1
THE SIXTIETH CONGRESS
THE LABORS OF THE 8HORT 8E8
8I0N HAVE BEGUN.
A Chronicle of the Most Important
Happenings in Both Houses
During Past Week.
Washington. A far-reaching bill for
the regulation of the future Issues of
securities by transportation companies
and telegraph and telephone com
panies engaged In Interstate commerce
was introduced In tho senate Wednes
day by Mr. Dolllver, one of the authors
of tho rallroa'd rate laws. It Is said
that the measure represents tho ad
ministration view. Ho explained tho
provisions of tho bill as follows:
"The measure Is designed to subject
the future Issues of stocks and bonds
by transportation companies, tele
phone and telegraph companies, en
gaged In interstate commerce, to tho
scrutiny of the government of tho
United States. It is drawn on tho
theory that theso corporations should
.bo so organized that there should bo
Just and reasonable relation between
their assets and their liabilities. It is
Intended to provent ovor-capltnllzation,
stock watering, bond manipulation and
all similar abuses. The effect of It
will bo to glvo stability to tho exist
ing volumo of railway securities and
at the same timo to so guard futuro
Issues as to glvo normal values to
stocks and bonds.
A Big Year for Exports.
Washington, D, G. More manu
factures wcro exported from the Unit
ed States in 1908 than in any preced
ing year, aggregating In value three
rourthB of a billion dollars, according
to tho annual report of the chief of
the Department of Commerce and La
bor. His report shows that the value
of exports to Europe is Increasing year
ly, being 3G8 million dollars In 1908,
as against 355 million dollars in 1907,
'318 million dollars in 1006 and 283 mil
lion dollars in 1905.
May Prosecute for Libel.
Washington, D. C "If they can bo
reached for criminal libel, I shall try
to have them reached," said President
Roosevelt In speaking Thursday after
noon about "thoso Americans who
havo been guilty "of infamous false
hood concerning tho acquisition of tho
property and tho construction of the
(Panama) canal Itself."
Andrew Carnegie Subpoenaed.
Washington. Andrew Carnegie was
subpoenaed Wednesday night to ap
pear boforo the house ways and means
committee to testify In tho tariff re
vision hearings.
An Elevator Fell 200 Feet.
Glrard, Kan. Tho Glrard Light and
Power plant took Its first victim about
eight o'clock Thursday morning when
a hoisting cable broke letting fall the
cage in which Fred Parker, a fireman,
was being brought out of the pump
shaft. The cage- was near the top
when the cablo broke, falling nearly
200 feet, breaking Parker's neck and
back and mangling the body. He was
a singlo man, 24 years old.
Claimed to be "John the Baptist."
Edgewater, N. J. Proclaiming him
self to be "John tho Baptist, come to
save tho world," an armed fanatic ter
rorized this town for an hour Friday.
Ho appeared suddenly on tho main
street, flourished a revolver and ex
changed many shots with a hastily
formed posse and at last fell wounded.
Nobody else .was hurt.
It's the Oldest Baseball.
Jackson, Miss. What Is believed to
be the oldest baseball in the world will
bo shipped to Garry Herrmann, chair
man of tho national commission, by
Ed. Laughlln. It was used November
8, 18G5, in a gamo played at Williams
port, Pa., for the stato championship,
which ended G I to 35 in favor of Wll
Hamsporl. Tried to Bribe Umpires.
Now York. Tho National League of
Baseball Clubs Friday appointed a
committee of four of its members to
investigate reports by Umpires Klem
and Johnstono that an attempt was
made to brlbo them at tho Now York-
Chicago game played at tho New York
polo grounds on October S.
Mrs. Gould Denied Jury Trial.
Now York. Katherlno Clcnunons
Gould was denied In the nppollato di
vision of tho supremo court Friday a
trial by jury In her action for divorce
from Howard Gould.
Physicians Can't Be Dentists.
St. Paul, Tho Minnesota supremo
court Friday alllrmod u decision of tho
district court holding it unlawful for
n practicing physician to practice den
tlstry.
Dr. Macklc of Mllwaukco Dead,
Milwaukee. Br. William Macklo,
jno of tho best known physicians lit
tho west, suddenly died of npoploxy
Wednesday night.
PROSPECTING A8 IT WAS
WATERWAY CONGRESS ENDS
GOES ON RECORD FOR GOVERN
MENT BOND ISSUE.
Resolutions Urge Congress to Com
plete Projects Already Approved
And Adopt New Schemes.
Washington. With great enthusi
asm the National Rivers and Harbors
congress at Its concluding session hero
Friday placed itself on record In favor
of tho issuanco of government bonds
for tho improvement of the great
waterway projects.
Tho congress declared for an au
thorized Issue by congress at Its pres
ent session of $500,000,000 worth of
bonds, the proceeds to bo used In the
payment exclusively for such river
and harbor work as may be author
ized by congress, provision for tho
issue to bo similar to tho Panama
canal bonds.
A committee presented to VIco
President Fairbanks and Speaker Can
non the bond resolution. Mr. r air-
banks expressed a favorable opinion
of tho proposition, but Mr. Cannon
merely assured the committee that the
resolution would be referred for con
sideration.
'ihe resolutions urge upon tho na
tional congress the completion of pro
jects heretofore approved and the
adoption of new schemes of a coin
prehensivo character; tho appointment
of a committee to preparo a bill pro
viding for the proposed bond Issue;
the creation of a permanent commis
sion to study waterway projects here
and abroad with a view to suggest to
congress a comprehensive plan anti
policy for improving our waterways;
tho enlargement to twice Its present
size of tho army engineer corps; and
no utilization of the present United
States assistant civil engineers with
authority to propose plans and pro
jects for waterways.
Heney on Witness Stand.
San Francisco. Francis J. Heney
appeared as a witness Wednesday at
the trial of Attorney Frank J. Murphy,
accused of attempting to brlbo a ven
ireman In the Ruef bribery case. The
assistant prosecuting attorney who
had not been seen in public slnco he
was shot down in Judge Lawlor's
court room by Morris Haas, appeared
to bo almost entirely well and walked
to the witness stand with a firm step.
A slight discoloration of the right
cheok marked tho spot whero tho bul
let of tho would-be assassin had en
tered. His voice was full and strong,
proving the four of Its Impairment to
have been unwarranted.
House "Insurgents" Organize.
Washington. Tho fight for a revis
ion of tho rules of tho house was
Inaugurated Friday night at a meeting
of the so-called "Insurgents" attended
by 25 Republicans representatives.
Representative Hopburn of Iowa pre
sided and was authorized to name a
committeo of five, with h'imsolf chair
man, to draft tho proposed amend
ments to tho rules and report to the
organization Tuesday night.
Buried With Military Honors.
Knnuan City. Tho body of Private
Edward Whlto of company B, Twen
tieth Kansas volunteer Infantry, wlro
died In Kansas City, Kan., last Satur
day night, was burled with military
honors Wednesday morning lu Mount
Calvary cemetery.
AND AS IT ,13 TO-DAY.
JAMES SHARP. IS CAPTURED.
Leader of Kansas City Rioters Caugh
In Kansas.
Kunsas City. James Sharp, no
longer "Adam God" shorn of his
beard, shorn of his faith, shorn of his
courago and bravado, was caught In a
strawstack eight miles northwest ol
Olatho, Kan., at -1:30 o'clock Thursday
afternoon nnd brought to Kansas City
and locked up. Weak from loss o
blood, hungry and fagged out with bin
long walk, ho welcomed capture and
surrendered without a word.
While Sharp was being brought Into
town A, J. Selsor, one of tho vlot inin
of tho riot, was dying, and nt 12:15
o'clock Friday morning he died. His
death la tho fifth resulting from tho
shooting at tho religionists' meotlnj.
Tuesday afternoon. The other dead
are Albert O. Dalbow and Michael
Mi Hone, patrolmen; Louis Pratt, fa
natlc. and Lulu Pratt, his daughter.
"When that bullet struck my hand I
knew my faith was wrong and I ran,"
Sharp said after he wus caught. Hq
referred to tho Tuesday affair.
Sharp was brought Into Olatho by
John S. Steed, sheriff of Johnson count
ty, and turned over to Capt. Walton
Whltsett and Inspector Charles J.
Ryun of this city, who brought him
to this city Thursday night. The pres
ence of Sharp In tho vicinity of the
place where ho was taken was tele
phoned to Sheriff Steed nt eleven
o'clock Thursday morning by W. C.
Brown, a farmer living three miles
west of Zara.
TO BE HONEST REVISION.
President-Elect Taft is Satisfied With
the Prospect.
Washington. William II. Taft said
Thursday night that it was his belief
that the house would make an "hon
est and thorough revision of the tariff
at tho extra session which he will call
for that purpose.
This belief he bases on a conference
ho had Wednesday with Speaker Can
non .and In a session Thursday with
tho Republican members of tho ways
and means committee.
Mr. Taft said ho had not as yet con
suited with senators on the subject,
Indicating tho tremendous pressure
upon his time as tho reason. When
Hie suggestion was mado that the sen
ate would undoubtedly hav.o something
to do with tho tariff bill ho replied,
with no uncertainty in ills demennor,
that thoro was some one olso who
also would havo something to do with
tho bill, which, Interpreted through
tho medium of previous utterances, In
dlcates clearly that Mr. Taft is do
termlned, oven to tho exercise of tho
veto power, to prosecuto the party's
pledges.
A Kansan Killed by a Train.
Independence, Kan. A stocklly
built mnn about 50 years old, appar
ently a farmer, attempted to board a
moving freight train nero Friday
morning. Ho fell under tho wheels
and was killed, Ho had a program
of a fanners Institute In his pocket,
along wtii tax receipts from Ulysses,
Kan. Tho nnmo was cut off the re
celpt. A $5 bill was the only money In
tho pockets.
Charles E. Davis Not Guilty.
Omaha, Neb. After 13 hours' do
liberation tho jury in the caso of
Chariot! E. Davis, charged with the
murder tho morning of Soptoinbor 2
of Dr. Frederick T. Runtln, ngrooi
upon a verdict of not guilty.
THE WATERWAYS CONGRE3S.
Speakers All Favor Government Bond
Issue.
Washington. Sentiment in favor of
government bond issue for n com
prehensive improvement of the rivers,
harbors and canals of tho country to
the end that this nation shall have tho
greatest system of waterways In tho
world, gained headway at tho opening
session of the annual meeting of tho
HI vers and Harbors congress hero
Wednesday.
Tho scheme contemplates $500,000,-
000 worth of federal boius for Internal
water courses, to bo distributed ovor a
ten-year period, or $50,000,000 annual
ly. Following tho lead of President
itonsovolt and Presldont-olect Taft,
both of whom, before tho Joint conser
vation meeting advocated the Issuanco
of government bonds for constructing
permanent public Improvements, en
thusiastic Indorsement was given tho
proposition at tho congress by Vlco
President Fairbanks, Andrew Car
negie nnd Joseph E. Hnnsdcll.
Leading figures lit the nation's pub
lic industrial and commercial life In
dicated their Interest In waterways
improvements by their presence and
participation. Tho speakers Included
Vice President Fairbanks, Andrew Car
negie, Ambassador Bryce, Seth Low
of Now York; Representative Joseph
E, Hnnsdcll, Representative Champ
(Mark of Missouri; George E. Chain
horluin of Oregon and Samuel G.'i
liers.
HILL NOW IS PRESIDENT.
The Inaugural Ceremonies at the Mis
souri University End.
Columbia, Mo. Dr. Albert Hoss 1 1 ill
was formally Inaugurated as president
of the University of Missouri hero Frl
day, the oxim-cIbcs concluding a cole-'
bratlon which begun Thursday Ex-
Gov. Francis oillclated at the Installa
tion which took place In tho university
auditorium and followed an academ
ic procession of notable proportions.
Among thoso who listened to Dr.
Mil's Inaugural address was Attorney
General Hadley, governor-elect of Mis
souri. An alumni luncheon was held at
noon in Lnthrop hall and there was a
review parade of the cadet battalion
and the student body. Friday night's
program included a torchlight proces
sion by tho students and a reception
by President and Mrs. Hill.
Ruef Guilty of Bribery.
San Francisco, Cnl. Abraham Rnof,
former political boss of San Francisco,
was convicted Thursday of bribery.
The verdict was returned exactly
upon the stroke of four o'clock when ;
tho deliberations of the Jury had been
prolonged throughout a period of 24
hours. Tho warnings of Judge Wil
liam P. Lawlor and the vigilance of
tho police cheeked all attempted dem
onstration, although the excitement in
tho court room was so Intense that
men wore thrust down into their seats
or hold in tho grasp of detectives as
they rose to obtain a hotter view of
the proceedings.
Last of Pallbearers Stricken,
Washington,4 D. C Gen. Henry
(J. Worthlngton, an ex-representative
from Nevada, the only living pallbearer
at. the funeral of Abraham Lincoln, wns
stricken with apoplexy on tho floor of
the House Thursday. He was carried
to v. cloakroom lu a critical condition.
Fasted Ten Days.
Snlinns, Cul. An unidentified man
who committed suicide near Soledad
Thursday night by shooting himself
left an unsigned note saying that ho
had not eaten slave November 30, and
that he was a brother of Mrs. Sarah
Brewlngton of Fredorlckston, Mo.
Pythlans to Establish Sanitarium.
Chicago, Illinois. Dr. G. G. McCon
noil, medical oxaminor-ln-chlof of tho
Knights of Pythias, announced Friday
that It has been formally decided that
a sanitarium for tuberculosis patients
affiliated with tho ordor shall bo es
tablished in Now Mexico.
Iowa Students Win Trophy.
Omaha, Neb. Iowa student judg
es carried off tho $1,000 trophy offered
by tho Western Grain Dealers' asso
ciation lu tho National Corn show com
petition, the award lvtvlng been made
Thursday. The Kansas team was sec
ond and Missouri third.
Mother nnd Child Burned.
Sullna, Kan. In a Are which de
stroyed tholr home at Bavaria, near
hero, Friday afternoon, Mrs. Frank
lllmmolwrlght, wife of a section fore
man, and her six months old child
were burned to death, llluiinelwrlght
was away at work.
A Job for Cortelyou.
Now York, It was stated hero Frl
duy night, though not ofllcially con
tinued, that the presidency of tho
Union Trust company and boon offered
to Gcorgo B. Cortelyou, secretary of
i treasury,
NOTABLE EVENT FOR NAVY.
Secretary Metcalf Tells of the Battle
Ship Cruise.
Secretary Metcalf, of tho navy de
partment, in his annual roport, dis
cusses, as the most notablo ovent of
the past year, the voyago of tho battlo
ship licet, which "has proven nn opoc
making cruise."
Lnto In the spring of 1907 It wns do
elded to send the Atlantic fleet on a
practice crulBU to tho Pacific. When
tho purpose of giving this assemblage
of sixteen lyittloshlps such a practlco
cruise, under severo conditions, was
announced, he states, criticism from
high technical quarters wns heard. Tho
undertaking, It was snld, was too
monumental; dangers more than mul
tiplied with numbers in such n caso;
battleships should not bo sent around
the globo on any ordinary occasion;
tho skeletons of some of thorn would
doubtless he left In the Straits of Ma
gellan; and, If the ships should round
South America, they would, one by
ono, arrived with machineries looso
and unserviceable, and with crows re
flecting tho condition of the material.
Tho facts are, Secretary Metcalf
says, that the ships maintained sched
ule time, and have practically taken
euro of their own repairs on this
cruise. The repairs list sent in at tho
naval station, Cavlte, P. I havo Just
been received, and are Blgnlllcant.
They show that after tho voyago to
the distant borders of tho Pacific, tho
needed repairs are negligible. Tho
performances of tho Oregon in 1899
lias, it seems, been substantially re
peated.
Use of the Telephone.
It was stated Friday at tho general
offices of the Great Northern railroad
that a telephone system for train dis
patching purposes was being Installed
on the Mlnot division which extends
from Devil's Lake to WllllBton, a dis
tance of 239 miles, and tho work of In
stallation wub nearly completed. When
It Is finished the telephono system will
bo extended from Wllllslon to Cut
bank, Mont., over tho Montana divis
ion, which covers 507 miles. As tho
Great Northern is now dispatching tho
trains on its Wllniur division, cover
ing 203 miles, by telephone, this will
glvo a grand total of i,..oi miles of
lino.
In Aid of Red Cross.
Orders for thirty million Christmas
itnmps which are being sold by tho
National Red Cross society of which
President-elect Taft is president, has
been received by tho socloty and this
number have been ordered printed.
At tho headquarters of tho socloty
there Is an unwonted amount of ac
tivity and orders far the stamps are
being filled as rapidly as possiblo. The
ofllcers of the socloty do not want to
disappoint anybody who wishes to help
make Christmas merry by contributing
In this way to tho light which tho so
ciety is waging against tuberculosis
for which tho proceeds will bo used.
Will Hold His Job.
Major Brad Slaughter, paymaster of '
the United States army at Omaha,
will not he disqualified and put on tho
retired list nB was rumored recently.
When Senators Brown and Burkctt
called at the war department Friday
they were Informed that tho report
on Major Slaughter hud boon luid
away and no action would be taken .
on It at tho present time. Major
Slaughter was ono of tho ofllcers who
were ordered to Donver recently to
undergo tho horseback riding tost lin
posed on all ofllcers of the army.
Close Call for the Mayor.
It was reported Friday that Mayor
Basse narrowly escaped being killed
by a bomb Monday. It was denied by
tho mayor. Tho story was that a
bomb was found beneath tho mayor's
desk set with a lighted time fuse, that
a guard discovered the bomb and de
stroyed It by placing it In water, and
that tho city ofllclals hnvo kept tho
matter secret. Mayor Busso said he
would endeavor to find out who start'
ed the report.
Surplus In Italy's Treasury.
Applause rang throughout the chain
her of deputies Friday when Slgnor
Cnrcano, tho minister of tho treasury,
announced that the close of tho year
1907-08 found tho treasury with a sur
plus of $7,500,000 arttr all liabilities
had been settled and $21,500,000 had
been expended toward tho reduction
of tho country'H debt and $2,000,000 for
railroad construction.
Nebraska Won at Debate.
The University of Nobrnska won at
debate from the I'nlvorsily of Illinois
at Memorial hall of the Nebraska
school Friday night by a vote of tho
judges 2 to 1 In favor of Nebraska.
The question debated was: "Hosqlved,
That American cities stiould adopt tho
commission form of government." No
braska took tho afllrmatlve.
Eliot in High Regard,
in accepting, with reluctance, the
resignation of President Charles W.
Eliot, tho overseers of Harvard col-,
logo havo placed on record a resolu
tion of admiration and esteem.
m ft ilfitltfci'i i - - - V--. - itM tJt't.