The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1918-03-08
Washington Letter.

Washington, Mar. Especial COR
respondence)-Seldom is a measure
more carefully reviewed and dissect-
ed than in the treatment given the
railroad bill by Senator Charles E.
Townsend of Michigan. Mr. Town
send tbok up the bill page by page,
line BY line, and word for word. The
result of his analysis shows the folly
Of accepting without question meas
ures that are prepared by the Execu
tive Departments or the President
himself, and sent to Congress for ap-
prevail, In his review the Senator
called attention to some of the crudest
errors; Involving mistakes in gram
mar, ambiguity of meaning, and con-
tradictions between paragraphs, many
of which would have been apparent
to school boy. Happily the changes
made by the committee and the Sen
ate acknowledge the soundness of
many of Senator Townsend's criti-
cisms, and the bill has been much
improved over its original form.
Senator Harry S. New, of Indiana,
believes that much time could be saw
ed in the training of drafted men Of
the National Army if they could be
called for service before they reach
the age of 21. There is now pending
in the Senate resolution authoriz-
ing the President to register all men
who have attained the age of Fl since
registration day, June 5, 1917. Mr..
New has given notice that he will
seek to amend the resolution so that
all men may be registered when they
reach 19 years of age. Under Mr..
News proposal, however, they will
not be called to active service until
they have attained the age of 21. The
intervening two years are to be utiliz-
ed in military training in accordance
with regulations to be prescribed by
the President.
Query: What is temporary office
building? The public park of Wash
ington, particularly the famous Mall
reaching from the Capitol to the
Washington Monument, are being fill
ed rapidly with Office buildings to ac-
commodate the army of clerks that
are pouring into the city to handle the
war work Of the Departments. All
these structures are described in the
bills authorizing their construction as
temporary Office buildings" Those
thus far built have wooden frames
covered with board sheathing and an
outer coating of plaster. Doubtless
they can and will be removed after
the conclusion of the war. But it is
now proposed to build temporary"
building on the Mall of reinforced
concrete, three stories high and con-
tanning 100000 square feet of floor
space. To the layman such struc-
ture has many elements of perman-
ency. In order to preserve the vista
of the Mall from obliteration for many
years to come Senator Jacob H. Gal
linger of New Hampshire, Republican
leader of the Senate, will endeavor to
secure the adoption of an amendment
providing that within two years after
the war the buildings shall be remov-
ed and the land become a part of the
United States Botanic Garden, which
now is located in the immediate vici-
nifty.
With first hand information on ac-
tual manufacturing figures Senator
James w. Wadsworth, Jr., of New
York has just returned from a trip
to the Savage Arms Company of
Utica, the makers Of the Lewis ma
chine gun. He finds that the plant
now is turning out 100 Of the guns
each day. Mr.. Wadsworth insists
such rate of production could have
been reached much earlier in the war
had not orders from the War Depart
ment at Washington been delayed
: for weeks while discussions were in