and keeping of city lawns. This
bulletin gives full directions for the
preparation of the soil, planting,
maintenance of moisture upkeeps
and trimming.
A number of Colonel Roosevelt's
trophies of his African expedition
have been mounted ard will soon be
hcN
tute. In all the colonel has sup
piled the instition with more than
1000 skins
The favored few who have the
privilege of handling paper money
will hereafter find their bills clean
and crisp as new, if the currency
washing machine, installed at the
treasury department, does it's work
as expected. BY laundering and re-
issuing the bills instead of destroy
ing them, Secretary MacVeagh hopes
to make an annual saving of $780,
600.
The senate has passed a concur
rent resolution calling for the APP
pointment of a committee OF three
senators and three representatives
to INQUIRE into the possibility of bet
ter utilization of space in the sever
al departments of the government in
the District of Columbia. The COM
mittee will also inquire into the
question of rentals paid by the gov
ernment in Washington.
A bill granting charter in tie
District of Columbia to the Nation
al Institute of Arts and Letters and
creating a list of about $50 Ameri-
can ''immortals'' has passed the
house. Included in the list are art
ssts. authors, musicians, and other
contributors to the education of the
American people. Theodore Roose-
velt. Woodrow Wilson, and Senator
Lodge are named, but the house
struck from the list the name or
Francis D. AIillet, the artist, who
lost his life in the Titanic disaster.
Congress is almost at standstill
senate is meeting every third day in
a perfunctory way. with ten-milute
eessions and with an attendance av-
eraging from ten to twenty. At the
other end of the building similar ac-
tivity is the order. The delay in
the enactment of a dozen annual ap-
preparation bills which provide for
the operation of the various depart
ments of the government will make
1T necessary to pass a concurrent
resolution about July l continuing
the present supply bills into the next
fiscal year This unusual state or
affairs has not occurred since the
Fifty-third congress, about twenty
years ago.
President Taft has vetoed the ar
my appropriation bill, and in a mes
sage to congress scores the congress
men for the practice of attaching
substantive legislation to appropria-
tion bills, which practice he regards
as dangerous and reprehensible. AS
stated in the message, the bill is We
toed because its limitations as to the
eligibility OF officers TO be Chief OF
staff would put premium on mere
routine service; because it cripples
the general staff; because it would
disintegrate the important bureaus
of the War Department; because il
would relieve all but one of the line
officers, and probably of the Engi-
neer Corps. now on duty at the Pam
anna Canal from that work; and be
cause it lengthens the term of en-
listment from three to four years,
Secretary OF Agriculture Wilson
recently stated that The demand of
the United States for lawyers and
physicians is more than met by the
professional schools, while the de-