Valdez daily prospector., 1914-04-29
CONGRESS HALTS
 INVESTIGATIONS  Democrats Are Tired of Investiga- tions Which Bring No Polit-
 ical Capital.

WASHINGTON, April 29-The light of Democratic "pitiless publicity" is waning. Legislators are not quite as anxious to probe everything under the sun from Esperanto to the "basebal trust" as they were once lpon q time.
 Nevertheless the Investigation epi- demic remains sufficiently serious tc give the House Rules committee ser ious food for thought. This mental process has led them to the conclu- sion that if this searchlight business continues, congress must resolve it. self into nothing more than a vast inquisitorial body.
 Hence, the edict has gone forth from the House Rules committee that hereafter the lid is on tight as far as investigations are concerned. In order to make good this edict the committee has pigeon-holed no less than 43 investigation resolutions. Some of them have had action, such as the Calumet and Colorado strike probes under the forceful effect of a House caucus. Then there has been a probe of Mulhall charges against the National Manufacturers Association and others. But the majority of the 43 resolutions introduced in this con- gross have had no committee action and will never again see the light of day, according to authoritative in formation from the committee. And the Rules committee is vast ly powerful body, their edict will go, unless a group of Democrats, dis gruntled by such course, force con- gress into action by the caucus route. Every time some big question is be- fore the public, a flock of investiga- tion resolutions pour in upon the Rules committee.
 Sometimes the investigation reso- lution is flor the purpose of creating political capital. The congressman sees in a popular subject the chance to make himself solid with the folks back home, and in goes resolu- tion. Anything, of course, that eff fects the price of living is a live wire subject for the enterprising con- gressman, and even if beefsteak or bread remains just as high--or goes higher-Mr. Congressman gets cred | it back in his district for looking out for the plain folks And they're the people who cast the votes.
 | Probably, however, the majority of such resolutions do not arise sole ly from the desire to get votes: Most of the investigations proposed have behiql them a vital public interest or a condition in which publicity means correction. The House Rules committee, how ever, now takes the position that the majority of the petitions cover sub | jects which can readily be dealt with by other branches of the govern ment.
 For instance, there are now i'm pending resolutions to investigate the Rock Island railroad, the Pere Mar quette railroad, the Chicago, Duluth and Minneapolis wheat markets. All of these matters could readily come under the puryiew of existing gov ernmental bodies-tne former under the Interstate Commerce Commis- sion, the latter under the Depart ment of Justice and, the Bureau oi Corporations. ..
 The flood of resolutions, however is dwindling. When the Democrats first came inte power they wanted everything investigated. Appropria- tions galore, expenditures without end. An, they were made by Repub- licans, and were they not proper mat tors for Democratic "pitiless public
 ity."
 Then after their first enthusiasm, thu
 Democrats forgot that the Republi-
 cans had ever existed. Subsequen
 investigations would cover such sub
 ects as the dissolution of the Amer
 ican Tobacco company, the Ameri-
 can Woolen company, the forest ser
 vice, the use of Esperanto as an aux. Hilary language and so-on ad inflnitum