Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 38, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 January 1906 — WASHINGTON GOSSIP [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WASHINGTON GOSSIP

President Roosevelt’s message to Coijgrcss transmitting the annual reports of the Isthmian Canal Commission will be received with gratification throughout the country. It will do much to allay recently circulated stories as to the way iu which the great work of canal construction is being conducted. These stories, while frequently vague in details, have been sufficiently numerous to create an impression. There bare been rumors of extravagant waste in salaries and the letting of contracts. Progress toward the actual construction of tfle canal has been Tepjleseiitted aswlow and efiaracterized by inefficient management That the President finds jt possible to deny these various charges sweepingly and utiresorvedly is highly reasurring.' As to the charges of incompetency 6r extravagance, he says he has examined every one of them and found that in every instance they were “without foundation in any shape or form.” On the contrary, he declares, the work on the isthmus “is being admirably done and great progress has beet; made during the last nine mouths.” The mechanical equipment necessary for the canal-digging operations is heing rapidly installed. The work of sanitation is progressing, well and an effective organization of the administrative forces has been made. On the whole the President feels justified In saying that tber canal will be dug in shorter time ami at lower expense than had been anticipated. This highly optimistic report gives cause for increased confidence in the men in charge of the enterprise and in their methods, though it would be a mistake to accept it as a reason for relaxing vigilance. The essential thing, now that a goqd start tins boon made, Is that there be no remission of the watchfulness which has kept the work up to a high standard.

A series of $0 bills was fumed out at the bureau of engraving and printing a few days ago. Why these “exceptionally unique” bank and treasury notes were printed is not known, though about 300 es them were run off before it was discovered that such a deviation from tjie regular denomination of the “long green” would cause much consternation. At the bureau, wnen the “error” was discovered, it was explained that an uninitiated employe, presumably one of the helpers, mislaid a stack of partly printed $1 bills on a similarly treated stack of the $5 denomination. When the $3 printers got to work they, it is said, picked up the stack of partly printed $1 bills and run them through the $o dies. When they came out for inspection it was discovered that they were “$G bills, the $5 stamp being on one side and the $1 stamp on the other side.” They were expended in the fire-box of one of the big furnaces, but it required an affidavit from Director Meredith, the foreman hf the dieroom, and the superintendent of the paper room, to explain what disposition was made of SIOO worth of $1 bills.

Sentiment may find special interest in the current report of the Postmaster General, for we are celebrating the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of Franklin, who was Deputy Postmaster General of the British colonies in America. At the time of Franklin’s death, 1790, there were sev-enty-five postoflices in this country. To-day there are sixty-eight thousand. Then the receipts were less than forty thousand doljars. Last year they were a hundred and fifty million. The number of people employed by the postoffice department Is nearly three hundred thousand —equal to the working population of a great city—and the number of employes and of all agents and means «for distributing mail mounts faster in proportion than the receipts. The Postmaster General touches on many suggested improvements, such as the reduction of certain rates of postage, the parcels post and postal savings depositories, hut he recommends that ntteutiou he paid not so much to possible additions to the service as to the improvement of the kinds of service already established.

The annual report of Commissioner of Corporations Janies It. Garfield emphasizes the administration’s position, namely, that the great Interstate corporations have gone beyond the possibility of proper control by State authorities, and says that Congress should so legislate as to afford an opportunity to present to the Supreme Court the question whether insurance is interstate commerce. He teiis of extensive inquiries that have been made into the beef, oil and steel industries. and promises a special report Bt>on on oil.

The isthmian canal commission met at Washington and requested Chief I Engineer Stevens to furnish a working plan for the excavation and disposal of materials for a canal on an 85foot level above low tide. This Indicated that the commission had decided In favor of a lock canal, with three locks on each side of the divide. It was also decided to experiment with laborers from the north of Bpala.