Evening star., 1913-02-11
KNOTTY ISSUE PRESENTED
Conferences With Those Interested
to Be Held Thursday.
MANY QUESTIONS GOING OVER
Incoming Administration to Solve
Vexing Problems-Taft Prepar-
ing to Leave White House.

Ing 10 Leave w u1Le dOuSc.
AS Friday will be the last day Presi-
dent Taft will have in which to sign or
disarprove the immigration bill before it
becomes law under the provisions of the
Constitution. he will have a number of
final conferences Thursday before deter
mining what his action will be. Samuel
Gompers president of the American Fed
GRAFTON of Labor talked to the President
today on the subject, and was invited to
return Thursday to further discuss the
several sections of the bill. The fedora
tion is unanimous in support of the bill.
The President has also asked William
| Williams commissioner Of immigration in
New York to come here to throw all the
| light at his command on the subject
| Representative Bartholdt and ex-Repre-
| sentative Bennett are also to be received
by the President Thursday. There will be
no hearing. however. like that held in the
| east room last week.
The President Is receiving a bushel OF
letters and petitions each day arguing for
and against the bill Representative
| Scully of New Jersey has sent the Presi-
| dent recent magazine containing fac
SMILES Of the curious colonial signatures
of Virginians found in the records Of Es-
sex county. Va Mr.. Scully told the
President that many of these men and
women. who could not write, were the
| ancestors Of two Presidents Harrison
and Of prominent families all over the
| country, one of them being Ephraim
Magnify, whose son compiled a standard
reading book for grammar schools Mr.
Scully pointed to this as evidence that an
educational test in the immigration bill
was unfair to healthy robust people who
wish to come to the United States
Customs Reorganization Deferred.
| There has been so much kicking at
the White House about the proposed
customs reorganization, now being
brought to form in the Treasury De-
partment that President Taft is quite
likely to let this knotty and perplex-
| ing problem go over to his successor
| in office. Just three weeks today the
new President will be sworn in.
Secretary MacVeagh has not approx
ed the plan Of reorganization submit
ted to him, and it will be some time
before he is able to do SO. President
Taft will have little time left to sift
customs map of the country to deter
mine whether the Treasury is right or
wrong.
Therefore he will most likely put I'D
to the democrats the problem of saving
to the Treasury at least $1.OOO.OO a year
in costs and salaries in the customs de-
partment.
Every effort to bring about consolidation
of ports into districts and the abolish
ment Of unnecessary federal jobs has been
met by fierce opposition at the Treasury
and at the White House.
There is no one thing in months that
has caused so much protest at the White
/ House.
Problems for Incoming President.
The outlook now is that Mr.. Taft will
pass up to Gov. Wilson pretty nice
| bunch Of trouble, in addition to what the
| incoming President will have of his own
| in the way of legislation he wants to see
| put on the books.
Mr.. Wilson has mapped out for himself
an important program of legislat ton, in
| Guiding the tariff. currency and inter-
state commerce and trusts that are re-
garded as quite enough for one man to
deal with for awhile. But there are trou-
blesome administrative questions that will
enmeSh the new President from the start
this one of customs reorganization hav-
ing much dynamite in 1t. Then there is
the reorganization of the Panama Canal
Zone to establish civil government, loaded
with worry. as evidenced by the fact that
Mr.. Taft dropped it when the democrats
kicked on the nomination Of Col. Goethals
for governor; besides the war and chaos
cancies In public office nominations to
which are hanging in the Senate.
District Of Columbia Interested.
| At the very beginning Mr. Wilson will
| find a war among local democrats and
| the people Of the District over two Dis
/ trict Commissioner vacancies. Worse than
these, from a political point of view, will
! be the question whether to reappoint
Judge De Lacey as judge of the Juvenile
Court or put in some other man. The
light over Judge De Lacey long ago de-
veloped, most unfortunately, according to
those taking part, into a denominational
affair, with much bitterness. The Presi-
dent has before him now q huge stack
of papers bearing on this case and does
not see how he will ever find time to GO
into them so as to fairly make up his
mind what was best. Attorney General
! WickerSham has recommended against
Judge De Lacey. Between the District
Commissioner places and the juvenile
Judgeship the incoming President Will
have some busy and thoughtful moments
Tafts Moving Out.
Some OF the personal belongings of
the Taft family are already being hauled
| away from the White House for stor-
age or shipment to New Haven. their
| future home. A big van loaded with
various articles went away from the
White House today. AS governor of the
Philippines. Secretary of War and Presi-
dent, Mr. Taft accumulated furniture and
household effects that were not used
when he entered the White House. These
| have been stored in the attic and else
where and must now be sent away
The President will go to Philadelphfa a.
tomorrow afternoon to attend the f1ftieth
| annual banquet of the Union League
| Club of that city. He will return from
| there at midnight tomorrow. Every men,
| Der of the cabinet, except Secretary f sh-
er, Will go with the President on a spe-
cial train, leaving here at 8 o'clock in
| the afternoon.
IGNORED BY THE COURT.