The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1918-02-22
Washington Letter.

respondence) THE speedy passage of
the soldiers and sailors civil rights
bill through the Senate was greatly
expedited by the adoption of a resolu-
tion by the Judiciary Committaa de-
claring that in their opinion Congress
has the right to pass such legislation.
The question Of the powers of Con-
gress under the Constitution to pass
laws postponing the execution of con-
4 tracts, ETC., has been raised by several
fSenators. TO settle the matter so far
las the committee was concerned Sen
ator Thomas Sterling of South Dako-
ia drew up resolution, "That it is
the sense Iof the Committee on the
Judiciary that Congress has the power
to. enact a reasonable stay law" A
llarge majority of the committee gave
their assent to Mr.. Sterling's PROPOSE
ton, and under it's authority a sub
committee considered and amended
thesbill as it was finally,reported to the
Senate. AW
An interesting sidelight on the So
cial unrest in Austria is furnished by
resolutions recently presented to the
House by Representative Martin B.
Madden of Illinois. They were adopt
ed at mass meeting in Chicago OF
| Magyars, some of whom are United
States citizens, while others have not
been naturalized. Approval of the
war aims of this country is expressed
in the resolutions. Significance is
given the action Of the mass meeting
when it is remembered that the Mag
yars are the dominating force in Hun
gary, and form about half the popu-
lation. Hungary, in turn, contains
more than half the area of Austria
Hungary, and includes about third
of the population. 1t is fair to assume
that the real sentiments of the Mag
yars in Hungary are reflected by
the expressions Of their brothers in
the resolutions presented by Mr.. Mad
don, and the recent political disturb
ances in Austria, can be attributed
largely to their unrest and discomfort
The Chairman of the Military Af-
fairs Committee of the Senate has
given notice that Immediately upon
the conclusion of the investigation of
the War Department, which the COM
mittee1 has BEEN conducting FOR the
past six weeks, it will take up the bill
permitting officers to purchase their
uniforms from the Quartermaster
Generals stores. The measure was
introduced some days ago by Senator
Wesley L. Jones of Washington for
the purpose of preventing the exhor-
bitant charges being made by cloth
iers throughout the country in furn-
ishing officers equipment.
A striking example of the Saving"
in coal in the first five days of the
operation of the recent fuel order has
come to Representative Calvin d.
Paige Of Massachusetts in letter
from the American Optical Company
/ in his district. During the five days,
to keep their pies from freezing, the
company burned 300050 pounds of
coal, as compared with 457 ,265 pounds
on the corresponding days of the pre-
vious week, saving of Is tons
day. The loss in wages to the en-
ployes was $1,000 per day, and the
loss in production and profit was
considerably in excess of that amount.
If transportation facilities had been
withdrawn the desired results would
have been accomplished just as thor
oughly, and the excess production
could have been released gradually at
future time.
"Cost of production is the central
factor in determining competitive
conditions" says w. S. Culbertson, of
the u. S. Tariff Commission, in an ar
ticle written for the N. Y. Journal
of Commerce. Whenever aepresiden-
tial appeintee is heard to make such,
a statement we wonder if Mr. Wilson's
own words have been forgotten, that
the cost of production "does' not exist
as demonstrable datum fact"
John Sharp Williams sarcasm,
however much inspired or inspirited,
will not suffice to blot out the fact
that Secretary Baker, when he first
went before the Senate's investigat-
ing. committee, had to admit many
l.items Of essential inefficiency in his
department., and that, on his second
appearance before the Senators, he
indulged an an expansive exploitation
of the things that have been done,
with scant explanation for the things
that have not been done. AS Sir
Frederick Smith, the British Attor-
ney General, told the members of the
American Bar Association in his adj
dress before them, rhetoric will not
win the war.
The youngest son Of the chairman
of the Democratic State Committee of
Ohio has been holding down job
with the Federal Trade Commission
at Washington. There is nothing
strange about that. He is quitting
that job to take better one as at
, tache at the American Embassy in
Paris. There is nothing strange
about this. The Washington news
papers,, announcing the good luck
which has befallen "Andy," as they
affectionately term the young man,
say that he "is the same stripe as
: his energetic father" There is moth
ing strange about this either 1t would
be far more remarkable if young
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