The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1914-08-13
Washington Whisperines.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 10, 1914. Friends of the
River and Harbor Appropriation bill, which
has been temporarily side tracked in the Sem
ate for antitrust legislation, have agreed TO
wake a superhuman effort to pass the bill at
this session of Congress, rather than leave IL
70 the mercy of the short session which con-
venes the first Monday ia December.
The supporters of the bill realize that 1t is
going to be herculean task to keep quorum
If ajtbe- House in Washington after the antl-
srrust bills are out of the way, but they are 60
ing to try to pass the waterway bill while the
conferences on the trust measures are beng
held. the Senate having made NUMBER OF rau-
ical changes in these measures since they lett
the House. 1t is anticipated that THESE con-
ferences will continue for at least two weeks
which the advocates of the river and harpor
hill believe will give them ample time to put
the hill through the Senate, even II the MAJOR
ity has TO resort to continuous sessions
So serious is the situation, however, that the
representatives in Congress whose olstricls
are vitality interested in waterway improve
Yaents have started "back-f1re' ana IN eohse-
1uence senators are beginning to receive 'eie-
r4~a11s from Chambers of Commerce. Boards OF
ia. Ia and other commercial bodies, to say
,,,fhine of prominent citizens in the commune
ties affected, calling for the passage OF the
bill. Even delegations are on their way TO
Washington from different parts OF the couh-
fry seeking to hasten the legislation which is
7mperatively necessary to keep the work OF
river and harbor improvements moving.
President Wilson is seriously considering
the adyisability of issuing an executive order
changing the name of Culebra Gut Panama. TO
Gaillard Cut, in honor of the late Lieutenant
Colonel D. D. Gaillard who had charge OF the
engineering work in digging the cut, admitted
Nv the greatest single feat in connection with
Ebe construction of the Panama Canal. 1t Is
stated there is precedent for such an ORDER
and the Corps of Engineers of the United
States Army are heartily in favor of thus
honoring a very distirg uished colleague.
TIL q Congress now in session has been the
s'talkiest" Congress in all history according to
an examination OF the statistics as to the COM
Darative volubility of the members of this and
Or eceding Congresses. The Congressional
Rec ord, up to this date, contains about l4,ooo
pages for the present session, which began the
frst Monday in December. The largest Rec
gard ac hieved in a single session prior to TINS
-tIrne was in the regular session of the nifty
ninth Congress- 1t met in December, 1862
and continued to the first of the next October,
BOA days 1t filed a Record of 1O,s0O pages IL
- generally thought that the present Congress
vQiu last at least six or eight weeks longer,
which will add just that much more to a+Ree-
. I'd that is already perfectly awful to contem-
plate.
There used to be fine old tradition that
new senator "sheuld be seen but not heard
Turing the first Congress, but that has been rel
esga ted to the scrap heap, for the new senator
does as much, and sometimes more, talking
than his older colleague, which necessarily
id S largely to the size of the Record.
Senator LaFolette gave the Record this ses-
sion a big boost, when he had inserted mass
of letters and other matter sent to the Inter-
state Commerce Commission to influence its
.teci sion in the advanced rate case. The ma
teral filled 365 pages and captured the cham
pic nship for putting the most matter into the
Record at one time.