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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1914)
in; ow : t "AfVJpwH tr The Commoner 2 VOL. 14, NO. 12 'yit(. IRK' IT lb;, .v , m hjK WASHINGTON NEWS V Tlio-OS'd congrossconvenod at noon for its last and shortest session, Mon day, D&Comber 7.. According to both majority loaders the appropriation bills will-havp the right of yftaitd bo rushed as rapidly as posslbl6. "Con servation legislation, tho shippur chaso .bill and tlio houod bill to pav thoNvay foiyiltlniflto Philippine indo. pendeneo tiro, flret'on tho program 'bt gonorai legislation. A press dispatch says senate dom- , ocrats in" caucus.-December 1'2 do'ter- I minod to speed-. up the : legislative program to a'vold.tho necessity of aii extra so'asion at tho end of tho Six-? ty-third congress March 4 next. It was decided to abandon a long holi day recess, the .senators agreeing,, confor with hou's.p, leaders on ,va plan to recess over Christinas from Do comber 22 to, December 28.and to remain in'Besslpn New Year's week, excopt for Now Year's day. It was also docldod to.'hoiu night sessions of tho sona'to at least once, a week and oftener, if, in the opinlpiilb tho steering committee, it should ' be necessary. , ' " Appropriation bills will ha've "the right of way' in tho senate1' as Vapid-. ly, as they como from thovhou'so cim, said: ' .;.; ,' "Tho legislative program will not be extensive otherwise. The conser vation measures, the Philippine bill and tho ship purchase bill will be taken up as soon as they come from committees, but appropriations 'will bo taken up whenever they are ready. Tho immigration bill was not disoussed in tho caucus, as it is ex pected that it will be voted on be fore many days. "Wo certainly will complete the program by March 4." Pending change in rural ' delivery system, computation." of carriers' sal aries on basis of services performed, 'dependent on bulk of mail carried, to stiinulato business. Readjustment of postmasters' sal aries oh basis of .changes, in business uujKuuu uuu iu imrcei post develop ment . ;HJtising of second class rates on .imblicat'ions other than' newspapers issued once a weelc from 1 to 2 cants "a pound.1 '"" ,i , ' . Granting the department legal ju risdiction over,' selection. o( sites and designs for po"ataUbuiidings'.'i Tlio hnitrio: dfnrihsnr? nf Ho 1I11 to increase. the amount of .circulating ,note3 based on commercial -paper to '10.0. per cent of thecWitaCand.'sur- ,pln8 'of the banks by defeating it, 2G8 td 28, -, . '' Estimates December 7, "Tho annual report of Postmaster Gonorai Burleson, submitted to President Wilson, December, 13, re cords enormous growth in the par col poBt and savings bank divisions, and recommends a nrnirrjim of nnnhl legislation to increase the scope of tho department's activities. Mr, Burleson features his report with an estimate that surplus of $3,5 69, 543, the second of his administra tion will be shown for the fiscal year, of 1914 when all claims and charges have been met. The legislative pro gram as summarized in the press re ports, is as follows, as, to its most important features: Early actipn toward government ownership of telegraph aid tele phone lines, and immediate taking over of these systems in Hawaii, Alaska and Porto llico. Transfer of the Alaska cable from war to post I office department' control. Substitution of contract "star I route" RVfltfilll fnr Rnl.nHnd iinr1 carrier service to eliminate $40,000, 000 annual loss 'on rural delivery. Postoflico co-operation with state governments in road building where improvements insure better postal service. Raising maximum balance accept able at postal banks from $5Q0 to $2,000, interest payments to be 11m, itea to $1,0Q0. Removal of monthly deposit limit restriction, j ' ', - Aerial mall service where... topo graphy warrants and extension of motor truck and automobile service iiy view .of' recent successful 'expert merits. ' . j Passage 'by .senate of-pending pilj providing space basis, o.f .compensa tion for railroads on mall carried'.ih. tead of weight basis. presented to congress, 11 11 f. tliP nnnf nf n'mVrliinK. jing the 'government during the fiscal vear rl'OlG,' whioh begins. ;on July 1 next, at $1,1)90,775,134, accord ing. t? an associated press report. , This 'sum is $3,392,902 less than 'thG congressional appropriations for tho current' fiscal year ending June ;30; 1915, and $17,906,043 less than jthe estimates, for tho current year. Without salary increases of any kind, no estimates whatever for new public buildings and all 'items re duced by order of President Wilson to what departmental heads consider tho minimum, the estimates repre sent the administration's effort to keep the' governmental expenditures within its income, which has been deoreased by the European war. Bv errand divisions, the estimates as submitted are as follows: . Leg islative establishment, $7,041,049; .executive establishment,. $31,845,. 889; judicial establishment, $1,240, ;580; department of agriculture, ;S20, 700,013; postal service, $297, 355.1.G4; foreign intercourse, $4, 007 J 82; military establishment. $105,800,849; Naval establishment, $142.619,0.03; Indian affairs, $9, 533,163; pensions, $16'6,100,000; Panama canal, $1S,931,865; public works, $79,917,5.41; miscellaneous, $S2,843,325: nermanent nnmini appropriations $121, 567,207. With the expectation that the. postal service will continue to bo self-sustaining tho postal item of $297,355,164 will be deducted, as it is returned to tho treasury from postal earnings, leaving the actual total of expenditures at $793,419, 970. ' 1 The issues of national prohibition and Woman ' suffrage will be placed squarely before, the' house of repre sentatives as a resuit of action taken December 12 by tlie house rules com mittee, when it decided to report special rules for the consideration of constitutional amendments on both subjects, says the .Associated Press report. Incidentally the icom mitteo put. ,ap end to all hope of an (extended holiday recess. Representative Henry, chairman. Qf the rules committee, .asserted the rule- on the Hobson prohibition reso lution wpuid be presented December 22 .and that, the resolution, -after, eight hours o2 debate, would be pressed t,o a, vote,on(tlut dato. The suffrage resoluttori lie said, will fol low immediately; - '. ,,,''' anxious to get. awA$;.'foi a Christmas ;tibri 'as : evidence of ' a, determiriatibn uj uciuuv.un.iu 'Duuoia iu limit 1116 Christmas holiday to two or three days Prohibition and suffrage sup porters immediately began to line up their forces for tho coming encount er. Members who had determined to go home fo.' Christmas, whether congress had adjourned or not, re vised their program. It was generally believed in the house that the special rules would be adopted, as a majority vote only is' required. It was also predicted, however, that the suffrage amend ment would be unable to secure the necessary two-thirds vote in the house, and opponents' of prohibition expressed confidence that it would be defeated. As framed by Representative Hobson, the prohibition bill would prohibit tlie sale, matiufacture. or importation and exportation for sale 61 "intoxicating liquors, for bever age purposes in the United States and all territory subject' to the juris diction thereof forever. ' ' The suffrage ' amendment wp.uld declare tha';tli'e. 'rights' of Jciti?eiis of the' United State's to Vote shall riot be denied or abridged "on account of sex. ' ' ; ' ' ' . . . ?.' .. Proposed, increases, ..in freigiit prices oil live stock, Jresh meats and packing 'house, products from. Chica go', St, Loiii- arid other, western cen-t ters.'to eastern .cities, were suspend ed December 14 by the interstate commerce commission until April 15, for further investigation., It is es timated that, had the increased rates' been permitted' 'to go into effect, they wonld liave yielded to he roods ,au added income. oZ nearly $10.0000.000 .annually. 'The proposed advances affected not only live stock of all kinds, but fresh nieats and packing house products of every, description. A press .dispatch. sav&: Tlie S135.- ;p00,000 cotton, loan fund plan to fi- uuiii-Q luo aurpiua coiton- crop was approved unanimously December 14' by representatives of the committee' which, are to aid in handling the .fund in the southern states After1 ah all day conference with the cotton loan committee, Nvliich has" final su pervision of the fund's. th rp.nro- 'sentatives of the cominittees pledged 'themselves' to giye their best efforts' to the successful operation of the The .conference ended and jmosf of the state committeemen left for the south to begin active work in putting the fund into the hands of cotton producers. i Although no definite information was forthcoming at the cnnfArnn pn how much cash actually will be ;drawri from 'the fund to carry the surplus cotton crop, estimates ranged from $10,000,000 to. $70,000,000, and members of the-cotton loan cpm mittee were confident that hundreds of applications for loans would be in before January l,1 It was the 'opinion of most of those present that between 4,000,000 and' 5,000,000 bales of cotton must be carried over until next year. Tt was estimated that about $150,000,000 would be needed to take over this cotton and, tho general opinion was that unless there was a natural ex pansion , or crea t , .throughout tho south,, a large part, or the loan fund wiU bo used. ; . , , Economy'' was tbe'.watcliword of the approprlatipris .committee in preparatioiv.for .the .legislative, ex- h?S fir,t?fat, W!W' appropriation SiVi St thQ ?1S mmy measures, which was reported, to the house De cember 14 according ,to tho ' Asso- lopped off ..npar y, $2,0,QO,000 from the. .estimates: submiti bv the v? rious aeparfcmeiitR,, k a iavv VT lowance all along the lino? and brought in a measure appronhtu. $38,744;,?58.50. Pr.9PriatInB Tfre total of the bill shows an in crease of ?y 28,843 over last year's measure. But this year's measure t pU ri nS p?olal appropriation or $2,286,100 and authorizes one thou sand additional, employes . for taking the agricultural census authorized by the law covering the last roKiihr census in 1910. The committee in its report says that this is an extra ordinary expenditure, which 'will come once every ten years, and main tains therefore that this year's meas" ure is materially less than the last appropriation. The bill contains" the usual pro vision cutting down the mileage al lowance of members of congress from 20. cents a mile to 5 cents a uuie. .. ; ! The following is taken - from the annual, report of Secretarv of the Navy Daniels: -'The navy .was riot' neglected in the unparalleled record-of construc tive legislation made "by the second session of the -Sixty-third- m That forward-looking body evinced a true appreciation-. oi; tlie country's real need for. a continuously healthy and normal growth., of the Navy; and the legislation it enacted -approved nearly every recommend nt.inn . mndo 'in., the department's report of last ueueinyer. jxs t. resui.t of thereadv spirit and wise discrimination of that congress, the naval appropriation bill,: decreased. below.. lasb. year's fig ures, pro.vi.ded.. for two.tdreadnaughts instead. of oneMand-, later- in the ses sion, seizing upon,a laTe. onnnrfun- .ity, .congress authorized the -sale, of uvvovin anipa, ;u-aaaptea :tothe pres ent needs of our navy,: and, the con struction in. their stead oa; power ful dreadnaught. ... "The second ;sessiorii-6f the Sixtv- 'third -congress has 'therefore, 'to its (credit the .authorisation 'of' three new dreadnaughts. In addition to these new dreadnaughts, .there were au thorized six. tprpedo-pbat destroyers and. eight or. more submarines, one of winch is to be a seajgoing vessel, the first of its kind..". "The : appropriations for. the fiscal year. 1914-1915 for, the. naval estabs lishment amounted to $140,23.3,710.., 61, exclusive of the, .$4,6.35,000 ap propriated from the proceeds of the sale of the battleships Idaho and Mississippi for he battleship au thorized, iri their stead." The following is taken from in formation given to the public, by the navy department: "Iast ; year's building program consisted of but one . 'super-dread-naught, six. destroyers, four sub marines,, one transport, arid one sup ply ship.: Though this' year's bill is $484,717.92 less than, last year's it provides a building program of .two super-dreadnaughts, six destroyers and eight or more submarines, one of which will be able to accompany the fleet, -the first of her kind, and allows for the construction of a third super-dreadnaught by authorizing the sale of the Idaho and Mississippi and applying the proceeds to the new ship. "If we eliminate the .third new dreadpught authorized by last year's bill,, which will be constructed from the proceeds of the sale of two older- ships, 'we find on comparing last year's bill wjth that of the. year before, . that; it involves the expendi ture of'($484, 7X7. 92. less money but prpy.ijdeis'$l,i'3il,039 for new con struction. In other words, the money is going into tne navy .proper, the part which goes to sea." ' I : i . . .Representative Sereno E. Payne, New 'Yrtrlr.' diod Riii-irianl'v of heart lr.e.rat .his.anartment "in. Wash-- of faih iUKton. Dp'n'otnhnr 10.. Mr. PaVlie, who was 71 years old, was a veteran pm f o