The Washington times., 1918-06-16

~ - must lNOINuMk EEN@
tons confirmed previous information
in this column Of an attempt to con-
form the American aEe Of eonscrip-
tion to the British for the purposes
Of treaty. After going out ofithe way
to md trouble thus, it may seem
surprising that the treaty promises
to. show common sense enough to
evade the issue OF indorsinr British
CONSUMPTION Of Irishmen in this
country.
After a hard days work on the
sundry civil appropriation bin, the
House adjourned about nifty pages
from the end. The most important
debate Of the day nationally. dev.I.
oped out OF the apparently local ia
sue OF Government coal vSrds A
washington Senator Smith OF 1rIcbI-
gan immediately after the opening OF
the Senate. seemed to be In dance
OF preeipitating the question a.
whether DR.. Garheld's scientific man.
asement has. ~broksn down. But
ne was stopped on the point Ct mo
quorum" In the House. cbairn,S
SHIRLEY OF the Appropriations Con-
mittee, was piled with Repuhl,.,,
questions on the @Goverumept 49,
yara' for the obvious purpose os.
Forcing a definition OF the .situafion
AFTER explaining that the nroDo..s
coal yard was not to be mupIeipsI II
SAID he did not know whether - -
= was true as alleged that private
coal yards in Washington were nov
empty. As. the Governments bo5 ~.
ready been on the verge OF one co.
famine, II was now proposed To go.
eoAi enough to supply an deps-t-
ments In the event OF the possibI.
failure Of transportation. II trans
portation were certain to be adeops,.
storage would be unneceszarv -
said. The adequacy OF transportstio,
was the uncertain factor. he tbouobt
though transportation hseif was ~.
Oh the greatest factors OF success In
winning the war.
In connection with the atransnort.-
ton problem" the House Ipterstats
Commerce COMMITTEES viii bave -
open hearing" Monday for III asbort-
line railroads" whose REPRESENTATIVES
appeared before the eommittse Vs.
terday With an amendment To
pending Joint resolution. Under ,b.t-
Director General MeAdoo
Is assumed to have taken fh.n
over and is forbidden. to LET than %
until he lets go lines which eompetsI
with them. According to the Director
General the shortliners aholIer bafo-.
they are hurt" Evidently they do no,
purpose to be hurt IL "honsrinr- can
stop It, but it seems as a-matter OF
faet that they stin do not know
whether they az ataken over. or
not.
General Charles KsIlar. Of the En-
appeared again yesterday be-
fore the House Committee on Fureirn
Affairs, now engaged in perfectfnxi
what will be known at the Flood
Bill" for the eontrOI'of Niagara FAILS
as the most important Eastern unit
in the proposed control Of our hydro
electrice resources" under fifty-yearl
leases. General Kellar has shown H. |
nancial ability Of high order. It
IS supposed to have appeared in
bringing about the Generalization
and unification" consolidation, OF |
The different companies at Niagara
Falls
p Canned music" and canned Ian
suage" were triumphs Of American |
genius developing just before Ameri-
can genius developed the aeroplane. |
Now "aeroplanes" are essentials Of
war for which we are to spend some
thing over a billion to be raised by /
taxes on "non-essentials." Mr.. NJ
Dorian, who represents one Of the /
largest American investments in Hean-
ned music" appeared before the I
House Ways and Means Committee
on information that all /
musical instruments and devices, in !
Guiding talking machines" are
,lassed not only as '-nOn-essentiaIs.r
but as "luxuries," likely to have the 4
heaviest burdens OF taxation thrown
IN them. When he found this infor-
nation only too reliable. he could
only plead that the tax should be
eft as IT is now or that taxes should
be raised on all alike. A similar plea
vas made by Mr.. Eugene c. Brok-
meyer and Mr.. Frank Stone on be-
lalf OF retail druggists. Mr.. stone
aid that the tax imposed on manu-
.acturers was easily passed on to
hem, but they found IT hard to pass
t on to the consumer-especially in
asses Of enormous increases, illus-
rated in the rise OF permanganats Of
potash from IS cents to over IS a
'ouud. The general assumption in
business illustrated before the com
nittee is that II a tax can be passed
o the consumer, it 10 one OF the
Pleasures Of patriotism to submit to
I, while otherwise II has in il the
menace Of devastation and ruin.
Members OF the Mississippi Valley
Association held a meet
ng in the Senate Office Building yes