Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-05-20
T0LAND
At HEAD Of BIG
COMMIT TEE
Iowa Representative Slated
for Craftsmanship Of the
Postoffice Expenditure
Investigators.
[BY E. H. HANSON.1


Washington, D. c., May 19.-It is
now pretty generally conceded that
Representative I. S. Pepper will head
the committee on investigation Of ex-
penditures in the postofflce depart
ment in the sixty-third congress. Al
though no announcement has been
made to this effect by. the ways and
means committee, 1t Id assumed by all
!, that Mr.. Pepper will get the place.
In the last congress Representative
Ashbrook OF Ohio was chairman and
the other democrats were Represents
tives Alexander of Missouri, Redfield
of New York, and Mccoy of New Jer-
sey. Mr.. Ashbrook has been made
chairman of the committee on en-
rolled bills, Mr.. Alexander is chair
man of the committee on merchant
marine and fisheries, Mr.. Redfield Is
now in the cabinet, and Mr.. Mccoy in
tends to hold his place on judiciary,
which bars him, in this congress, from
membership on any other committee.
Mr.. Pepper signified his wish for a
Craftsmanship and as he and Mr.. Ash
brook are close friends, the latter
recommended him for the chairman
ship which he surrendered. The COM
mittee also feels that Iowa should be
properly recognized in the committee
assignments and this honor seems
about the best manner in which to
bestow the recognition.
Should he get the place, his secre-
tary, M F. Groin Of Muscatine, will
be elevated to a committee clerkship,
which would carry along with 1t a
rjn In IN co0o nj
arduous work.
Raise for Employees.
Representative Lewis of Maryland,
probably the foremost postal authority
in congress, has introduced a bill
which If it passes will grant an in
crease of 5000 year all along the line
to men in the service, the starting
salary being placed at $500 and the
limit salary at $1,400, as against $500
and $1,000 now.
Tavenner Embarrassed.
Although the vacancy Is stilr some
months away, Representative c.. l..
Tavenner of the fourteenth. Illinois, has
nice little fight on his hands over
the Rock Island postoffice. The two
candidates are Henry Wheelan, former
member of the state legislature, and
Harry P. Simpson, editor Of the Rock
Island Argus.
AS he Is newspaper man and in
terested In the success of newspaper
men, other conditions being equal 1t Is
more than likely that Tavenner will
name Simpson. They have been close
friends for years and In his two cam
paigns, the one in which he was de-
feated by Mckinney and the recent
one in which he defeated Searle, Tav-
enner had the earnest, unfaltering sup
port of Simpson and owed his election
to this fact. "<
Even should he desire to name
Wheelan, 1t Is improbable that Mr..
Tavenner could persuade the president
to name him for the place, for Wheelan
was one of the democratic members Of
the state legislature who helped elect
Lorimer to the senate. He Is now be-
ing taken care Of by the Roger Sulli-
van state Organization Of Illinois. The
Wilson administration has already let
it be known that it would not appoint
any democrat who was party to that
election to any office under the fed
eral government. Regardless Of the
reasons for which democrats voted for
Lorimer, President Wilson still feels
that the stigma of that election weighs
heavily upon the democratic party and
that to build up strong, healthy, nor
NAL organization for the people, he
must put the ban on all Lorimer demo-
Gratis. This ban will affect not only
Mr.. Wheelan but any democrats all
over the state who have aspired to
service under the present administra-
tion.