Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1914-02-12


business Of one Of the employees 20
make up for Secretary Tumulty
daily newspaper" This is simply &
compilation Of news and editorial
opinions from al the great newspa-
pers of the country.
President Wilson takes this con-
pilation, which Secretary Tumulty
loosely has called the yellow Jour
nal" and reads it through, depending
upon it for light upon the viewpoints
Of all sections Of the country. The
president, Of course. trusts in large
measure to the press Of the country
for information, but it must be said
that the press OF the country cannot
depend to any great extent upon
President Wilson for information.
Not in years has there been in the
White House so reticent president
as Woodrow Wilson. His well-known
phrase "pitiless publicity" has become
more or less Of a joke among news
paper men. It is perfectly true that
he talks to correspondents and tells
them things. but on the more import
ant affairs he keeps his own counsel
absolutely, and allows the news to
come out from other quarters This
IS regarded by some of the admins
tratlon's officials as being bad policy.
Unlike Taft and Roosevelt.
President Wilson in one way is the
exact opposite of either President
. pyarSGa1+
cares little or nothing apparently for
society as such. He attends only such
dinners as he feels that he must at
tend because of his position as presi-
dent of the United States. There
gather in Washington constantly con-
crosses of various kinda TIE differ
ent lines Of business and the different
lines of philanthropic endeavor which
are followed by men and women
throughout the United States lead fire.
quently to Washington where great
general meetings are held.
1t was the rule of President Roose-
welt and President Taft to address
virtually all these congresses. Presi-
dent Wilson rarely attends any Of
them, although he always names some
official of government to represent
him. Whatever else can be said
about Woodrow Wilson, he attends
strictly to the business of the execu-
tive office. although it must be said
some people think that making ad.
dresses which will be sent through
the country as messages from the
president is a part of the duties of
the chief executive. Again, it IS all
in the viewpoint
Question of Railway Mail Pay.
Within six weeks report must be
made to congress on a subject which
has been vexing the government and
the railroads for years. The question
to be answered by the report is how
much money ought to be paid the
transportation companies for carrying
the mails.
In the last year of the Taft admin.
istration, but when there was Demo
cratic house of representatives, there
was a paragraph inserted in the post
office appropriation bill authorizing
the appointment of a Joint committee
on railway pay. 1t is the report of
this committee which must be made
to congress soon. The m0mbers of
the committee are former Senator
Jonathan Bourne, Jr., former Senator
H. A. Richardson, Senators John H.
Bankhead of Alabama and John w.
Weeks of Massachusetts, and Repre-
sentatives James T. Lloyd of Missouri
and William E. futile of New Jersey
While the committee, largely through
the activities of Chairman Bourne,
has done an immense amount of work
in the line of study of a vital topic,
it is said that there are comparatively
few evidences that a scientific method
of readjustment has been discovered.
Mr.. BurIeson's Estimate
It is said that Postmaster General
Burleson has filed a report with the
joint committee on railway mail pay
setting forth that according to ascer-
tainments and conclusion based on the
conditions of 1909, the railroads in
1913 were overpaid about 100000"
1t may be that another computation
difference would wipe out this over
payment margin and prove that the
railroad officials are telling the truth
when they say that it costs them much
more to carry the mails than they get
out of the treasury for performing the
service.
For year off and on, and for the
last two months exclusively, DR.. NJ. C.
LorenZ, a statistician Of the interstate
commerce commission, has been espe-
cially employed by the joint commit
tee. r. H. Turner, secretary of the
committee and an experienced man in
matters Of this kind, has made a spe-
cial investigation. He and DR.. Lorenz
have worked independently and with.
out knowledge of each others conclu.
sions. 1t is said that when their two
reports were compared it was found
both had reached the opinion that the
railroads we're being undergrad about
Is per cent.
The joint committee has under con-
sideration bill prepared by DR.. Lo-
REM establishing car-ton-nile as the
united basis for compensation in place
of the Quadrennial weighing which 1t
is said experience has demonstrated
gives rise to gross error