Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-06-01
WHATA CONGRESSMAN SEES
By J. Hampton Moore
Weekly Letter Touching the Washington Dong
olties Familiar to PhiladeIphians

and we have. in addition, the United
states Employers Compensation Com
mission Government bureau, the
chairman of which is r. NJ. Little, who
was formerly associated with Phiiadei-
ph.a charity organizations. Although
pennsylvania was not the pioneer in
enactng workmen's compensation laws.
1t is now given credit for being very
much up to date on this subject. II has
state workmens insurance fund and
very successful independent associa-
ton conducted under the auspices of the
Pennsylvania Manufacturers Associa-
tion. The State Insurance Board. which
manages the State worknien's insurance
fund, consists of State Treasurer KEEP
hart, Commissioner of Labor Jackson
and Insurance Commissioner Amber.
The manager is William J. Roney, son
Of the late William J. Roney. for many
years Tax Receiver of Philadelphia. A
perusal of the last report of Manager
Roney shows that in the matter of fig
ures and statistics he Is a veritable
chip of the old block" He talks about
bonds and investments in the same easy
and graceful fashion that Secretary Nc
Adoo talks about the Liberty Loan.
What Roney has to say for the Penn
sylvania fund might well be read by
the Federal Compensation Bureau to It's
profit. According to this report the State
fund has matched the States capital ap-
preparation and gone 1t one better in
earnings. At the end OF 1917. according
to the manager, the Pennsylvania fund
had invested assets of over S1,200,00
now increased to Sl.s0o00o, of which
100000 has been applied to United
States Liberty and farm loans.
TINCLE BILLY GREENE. of Massa-
~ chusetts, ranking Republican on the
Merchant Marine and Fisheries Commit
tee, who slammed the Merchants Ship
yard at Bristol for establishing a plant
on the upper Delaware, has been in Con-
gress SO long that only six men are older
than he in point of service. The Massa-
chusetts member was Mayor of Fall
River for many years. and Is in love
with the place. He thinks it ought to
have consideration for shipbuilding pur-
poses. and until II is recognized he is
likely to be heard from. even II he has
to crack the upper Delaware or any
other river with which he comes in con-
tact. While he may have been unfair
in his statement that the upper Delaware
was a mud creek" and evidently was
not speaking by the card. what he did
say emphasizes the sluggishness of busi-
ness interests in fully appreciating the
advantages of water transportation.
The recent difficulties or the upper
Delaware River Transportation Com
pany. whose boats, plying between Phil
adelphia, Bristol and Trenton, have been
sold. illustrates the point. At the very
moment when the Government is Walk
ing of through business between New
York and Philadelphia, this important
service on the upper Delaware shuts
down. New York will want Pennsylva-
mia coal next winter Just as 1t needed It
last winter. The shipping board is going
to put some barges In the ocean service
but It is a question how far they will be
able to stand the stress and Aeet the
requirements of the situation. Big
stevedores like D. J. Murphy, Jr.. know
what the Delaware River needs and
John W. Liberton, of the Atlantic Re-
fining Company, whose ships are COM
PEELED to load light in the Schuylkill
River, can certainly testify for that
stream. They know we must deepen
the channels and keep them open.
But agitations on this line are not as
popular as they should be in these war;
times.
We can spend ten times the cost of
completed thirty-five-foot channel to
Philadelphia for a nitrate plant at
Mussel Shoals while the former waits.
We can parade and raise money for all
sorts of patriotic things. But we must
say little or nothing about rivers and
harbors on which to float ,ur ships. A
western Senator who has actually in
troduced bill to cancel the nearly ST.
600, 900 900 loaned by American taxpay-
ers to the Allies, has been gagging over
the s21.000,000 river and harbor bill for
American streams, holding his nose with
great care for fear he might catch a
Whit of "the pork-barrel." Hence, il
a'c r,o aNto vi sap Nf
the upper Delaware River may induce
the business people to understand the
ease with which they submit TO their
own exploitation in transportation mat
tiers, 1t may do some good.
COUNTRY members Of Congress poked
~ fun at bill to register chiropodists In
in the District of Columbia, although
about twenty States have enacted a SINH
lar law. The old-fashioned idea of the
corn doctor" as faker or voodoost,
however. was overcome by the arguments
of those who understand the strides that
have been made in the comparatively new
profession of chiropody. The Chropody
Society Of Pennsylvania, through its
secretary, Amos NJ. Hall. sent an en-
coursging message in support Of the bill.
1t was explained that medical practition-
ers paid little attention to the treat
ment Of the foot. and that. as a conse-
quence, those who specialized in chirop-
ody should be checked up by the Dis
trict Commissioners so that the legiti-
mate practitioners might be recognized
and the quacks discouraged Instead Of
using the term chiropody as compre-
hending their business, the Washington
practitioners insisted on classifying
themselves under the head Of "pediatry."
term not found in Webster's Dction-
ary. but which some one explained had
to do not with the hands and feet. but
with the feet only. For an hour or two
the House enjoyed a discussion on corns
and bunions, which might have been
more Illuminating II Arthur B. Eaton, the
legal light of the Pennsylvania chiropo-
dists, had been able to participate in II.
WILL OPEN new TROLLEY Line
Improved Service to Be Given on