Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 91, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 July 1907 — WASHINGTON GOSSIP [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WASHINGTON GOSSIP

Purchase by the government of stock in some of the larger railroads flor the purpose of obtaining upon the boards of directors is a plfn which has been proposed to President Roosevelt, and which, it is reported, be is seriously considering. The step, which would be in the direction of government ownership, and which was the first taken by Germany before that government acquired ownership of a railroad, can only be brought about by an appropriation by Congress of money to be used in the purchase of the stock. It is reported that should the President not make the recommendation to Congress in his annual message some of the Democratic leaders, those in harmony with Mr. Bryan’s government ownership plank, will introduce bills proposing the appropriation. The advocates of the policy argue that government supervision can materially be promoted by having a representative of the government on the boards of some of the larger railroads. Upon the advice of Attorney General Bonaparte, the President has instructed Secretary “of “Tonfirierce and Labor Straus to have the census bureau make a special enumeration of the proposed State of Oklahoma, including the present territory of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory, for the purpose of determining the distribution of population among the subdivisions into which the State will be divided shouid the new constitution be approved at the polls. The administration understands that this constitution would be likely to gerrymander the State favorably to the Democrats. The work on the new census is to be commenced as soon as the necessary blanks can be provided. William C. Hunt, chief statistician of the census bureau, will have immediate supervision of the wofk in the field. The completeness of the restoration of “Old Ironsides,” on which the Navy Department has been at work for some time, has lately been attested by the casting of the big guns with which the ship will be armed. There are fortyfour of them, duplicates of the famous old pieces with which the Constitution fought its famous battle with the , Guerriere. Each of them weighs three thousand four hundred pounds, exclusive of its carriage. The carriages are also faithful reproductions, made after old drawings and prints. When all the work on the Constitution is finished, the modern •visitor who steps aboard will have the sensation of passing into another century in history and another era in MvaD architecture and equipment ; end the chances are that no one will ever again want to “tear her tattered ensign down.”

Regular ambassadors and ministers to foreign countries are hedged in by rules, Instructions and customs which sometimes limit their efficiency. Of late years there has been an increasing amount of neighborly visiting between the nations In the persons of Informally credited representatives. Mr. Root, on his visits to South America and Canada, all the time the attitude of a friendly tourist with no business but to carry greetings arid study the countries be visited. This summer he is going to Mexico on a similar mission, and Mr. Taft will go to Japan. By means of these Visits much can be done for diplomacy which cannot be performed by regular departments of state. The treaty drawn last February between the United States and Santo Domingo has been signed by President Roosevelt at his Oyster Bay home, It having already been ratified by the Dominican Congress and the United States Senate. This treaty settles definitely the question of the collection of Dominican revenue and makes the Island republic virtually an American dependency.

There seem to be very few occasions upon which President Roosevelt deems it advisable to lay aside the protection of a revolver. His practice of carrying a weapon has again been n advertised, this time through the discovery made by one of the Masonic functionaries to whom fell the task of tying the apron hbout the President’s waist at the laying of the corner stone of the new Masonic building in Washington. Attorney General Bonaparte has made public a list of sixteen objections which have been raised to tho proposed constitution of the proposed Htate of Oklahoma. The persons who have brought these objections to the government’s attention regard them as warranting President Roosevelt in deciding that the proposed constitution does not satisfy the test of the enabling act When the King of Italy was told that a son had been born to the wife of Lloyd C. Grlsconij the American ambassador in Rome, he exclaimed: “I had always believed that ambassador; were blessed only with grandsons'.’*' Ambassadors, as well ab Senators, used to be old men, but this all seems to have been changed. Axnbassadqr Griscom Is only thirty-four years old, and it will be many years before he is a grandfather; and there are many men in the Senate lessthan fifty.

i The history of many a race my be read in its battle'cry. Tn© “Banzai! es the Japanese, the “Faghaghballah I” of the Irish, and our own “Hurrah I” have found their origin far back in history. Although many authorities have declared that the word “hurrah” Is a development of tha -Tewtah “Hosannah,’’ the consensus of opinion now is that it is a corruption of the ancient battle cry of the wild Norsemen, “Tur ale!” meaning, “Thor aid us I” Formerly the word was spelled “Huzza” and pronounced “Hurray.” In one form or another it is used by almost every nation.