Jasper County Democrat, Volume 10, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 July 1907 — WASHINGTON LETTER. [ARTICLE]

WASHINGTON LETTER.

Mr. Fairbanks wants the people of Indiana to underotand that his candidacy is not a joke, as most of them seem to think.

As Senator Knox of Pennsylvania has declared that the states still retain some of their powers under the constitution he may expect to receive a visit from Senatorßeveridge and his “Calhoun States’ Rights” rog baby bugaboo.

a bath house at Indianapolis the other day and the Hon. Charles \Warren Fairbanks made a speech on the occasion approving the project in his usual bold and fearless manner. As it is not recorded that he became a patron of the institution it is inferred that he had negleoted to take along his thermometer.

The question is, will.the Republican party follow the high tariff lead of Cannon, the centralization idea of Taft, the negro policy of Foraker, the states’ rights doctrine of Knox or the “any-old-thing-so-it-get-the-nomination” theory of the redoubtable Fairbanks? This is what is putting new wrinkles about the sad eyes of the weary elephant.

In a Pittsburg interview Governor Hanley says that he has “no desire to go after a seat in the senate.” Perhaps he wants a Beat in the senate to come around and hunt him up. And perhaps again he knows that the Fairbanks machine has reserved it for the Hon. Dan Reid, railroad and trust magnate —provided, of course, the people are willing. B. F. Yoakum, one of the big railroad men of the country, says that he has never believed that the people desire to injure the railroads. He is right. The people do not want to do the railroads any injustice. All that they have ever asked is fair treatment and in return for that they will give fair treatment and be glad to do it. But they insist that discriminations in favor of the Standard Oi monoply, the beef trust, the stee trust and other bloated money absorbers shall cease. Wherever a state has passed a retaliatory law (so-called) it has been merely the expression of the determination of the people to recover from the railroads a part of the money that the railroads have collected from them and turned over to Rockefeller and others in the form of rebates and similar favors.

If yon are looking for reliable shoes and clothing at lowest prices go to the Chicago Bargain Store.

Political and Oeneral aoaaip of the National Capital. Special Correspondence to The Democrat. With the presentation of the instructions of the various countries at the Hague, it begins to be seen that the principal work of the present session of the conference is likely to be arbitration. The proposals of the American delegates have not yet been all submitted, but it is known that they left the State Department with this policy strongly impressed upon them. This government knew as well as the others that there was not anything practical to bo accomplished this year in the reduction of armaments, and it decided that next to reducing armaments the best thing was to get the nations to agree to refrain from using them so far bb possible. Thus arbitration is likely to assume the chief place in the deliberations of of the conference with this country taking the lead. It is thought that something more practical than the old arbitration treaty can be framed and if it is there is little doubt that the countries represented will all sign it. This is certainly a step in the right direction. A man may insist on his liberty to carry a gun, but if he can be trained not to pull it, the public peace is just as well conserved. And eventually, he may get in the habit of leaving bis gun at home. t t t Formal complaint was filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission last week against the socalled shipping trust. This trust consists of the Hamburg American, the North German Lloyd, the Wilson Line, and the Scandanav-ian-American line. The complaint grew originally out of the arrangement that these companies were alleged to have made with the American railroads for pooling their immigrant traffic. It was charged that the steamship companies, that is to say the Hamburg American Line (for that was the dominant factor in the trust) ranted the immigrants as it chose from the point of embarkation to the point of destination and that the traffic was divided up between the railroads without regard to competition in this country and with little regard even to the wishes of the immigrants. This was rathdr bad, but though the immigrant was many in the aggregate, he had few friends individually. Beside that there was no law in the United States against pooling passenger traffic. But there is a very stringent law against freight pooling, and it iB now charged that the Hamburg American Line extended its jurisdiction to the freight of this country both going and coming. A manufacturer here if he wanted to reach a foreign market, had to route his freight as the pool dictated or he was crushed immediately. It is pointed out in the oomplaint that it is rather hard for a company owned and controlled abroad to have the entire say as to how freight shall be carried even in the land lines in the United States. It will make a long toilsome inquiry to look into the matter, but it is assuredly coming.

The young emperor of China has been graciously pleased to send a personal message to the President thanking him for remitting the portion of the Chinese indemnity that is owed to the United States over and above the actual expense of the United States in-helping to put down the Boxer uprising. This message was delivered to the President this weok by Sir Chentung Liang Cheng, the retiring Chinese Minister who was a guest at luncheon at Sagamore Hill prior to his sailing for China. It will be remembered that the Chinese indemnity pledged to the United States amounted to about $55,000,000 with interest. This China was paying off in instalments as she was doing with the sums awarded the other powers. The President felt that the payment, of the indemnity was rather a piece of international robbery for it much more than covered the expenses of the United Stafes due to the Boxer uprising and left a substantial sum for damages to the families of missionaries and merchants killed there without then coming within 140,000,000 of the full amount. It had been the intention of the President for some time to secure the remission of this indemnity if he could and he bo told the Chinese Minister about a fortnight ago. It will take an act of Congress to make the remission legal, but the Emperor of China evidently does not know much about the American system of government, for he took it that so long as the President was agreeable there wee nothing more to be said. 60 he sent hiß

thanks by bis minister. It is to be hoped that these thanks will not prove embarrasing, for the President does not always get his way with Congress and it is jaet possible that Congress may not agree to cancelling the debt. Of course the chances are that Congress will, but tbo opposite course would certainly leaves lot of very delicate explaining to be done for the benefit of the Emperor of China, t t t Almost everything is put up to the Interstate Commerce Commission these days, aud the latest complaint that has been made is by the banks against the express companies. There are less than a dozen express companies and 7*500 banks represented in the oomplaint. Their grievance is about the express companies doing p money transfer business. Almost everyone has bad occaeion to buy at some time or other au express money order, cashable as the advertisement reads “in any one ot its 30,000 offices in the world.” It is a convenient and not very expensive service and is appreciated by the public, especially by travelers abroad, whatever they may have to say of the practices of express companies as a rule. But the banks say that the express companies are taking the business that legitimately belongs to them and they ask that the companies be enjoined from carrying on the money transfer business any longer. One of the sore points where it is said the express companies add insult to injury, is that they do not even take the trouble to keep a sufficient amount of cash on band in their offices in small towns to cash the ordinary ran of orders, but instead they direot the holder of the order to the bank which has to cash the order as a matter of policy with its easterners, knowing that the order is perfectly good but that it will lose money by the transaction.