The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-02-11
LEFT HANDED APOLOGY; JERRY
 TO MR. MANN
Leader Was Silent When Grant to Whining
 ton Was Proposed.
$6OO,OOO TOO MUCH FOR
 BUILDING FOR FOUR
Customs Business of That Port Amounts to But S28,OO0
 Year, all Told.

Washington, Feb. 9.-Minoritys Lead CT James R. Mann resented, yesterday, the statement of Representative Don ovan of Connecticut, made yesterday to the effect that the Republican lead CT had remained mute, in 1913, during the passage of an appropriat tion for l $60O, ,O0O for public building at Will mington, N C., a place with 30, 600 pop ulat1on, intimating that MT. Mann's muteness favored the bill, which also carried a S5Oooo building item for Mann's own district.
 i MT Donovan answered MT. Mann today. He said: .'Mr. Chairman, T read what the minority leader said yesterday, that he interpreted what l sadd as a. reflection upon his charac-S ter I am sure I intended nothing of the sort On the contrary, never have known in all my life a man n my opinion who has been as pains taking as careful and conscientious in his public duties as has the gentleman from Illinois. (App1ause.)
 s'The gentleman from Illinois, not withstanding that, has a freak of tenn per he displays occasionally, which causes him to make astonishing remark now and then He did say yesterday: The statement the gen t1eman makes, like most of his state ments, is absolutely without founda- tion of fact
 1 'sWelI. technically there might be some ground for that statement. But the pith of my statement was the ex- Ftravagance of the appropriation for l Wilmington, N. C., and it was fmIna- tertal or extraneous what I said to him about the committee. It is true, and not original with me, the state ment was made on this floor that when the bill was introduced carrying forty odd millions of dollars, knowing <l the gentIeman's tenacity and fighting | qualities to pass upon all matters that e9Nf Uhfr1 the bill in on that famous 17th of February, ! 1913 he was present. But he became mute and silent and the bill was 4 passed, he remaining fn that condition of mind. That is statement of fact That is true.
 q should say that his first state ment, yesterday, was out of order without recognition or appeal to the chair for recognition. His second statement was made a little later on, when he got the floor. He said: MT. Chairman, the gentleman with his usual style is proceeding notwith- tsanding that declined to yield. The gentleman does not know a nisstate- meth from correct statement i ''He was silent when that forty-one million dollar bill went through that day, from beginning to end. The pro lverbtal oyster was never more silent. I believe that he did rise from his seat when the gentleman from Maiden, Massachusetts, got piqued because the Appropriation was not large enough, land he was going to su1k, but the gen t1eman from Illinois suggested that he had better let it pass.
 That is the only explanation. Tho Epoint is this, that the appropriation was extravagant, was extraordinary and wasteful ,and lacked all business common sense. Since that time, to show you that 1t was considered in that respect, asked the chairman of the committee 8 question and while he eaad that he could answer in a pub lie statement sixty-six and two-thirds per cent. of my question, yet 1t was argued in favor of the proposition that it was needed for custom purposes and tso forth.
 Inquiry in this connection would have shown there was no customs business, practically nothing, at Will IInfngton The real customs business amounted to about $S,O00, and the to- tai amount of business was about $2e,- 900. Tonnage and navigation there cannot put the town into the $500, 900 building class. They have four off, cials there, a deputy collector an ir- lSpectOr, a clerk, and a man who re- ceives his pay by the day. Three hun dred thousand dollars they added to that bill to house that crew of four people. It costs the government twen- ty-fve cents for every dollar it collects there. If the bill had been propertiy considered, with the usual vigilance lon the part of the gentleman from H. 1inois (Ndr. Mann1 it might not have happened. The chairman of the Com
 mittee on Appropriations (hdr. FItzger-
 ald) was present, and took part and the bill went through. Not. once dur
 ing that day did they object to that
 six hundred thousand dollar appropri-
 ation for Wilmington, North Caro-
 lina.''
 MT. Donovan's time expired here and
 he secured three minutes more, say
 ing: 'fMr. Chairman, the point of the
 whole talk was that it was an extrav-
 agant appropriation. The reference to
 the committee was irarnaterial and o1
 no concern. The great chairman o1
 the Committee on Appropriations one
 day in making motion here just Qui-
 etly told me that I was not running
 this House, that he was running tht House, and therefore, he is responsible for the bad business that was done ir
 that particular transaction.
 Now in regard to the charge of thl
 gentleman from Illinois (fr Mann)
 that I spoke out of order, I adni
 that, and I apologize to the House = and I am sorry to think that it haC
 been necessary for me to speak out @
 order, but have gotten into tha:
 habit, from being a member here, anC U seeing the gentleman from Illinois car ry on parliamentary procedure 1t Ernesto Nathan, former mayor 0 g Rome, arrived in New York He vii u call on President Wilson today and h,
 will then leave for San, Francisco t,
 super1ntend' the installation of tn, D Italian exhibit.