Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1914-02-20
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THE NATIONAL CAPITAL
Events OF Interest from the Seat
of Government.
by j. j.. JONES.
Panama Canal Tolls.

OF QlScrlm lnatlnS III favor or AIlleIl-
can ships was Slipped over" on the
platform committee. This oldfash-
toned political subterfuge was imme-
diately strangled by Senator
Walsh of Montana, who pointed out
that he and Secretary Bryan and SEN
ator O'Gorman, as we'll as other par
ty leaders. knew just what they were
doing when this plank was put into
the platform. The president main
ing against foreign ships cannot be
carried out with honor in view of our
treaty arrangements with Great
Britain. The issue appears likely to
be sQuarely met and it is a sure in
dication of improved conditions since
Democratic leaders refuse to hide
question will be settled in the open
arena of debate in the senate.
Open Season For War Scares.
In many of the states there is an
open season for hunting and fishing
and each year the sportsmen anxious
ly count the coming of the happy
days. Likewise there is an open sea-
son for war scares in the United
States, and now we are being told OF
the dangers that surround us because
of the fact that our navy is only
surpassed by that of Great Britain
and possibly Germany, which coun-
try we have tiled" if not passed.
date of this open season and the rest
of the country should mark it up on
the calendar, as it can always be
counted as an annual visitor when
the naval appropriation bill appears
in Congress. Keep cool, children
neither Japan, Germany, Great Brit
ain, Mexico, nor any Of the rest of
the portion of the world are planning
trouble with the United States.
The Beginning And the End.
On the outer wall Of the United
States general land Office in Wash
ington there appears the following
bronze tablet:
Samuel F. B. Morse, artist and
inventor, opened and operated on this
site under direction of the postoffice
department the first public telephone
Office in the United States, April l.,
1916. What God Hath Wrought I"
In view of the present day agita-
ton of government ownership of the
telephone and telegraph, who will
dare to say that this is not the Alpha
and the Omega?
The Lincoln Memorial.
The clouds that have surrounded
the formative processes of the Lin
coin monument have cleared away.
The contract made by the commits
sion, of which ex-President Taft is
the head, has been approved by the
secretary of war, and whatever fric-
ton might arise over the dispute of
authority between the commission
and the secretary's Office has been
discounted in advance by the ap-
pointment of joint representative
of both bodies. AS result the
ground was broken in Washington
on Lincoln's birthday for the great
est of all our national memorials
for a building which will in fact be
greater tribute than even that of
the Washington monument. In short
the Lincoln memorial will be the
greatest structure ever contemplated
by the American people, in honor of
its most illustrious martyr.
Reindeer That Santa Claus Made
Famous.
There is an explanation of the
growth of conviction in the Santa
Claus story found in the fact that
10000 domestic reindeer remain in
Alaska. The United States govern
ment, which has finally discovered
this country upon it's map, has turn
ed attention to the reindeer as an
agricultural proposition and is ad-
vocating stringent methods of pre-
venting the destruction of these ami
mails. There have been instances OF
cross-breeding the domestic rein
deer and the native wild caribou. 1t
is found that the blood Of the latter
can be used to good advantage in
building up the reindeer herds.
The domestic deer seem to have
decreased in size and other ways be-
cause of the lack of careful selection
in breeding. The caribou are SUI
perior in size and are not so wild as
to make their domestication imprac-
ticable. The people in the agricul
tural department who have determin
ed this are suspected of having based
their conclusions upon early eXper
fences with tame deer in Missouri
and Iowa back yards. 1t has beer
found that the meat of the reindeer
is of excellent quality and the skins