The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1913-01-23
THE NATIONAL CAPITAL
fFrom Our Washington Correspondent

(From Our Washington Correspondent.)
The money trust investigation has
been booming along merrily, and the
great kings of finance from New York
have rehearsed the tales Of their bins
of gold that makes the story Of the
wealth of an ancient like Solomon, or
the renowned count of Monte Cristo,
sound like a hard luck story. Repres-
entative Puio and his committee,
through the careful inquisitions Of At
torney Untermyer, have secured from
the Wall street m~illionaires a practi-
cal confirmation Of the reasons urged
before congress as proving that there
is a money trust" Morgan, Baker
and others have supported the allega-
tons; but each asserts that ven so
there is no money trust, and such a
thing is impossible" The net results
of the query establishes the fact that
the money supply for most of the rail
roads and great corporations is cen
tered in a very small group Of New
Workers, a part of whose manipulative
program Is to handle the banks" of
the metropolis and these banks
through their connections with smaller
banks throughout the nation possess
a power that can be directed to the ex-
tent of bringing on a countrywide
panic should the little group aforesaid
so order. Right there the inquiry
hangs, and it may be expected that the
dispute will rage as to whether this
condition indicates that there is, or is
not, a money trust. Nevertheless the
facts have been brought u clear
enough to form the basis for some re-
medical legislation Independent of the
general revision of the financial
scheme Of the country, as called for in
the consideration of the Aldrich plan,
central banks proposals and the like.
Representative Underwood, who is
the main spoke in the democratic
tariff wheel, has reasserted his belief
in a competitive tariff" and there is
just a little apprehension among the
democratic leaders as to how close
this theory may be brought to re-
semble protection" In the logical
order of events Senator Simmons OF
North Carolina, will be in charge of
the Administration tariff program in
the ~senate-and Simmons can raise
even "a competitive tariff" plan, be-
cause he stood with Senator Aldrich
in passing the Payne-Aldrich law,
which the powers that soon are to be
regard as being the most iniquitous
thing in the national scheme of things.
If half the apprehensions felt regard
ing Underwood and Simmons are we'll
grounded, these illustrious gentlemen
may find that the cogs they represent
in the legislative wheel fail to jam
F-----i- -
The Commissioner of Patents
sounds a note of optimism in attribut-
ing the increased number of patents
issued in the past year ito the coun-
try's prosperity"-a factor which it
appears, gives a Zest to completing
m~erchantable patents. There were
1926 applications for patents in 1912,
and 35,539 were favorably passed upon.
The yearly average was greater than
any previous year. While doubtless a
good many splendid inventions are
certainly being patented, yet the great
number of worthless patents, afford
Ing no protection to the man who puts
up good hard-earned money, is a big
black spot on Uncle Sans method of
doing business. The practice of mo
patent fee" attorneys in covering only
the %unimportant features OF inventions
while leaving the c~ontrivances as a
whole unprotected and open to in
fringement without violating the fed
eral laws, is a sort of ~short-change
game that has been going on for years,
and has made the United States patent
office a subject OF lots of well deserved
ridicule.
When the four new senator's from
Arizona and New Mexico drew lots for
the long and short term, Mr.. Fall of
New Mexico, changed the ballot he
was about to withdraw from the box,
thus getting a one-year tenure of office
instead of six. Mr.. Fall, who is clever,
went back to the New Mexico legisla-
ture while still in session, and had
himself reelected for a full term to
begin with the close of his short term.
Now the Governor and other powerful
officials Of New Mexico declare the
election of the full term illegal, and
the legislature of the state has before
it the problem of filling the place for
six years which already has a claim
ant, with full rights of a "~squatter."
But since Fall has been making a poo6