The spectator., 1919-10-31

GeIore next spring.
 The plan of the senate committee on Interstate commerce is to be ready to report railroad return bill as soon as the treaty is out of the way. This may mean that a bill will be submitted to the senate by the first of next month, but senators as a rule are not very sanguine that such good progress can be made with the treaty. Unless the house committee on interstate and for eign commerce shall change its mind 1t will report its conception of what railroad legislation should be before the end of this month. Then if the hopes of the house leaders are real ized the house will take recess until about the middle of November.
 Each House Has Railroad Bill.
 This would mean that so far as the house is concerned, railroad legislation would not receive much, if any, atten- tion before the opening of the regular session on the first Monday in Decem- Der. To considerable extent the senate committee on interstate com merce and the house committee on in- terState and foreign commerce are working along the same lines in pre- pairing railroad legislation. but 1t is foreseen that each branch of the legis- lative body will pass its own bill and that the responsibility for perfecting the legislation will eventually have to be assumed by conference commit tee representing the two houses.
 The only thing definitely settled about railroad legislation at this time is that it will not provide for govern ment ownership The roads will go back to their owners for private man. agement under stricter federal restric- tions than existed prior to the war, but the precise nature of these restric- tionS remains to be determined.
 It is not the first time congress has been confronted with a demand for legislation creating federal budget system, but there is an insistence about the demand this time that was never noticeable before. The subject has recently been taken up in both senate and house in committee. The leaders in congress realize that if the new system is to be introduced the necessary legislation should be en- acted as soon as possible. Under eX- isting law it will be necessary for the secretary of the treasury to submit the estimates for government expenditures for the fiscal year beginning July l. 1920, to congress when it meets in regular session in December. So if the government is to get the benefit of the budget system in 1920 the system must be provided between now and the first Monday in December.
 School Garden Work Wins. Of the numerous activities of the federal bureau of education | the school garden work is prov | ing most popular. School supervised gardens could be found during the last summer in nearly every city. town and | village in the United States and Its | across-ocean possessions. While the tangible results of the work of the mill | lions of children enlisted In the U. 5. $. G. A. in the United States, Hawaii, Porto Rico and the Philippine islands are of great magnitude, yet the in- | tangible results are infinitely greater. | Secretary of the Interior Lane said the other day:
 'As Il matter of fact, the United States school garden army of the bu. reau of education. department of the interior, has been raising citizens in chool-supervised gardens"
 It Is estimated this year that the more than 2,50O,0OO children produced | approximately $4S,0OO,O0O worth of vegetables and small fruits. These food products will be consumed where produced, without loss in handling or cost of transportation. In several cities in these states last year the average produced was more than $50 per child enrolled in the U. $. s. G. A.
 Possibly the biggest. and certainly the most outstanding feature of the work of the school garden army is the spirit of national cooperation that 1t has developed. Governors of states
 
 parochiai, private and public school of. ficials chamber of commerce and la- bor organizations; the General Federa- tion of Woman's Clubs, and the Ma. tional council of Women have united in working for the development of the child through the medium of school gardens and school-supervised home gardens, organized on the plan of the United States school garden army.
 Helps Reduce h. c. of L.
 ool-directed home gardening, as promoted by the United States school garden army of the national bureau of education, is having decided influ- ence in reducing the high cost of liv. ing in many city homes in southern Virginia. the Piedmont section of North | Carolina and eastern Tennessee. Three years ago one of the specialists in the bureau of education was stationed in this tarritory to direct the garden ac-