The Washington herald., 1918-07-04
WIRE CONTROL
LIMIT VOTED
BY COMMITTEE
House to Be Asked to Act
at Once to Stop
Strike.

The House Committee on Interstate
|commerce decided yesterday that. u
|ths telegraph and telephone lines are
taksn over by the government they
|nlISt Be turned back to their owners
lust e. soon a. peace 10 proclaimed
|peru.uent ownership Of the sysems
|by the government. which has re-
|cslv,d the endorsement Of three MEM
|bers Of President Wilson's Cabinet.
was rejected by q majority vote OF
|fhs COMMITTEES.
In place Of the Aswen resolution.
(which imposed no restrictions on the
Eenxth Of time the government might
|continue to hold the lines. the com
|rnittee agreed to q substitute resolu-
lion. which fixed the period Of con-
|troi and provides that compensation
|nuast be made to the companies for
The use Of their properties. Ths AS
|weri resolution war recommended oy
the President and endorsed by Post
master General Burieson and secre-
|taries Baker and Daniels
Llmfts Control
The new resolution which is to -
before the House next Friday. was
by Representative sam
|dera Of Louisiana, . memoer OF sne
|counnnittee, II n a. follows:
That the President IN time OF war
Is authorized and empowered TO
|superyise or take possession and as
sumo control Of any telegraph, tele-
phone, marine cable or radio system
|or systems, or any part thereof; and
Ito operate 5he same In such manner
las may be needfai or desirable for
|the Duration Of the war, which super
vision, possession. control or opera
|tion shan not extend beyond the date
OF the proclamation by the President
OF the exchange or ratification OF a
treaty Of peace; provided. that just
|connpensation shall be made for such
supervision. possession. control or op-
|eration."
Long Debate.
The adoption Of the substitute by
the committee came after q long
discussion IN which . majority OF
1.-THE members blankly refused to sup
port any measure that would not
provide for compromising the own
ers and limit the length Of time that
the government might operate the
systems Chairman Sims pleaded
for. haste- upon the ground that the
ILnTt8LCuEQ " "CoICAn SAAOAA
operators win seriously interfere
with the governments war busi-
ness. He urged the committe to re-
port the Aswen resolution and al
low II to be considered by the
House This the COMMITTEES would
not DO.
The committee's action undoubt-
edly will launch a stubborn fight IN
. hA A-fors-oI
proposal, which has the Postmaster
Generars endorsement It IL pre-
dicted that the Postmaster General
will ind himself in q contest with
Congress fully as interesting as
that over the postal pneumatic
tubes. which he won after three
years of effort.
Compensation Demanded.
rhss debate among members of the
committee on the limitation clause Of
the resolution was not more vigorous
than that on the question Of compen-
sation for the use OF the properties.
Members insisted that although the
Presidents war powers give him COM
mand over all the armed forces. the
constitution inhibits the taking of
properly without due compensation;
'tney Insisted Inal InlS lnnlDiuOn Is not
altered in time Of war.
Representative Dewaft offered an
amendment to the effect that. IL the
question OF compensation could not be
settled by agreement or arbitration,
the companies should be permitted to
lake their case to the Court of Claims
This amendment was defeated In favor
Of the simpler provision in the Sanders.
substitute, which establishes the prin-
eipIe that the properties. IL taken,
must be paid for.
The committee instructed Chairman
Sims to report the resolution Friday
and Mr.. Sims said he will ask the
House 70 give immediate consideration
to IL. To what extent this purpose
may interfere with the plans for a re-
cess beginning Friday has not been
decided. Majority Leader Kitchin told
the House yesterday morning that,
unless the President asks Congress
to remain IN session, the recess will
begin Friday and end August 10.
Mr.. Sims intends to use all his In
f1uenee to combat the idea of q recess
until the legislation is passed. He re-
cards the strike threat as too menac-
ing to permit Congress to go away,
without having first provided the
President with authority to act. il
emergency should arise to demand
executive interference.