Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1913-12-24
ITEMS OF INTEREST
AT NATIONS CAPITAL
Special Representative Will Keep
Public Opinion Readers Posted.
SPECIAL ATTENTION GIVEN
TO NEWS OF IOWA PEOPLE.
Interesting Developments of Ma
tons Affairs Tersely Described
by Former IOwan for Iowa
Readers. ~
Public Opinion Bureau,
Washington, d. c., Dec. 22, 1913.

Washington, d. c., Dec. 22, 1913.
Increase in Pensions.
1t will be remembered that at the
time of the passage of the Sher-
wood dollar day" pension bill
that great cry was made through
the added cost would be seventy-five
million dollars a year; and so well
grounded was this belief that it was
published in some of the leading
magazines and periodicals of the
day. Now General Sherwood is TAX
ing occasion to remind the prophets
that they were wrong. He says that
in advocating the passage of his bill
that he stated on the floor of Con-
gress that the increase of pensions
would not be more than $21, 100000
year. The old General is some
times very emphatic in his remarks,
and here is what he thinks of the
discrepancy between the phophets
and the statistics compiled by the
SON Cl lISCll nat pOt,U
600 dollar lie has travelled from Cape
Cod to San Francisco Bay. and from
Put-in-Bay, in Lake Erie, to Gulf
port, on the great Gulf, for over a
year, and this is the first opportuni-
ty l have had to contradict it and to
show by the Official record of the
Pension Office that the bill has car
ried less than S21.000,000 verifying
within about S1Sa.000 The estimate
that the Committee on Pensions
made at the time the bill was pas-
sed."
w; led: Laws That Are Fair to All.
! That the trusts are having bad
/ dreams is apparent. One of the big
/ gest appropriations ever made for
an investigation of any kind will be
asked in order that the Bureau of
Corporations. of which Joseph f.
Davies is the head, may solve the
the trust problem The President
has a way of dividing responsibility
in big matters; and while Mr.. Da-
vies will conduct this exhaustive in
vestigation, representative Clayton
of Alabama is keeping in close touch
with the White House and has al
ready prepared several bills which
are to be considered as party meas
ures. 1t is known that there is to be
thorough overhauling of the anti
trust laws, yet it seems probable
that only two or three bills will be
passed this winter, and that the rest
of the program will be put over un-
til the completion of the investiga-
tion by the Commissioners of CorpOr-
ations and other government agents.
1t is semi-officially declared that
the President is not opposed to big
business, but that he wants to re-
move by law the restrictions now
imposed by big business on little
business in order that both may be
included in laws fair to ALL
Ex-President's Club Opposes Har-
mony.
udI tic SCI loSCtHCl dmoA-
tions of some of the Republican
leaders do not meet with the approx
al of former President Taft has been
emphasized by his reference to the
Progressive movement as the result
of 'hysteria'' and "self intoxication."
With ex-President Roosevelt declar-
ing from the mouth of South Ameri-
can jungles that they must adopt
our policies, if there is to be any get
ting-together, it is clear that the
two champions of last years CAM
paigns are not doing anything won
derful in the way Of promoting har-
mony.
LObsters for the Pacific.
The first shipment has been made
of Maine Holsters to the Puget
Sound region in furtherance of the
plan which is ardently supported by
Secretary of Commerce Red6eld and
a systematic campaign has been
opened to establish the eastern lob
ster on the Pacific coast. A number
of previous attempts along this same
line have been made, but the present
plan differs from its predecessors in
that there has been special selec-
tioI of waters in which it is hoped
the spawn will multiply.
More than 100000 horsepower
has been developed from streams on
national forests under government
Continued on page 4)