Newspaper Page Text
10
LET NATION HOLD ITS COAL
LANDS.
(Continued from page 7.)
ence with the interstate commerce
and anti-trust laws shows that what is
needed is not prohibition of all com
binations, but such supervision and
control over combinations, and other
corporations entering into them, as will
prevent the evils, while giving to the
public the advantages of combina
nation.
Government Control of Pasture Land.
“Let me also urge that public leg
islation be passed to provide for gov
ernment control of the public pasture
lands of the west on the same general
principles which now apply in the
government control of the forest re
serve. The local control of the range
should be in the hands of western men
familiar with stock raising, and there
should be full local participation in
the management of the range. There
is no need at present that the gov
ernment should get a net revenue from
grazing on the public range, but only
enough to pay for administration and
improvement, and it may be wise to
provide that any surplus shall go to
the states and territories in which
the fees are collected. Let me urge
that congress provide $500,000 in ad
dition to the present estimate, to be
immediately appropriated to the clear
ing of arrears of business in the gen
eral land offices as regards the detec
tion and prevention of fraud in dis
posing of applications for patents to
the public lands.
“I wish to express my utter and
complete dissent from the statements
that have been made as to there being
a minimum of fraud in the actual
working of our present land laws. T
am exceedingly anxious to protect the
interests of bona fide settlers, and to
prevent hardships being inflicted on
them. But surely we are working in
their interests when we try to prevent
the land which should be reserved for
them and those like them from being
taken possession of for speculative
purposes, or obtained in any fraudulent
fashion.”
The president says the present force
of special agents is utterly insufficient
to conduct the proper field examina
tions, but adds that in six months
ending December 31, last, they secur
ed indictments in one hundred and
ninety-seven actions for fraud, 26 of
which have been tried, resulting in
14 convictions and 12 acquittals.
“In the forest reserves, where we
have been able to examine a great
number of claims,” he adds, “in about
one-third the law was not complied
with.”
I? H H
FIGHTING SHIP SUBSIDY.
National Grange Master Is at Odds
With Grosvenor.
FAILED TO PRINT ANSWER.
Former Gov. Bachelder, of New Hamp
shire, Representing 900,000 Farmers,
Declares Against Plan to Subsidize
Merchant Marine—Chairman of
Committee Should Have Had Letter
Printed.
The National Grange, composed of
900,000 farmers throughout the United
States, Is disappointed because Chair
man Grosvenor, of the house commit
tee on merchant marine and fisheries,
did not print, with other data, its re
ply to a letter from him in opposition
to ship-subsidy legislation. The corres
pondence may be read on the floor of
the house.
Former Governor Bachelder, of New
Hampshire, who Is master of the Na
tional Grange, sent a letter to Presi
dent Roosevelt, in which he said:
“I regret the duty which devolves
upon me to advise you, on behalf of
the great national organization of far
mers which I have the honor to repre
sent, that the farmers of the nation
are for the first time unitedly and
steadfastly opposed to the legislative
recommendations you have made to
congress in your recent message favor
ing ship subsidies. We protest most
urgently against any future payment
of the public funds to any~ private
firm or corporation for any purpose
whatsoever without safeguarding such
payments by a public accounting of
the business of the firm or corporation
to whom such payment is made.”
Gen. Grosvenor Replied.
The president turned this letter over
to Gen. Grosvenor, who replied in a
letter in which he said that the bill
encouraged American farmers, and
that a great majority of the members
of the National Grange approved it.
“You would make a waste place of
our last shipyard and drive our last
ship owners and seamen and shipyard
mechanics to choose between the poor
house and foreign lands,” said he.
This correspondence was published
in a public document compiled by the
general. The former governor replied
at length, but, according to the legisla
tive committee of the Grange, Gen.
Grosvenor declined to print the reply.
As a result the members of the grange
are sending floods of letters to their
respective representatives in the
house, urging them not to vote for the
ship subsidy bill.
Gov. Bachelder, in his reply, im
presses upon Gen. Grosvenor that in
his opposition to the subsidy bill he is
backed by 900,000 farmers, who have
in their conventions decided against
the proposition by overwhelming ma
jorities. Continuing, he says:
“I wish to take exception to your
assumption that the proposal to pay
out of the United States treasury sub
sidies to steamship companies, over
and above a fair price for carrying
mails, has anything in common with
the protection of American farmers or
American workingmen against foreign
competition.
Purpose of Protection.
“So far as I know, not even the most
extreme protectionist has ever claim
ed that it would be right, even if it
were possible, to protect the products
of American farmers or labor by giv
ing a subsidy to the portion of those
products sold in foreign markets. Pro
tection is intended for the home mar
ket only, and it is an application of
the protective policy hitherto un
dreamed of that our government
should put its hands into the treas
ury to aid our induswies in compet
ing in neutral markets.
“I must also take exception to your
assumption that I wish to make a
waste place of our ship yards and
drive our ship owners and seamen into
the poor house. I favor nothing of the
kind. So far as our domestic and
coastwise trade is concerned, our ship
owners and sailors have an absolute
monopoly of the business, and it is
only in connection with international
trade that the advocates of ship sub
sidies claim that our shipbuilding in
dustries are languishing.
“You are generous enough to as
sume that in opposing subsidy legisla
tion, I am doing so through a misap
prehension of the facts.
Plenty of Tramp Steamers.
“You will pardon me if I suggest
that this is a matter to which I have
given sufficient attention to be in a
position to know that there is not the
slightest foundation for your state
ment that foreign steamship companies
are ousting our farmers from the mar
kets in Brazil and elsewhere. You
refer to evidence to this effect sub
mitted to your committee. I have
heard of this evidence, but could never
find that it was more than mere rumor
or groundless allegation, which had
no foundation in fact.
“Your statement that because for
eign nations had ships and we have
THE WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN.
none Australian farmers are enabled
to drive us out of the flour market
of the Orient, is a fair sample of the
argument used in support of subsi
dies. If you will consult any of the
large flour milling concerns in Minne
apolis, or other parts of this country,
they will tell you that there are al
ways more tramp steamers seeking
freights for any part of the world
than are needed.
“I cannot agree with you that the
practically unanimous attitude of the
farmers against subsidies is due to
ignorance of the facts.
Farmers Know Situation.
“The farmers have been reading
about this subject and discussing it at
their local, state, and national grange
meetings for the past ten or twelve
years, and they are fully convinced
that it is contrary to their best inter
ests. They do not see how it would
benefit them for the foreign consumer
of their wheat or meat products to
have his freight carried at possibly
slightly lower rates.
“Any benefit which might rejsult
from increased competition in the
ocean carrying trade would inevitably
redound to the foreign consumers, and
not to the American farmer.
“1 would call your attention to the
fact that there are many, hundreds
of business and commercial organiza
tions in this country, and, so far as I
can learn, comparatively few are in
favor of the sudsidy bill.
“I regret as much as you do the
fact that our shipping industry, in so
far as the foreign trade is concerned,
has fallen off so largely since 1861. I
am sincerely desirous of seeing this in
dustry restored to its former great
proportions of the world’s carrying
trade, but I cannot see how the tax
payers of the country can justly be
called upon to pay money out of their
pockets toward this particular indus
try, any more than they should to pay
subsidies to a local express or freight
service in the farming sections of the
country, to enable carriers to make
larger profits than they do now.”
HMM
MAIL TRANSPORTATION.
Railroads’ Receipts from This Source
—Road’s Protest Against Re
duced Compensation.
Railroads throughout the country
are offering vigorous protests against
the proposed reduction in the compen
sation for the transportation of mail,
arguing that they are already receiv
too little for the service rendered, and
that any further reduction must needs
impair the efficiency of the mail serv
ice. There is something that strikes
the average observer as more or less
amusing in the apparently conflicting
statements that are being made in be
half of the railroads in connection
with this question of mail transporta
tion. One large railroad here in the
east sent out telegrams last week to
influential citizens along its lines, urg
ing them to impress upon their repre
sentatives in congress the necessity of
maintaining the present compensation
for mail transportation on the ground
that were the railroads’ income from
this source lessened it would become
necessary to reduce the train service
on the lines. In the same breath it
was added that of course the railroad
Itself cared nothing for the trans
portation of mail, inasmuch as it was
not profitable, but it did not wish to
see its patrons inconvenienced.
The popular impression is that the
transportation of mails is a valuable
source of income for the railroads, and
the railroads themselves, despite their
claim that the compensation is inade
quate, have done much by striving for
mail contracts to confirm this impres
sion.
Admittedly, however, there are two
sides to the case, and the government
officials themselves admit that In
some Instances at least the pay re
ceived by the railroad is not commen
surate with the service rendered to
the public. In view of all the facts,
how’ever, it can scarcely be doubted
that all in all the transportation of
mail is a valuable source of income to
the railroads. How important an item -
it is in their earnings is made clear *
by the fact that the earnings from t
mail amount to about 7 per cent of the
gross receipts of the railroads. *
The present discussion of the sub
ject adds interest to the development
of the railway mail service, which is
indicated by the following figures:
Am’t ;
Pd per
R. R. Mail. Amt. Pd. Mile.
Year. Mileage. Mileage. R. R.’s. Cents.
1879 79,991 93,092,992 $9,792,589 10.51
1882 100,563 113,995,318 13,127,715 11.51
1885 121,032 151,910,485 16,627,983 10.95
1888 143,713 185,485,783 19,524,959 10.52
1891 159,518|228,719,900 25,183,714 11.01
1894 169,768 264,717,595 30,358,190 11.46
1897 173,475 273,190,356 33,876,521 12.40
1900 179,982 297,256,303 37,793,982 12.71
1903 192,852 333,491,684 41,886,848 12.56
1905 200,965 362,645,731 45,576,515 12.56 I
HMM
BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.
If you have a gray-haired mother
In the old home far away,
Sit down and write the letter
You put off day by day.
Don’t wait until her tired steps
Reach heaven’s pearly gate
But show her that you think of her
Before it is too late.
If you’ve a tender message,
Or a loving word to say,
Don’t wait till you forget it,
But whisper it today.
Who knows what bitter memories
May haunt you if you wait;
So make your loved ones happy
Before it is too late.
We live but in the present,
The future is unknown—
Tomorrow is a mystery,
Today is all our own.
The chance that fortune lends to us
May vanish while we wait,
So spend your life’s rich treasure
Before it is too late.
The tender words unspoken
The letter never sent,
The long-forgotten messages,
The wealth of love unspent,
For these some hearts are breaking,
For these some loved ones wait —
So show them that you care for them
Before it is too late.
HMM
A SIGNIFICANT HEARST VICTORY.
The renomination of Mayor Dunne
by Chicago Democrats may have an
important bearing upon national poli
tics.
In a bitter contest which has been
waged for the nomination Dunne has
had the support of Bryan’s arch-ene
my, Williams. Both Williams and
Dunne are classed as Hearst men.
If the Democrats win in the Chica
go municipal election these men can
send a Hearst delegation to the next
Democratic national convention from
Illinois, the third state in the Union.
That will give Hearst 54 delegates.
New York, it is conceded, will, under
the unit rule, give him 78 more.
A neat nucleus, these 132 votes from
only two states.
Hearst is still in politics. And he
may show Bryan a few tricks in the
near future. —Record, Long Branch,
New Jersey.
H H H
From reading the editorials in Wat
son’s Jeffersonian Magazine one would
conclude that Tom wasn’t in love with
Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan. Tom seems
to know him pretty well. —Darien, Ga.,
Gazette.