The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1918-09-19
WASHINGTON NEWS.
Continued from page 1.)

WAOlllyUlUN NEV0.
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paying for kilograms by affixing
stamps to them. The process Of
getting rid Of the AZ separate
processes of bookkeeping which
are in recording one telegram,
has not been started. None Of
the revolutionary changes in the
management which swere de-
manded by Manager Lewis in his
lspeeches in congress some years
ago, when he was advocating
government ownership Of the
wires, have yet been worked out.
This is partly due to the fact
the government is devoting ev-
cry possible man and every
lounce Of material to military
uses just at present, and the pub
lie is too busy with the war pro-
gram to make complaint about
Expensive telephone service. The
changes will be made in due
time unless the war should end
so soon that the reactionaries in
congress would be able to turn
the wires back to private con-
trol.
Reactionaries in the house
have at last come out from be-
hind their safety-frst camou-
fage and have defeated one Of
the presidents strongest recon-
mendations as to wartime legis-
lation-their action being, as
might have been guessed, in the
interest of organized predatory
wealth.
Chairman Sims Of the house
interstate commerce committee
proposed that the waterpower
leasing bill should be amended
by restoring the "fair value"
clause, which was taken out Of
the measure by a jugglers' trick
engineered by the enemies of
public ownership. These trust
sympathizers did not want the
".fair value" Of waterpower
plants to be made the basis Of
purchase of the properties when
the government should take
them over at the end Of a So
year lease. They wanted, in
stead, to charge the government
some vague sort Of sum which
they called met investment"
It seemed that nobody knew just
what met investment" meant,
but they know that it gave a
bigger price to the power COM
pany, including the unearned in
crease in value Of the land. They
declared that unless met in
vestment" stayed in the bill the
timid capitalists of the country
would not invest in waterpower
enterprises. They voted down
Chairman Sims and the urgent
recommendation of the president
by a vote Of II to 90. Repre-
sentative Sinnott Of Oregon was
one Of the chief opponents Of the
"fair-value" clause, and he quot
ed at lengthsfrom the liberal
press to show that a mysterious
propaganda had been started to
spread the impression that the
power companies were going to
grab valuable power sites and
keep them. He said that Pres
ident Wilson had been deceived
by these propagandists.
Representative Macarthur of
Oregon went farther. He de-
nounced every amendment and
clause that could in any way tend
to bring about public ownership
of waterpower plants. He had
SO many sympathizers in his
~pro-trust attitude that the Sims
amendment, which would have
automatically brought all the
power plants into government
ownership through a gradual
amortization of their cost over
a period Of IS years, was de-
feated
E.. II. Thompson, acting chief
of the office Of farm manage
ment, department of agricul-
ture, was called before the SEN
ate committee on agriculture the
other day and questioned by
Senators Gore and Norris con-
corning the cost Of production Of
the wheat crop that was harvest
ed this year. He was question
ed also as to why the secretary
had stopped for a period of sew
eral months the study which the
farm management experts were
making into the cost Of raising
i -4r 800 0S#SrY &&.-lI-1