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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 16, 1908)
THE OREGON DAILY JOURNAL, PORTLAND, WEDNESDAY EVENING. DECEMBER 18, 1908. HOW 10 RAISE ALL THOSE BILLIONS , i t j , '. Ways and Means Committee Storm Center of Congress Heavily Burdened : and the Burden Is .Growing Early Days Compared. bt Frederic j. haskin. (Copyright 1908, by Frederlo J. Haakla) : Washington. Dec. 16. Upon the way and means committee of the house of representatives has fallen a new burden. No other nation In Christendom spends , so much money as the United States, and to this committee falls tha task of devising ways and means for raising , that money. The constitution provides that all revenue legislation muBt orig inate In the house or repremiiauvc and the rules of the house in turn say that It must originate in the ways and means committee. Just now that com mittee finds It difficult to carry its new burden between the Seylla and ' Charybdls of the opinion of the people and the need of the government. On the one hand aro the people who want lower tariffs and on the other stands the faob that there never was a time when it was up to a tariff law to raise ; so much money as rigm now. iiirj" 7 hiv tn Inwor anmel of the schedules. but at the same time the aggregate collections will have to be greater tnan ever, if the government Is to pay Its way as it goes. ThA atam ire. individual noes not real Ize how rapidly the expenditures of the United States government have in creased. It now costs more each year to maintain the national estaDiisnmein than was required for the first 60 years of the last century. During those 60 years the nation fought two wars, one with England and one with Mexico, nnrt via ih vlrtnr In each: its territory Increased from 837.000 square miles to 3,026,000 square miles. The exact fig ures for the cost of maintaining the nation from the signing of the declara tion of Independence, to the beginning of the last centurv are not at hand, but It was less thnn $4,000,000,000. Accept ing that amount as representing the ex penditures during the first 24 years of the national existence, and adding there to the known expenses up to 1878, It . Is found that during the first 102 years of the nation's life It spent less than tl 1,000 000.000. During the past 30 vears it has raised and spent nearly $13,000,000,000. Tax Problem Greatest of AIL During the first 12 years of national existence we supported four wars. Twjce England bit tho dust, once Mexico was ' defeated, and one of the greatest civil wars of ancient or modern times was fought. The purchase of Alaska was made, and the national domain was therefore four and a half times as large as It was when Jefferson became the first great territorial expansionist. Yet In the past 30 years the nation ; has spent more.; bVi rone sixth, than it required to accomplish all these -wonder- ful achievements. This greatly in creased cost of maintaining the govern ment cannot be laid at the door of the wonderful expansion of the postofflce department, since nothing but the defi cit in Its operations Is included in these figures. At the present rate- of expen diture the -people will in the next 10 vears have to part with as much money for the maintenance of the national rovernment taking no account of state end local governments as their ances tors had to pav during a whole cen tury beginning with the foundation of the government. Little Indeed is the wonder that congress Is put to in its effort to find a system of taxation that will be silent In Its operation. Mora Money, and reel It X.. The constitution leaves but two prin cipal wavs open for securing govern mental funds the levying of import or tariff duties, and the collection of l.iternal revenue taes. Out of these two pieces of revenue, timiier the ways urd means committee most erect Its .".000,000.000 a vear fund providing cdl fic As It approaches the task this vear peculiar difficulties beset It. The prohibition crHze has served to lessen! Internal revenue receipts nnd a tariff tnr.Kt lie de.licd which will raise more f.;nds than ever, nnd yet allow the people to feci it less. It Is the hope of the dominant pajfly that they may! frame a law wmcn win sianu wr ui lenst 10 years. If they succeed In do Ing so. It will have to call forth from ,tho pockets tf the peoplo some $4,000. 000 000. With that fact In mind one can begin to appreciate the immensity of the work In hand. Storm Bag Around Committee. The ways and rr.eana committee is un like the appropriations. Political lines are more tightly drawn here than in any other house committee, except rules. There has long been a hope that the tariff question might be made a non- fiartlsan question like the matter of nternal revenue, but as long as men differ about the theory of protection, that Is too much to hope for. So po litical warfare Is as ever present In ways and means as it is ever absent in appropriations. The political tides of the nation have surged around this committee during the past years, and by Its actions more presidents have been made and unmaoe than by any other one agency. Two of ita post bellum chairmen have become presi dents of the United States. The political history of the country might be read by scanning the lists of the committees of the house. One may ' look at the list of chairmen of the ways and means committee and read therefrom whether the Philistine of free trade or the Israelite of protection had sway In the American Canaan. He can tell by looking at the list of chair men of -coinage, weights and measures whether free silver or "sound money Is the prevailing sentiment of a given period. Likewise., he may read aright the paramount Issues of the various' congresses by "Studying tho committee lists of the house- During the civil war he will see a military affairs com mittee framed up with the strongest men in the house; immediately after that period, ways and means gets its ablest men, and the issue changes from the waging of war to the paying of the resultant debt. Sow Committee Strength Shifts. Perhaps the most striking Illustration of this Is the personnel of the insular affairs committee in 1899. Looking at the lineup on the majority side one sees Cooper of Wisconsin as its chair man. The next In line is the present ' 1 speaker, Mr. Cannon. After him comes R. R. Hitt, chairman of foreign rela tions; then Payne, chairman of ways and means today; then Hepburn, chair man of interstate and foreign com merce; then Loud, chairman of postof flces and postroads at that time; then Tawney. present chairman of appropri ations; Babcock, former chairman of the Republican congressional committee; Moody, at present a justice of the su preme court, and Crumpacker, also a. Dramlnmt member of the house. At the close of the Spanish-American war the question of what should be done with the. Philippines became the paramount- issue, and the Republicans . massed all of their - heaviest artillery In this committee. There never baa neen a committee oi i congress so re . markable for strength of . membership si that on insular affairs at that time. Today it is an all but insignificant com-1 f mittee. . -..- Some one hns eallod the comtiiittees of conm-da. 'Ilttlo lcglslatnrea," In Is reversed ty congress. Often reports are allowed to pas unacted upon, but those which are acted upon usually go through substantially In the same shape that ' they come from the committees. In the house there are over 60 commit tees, and more than that In the senate, yet about 13 , in each body do 88 per cent of the work which is referred to committees. - In - the beginning; there were but very few committees, and the rule was to give each state represen tation on each one. But a the number of states grew this plan of representa tion could no longer be maintained, and different policy had to be pursued. ' When congress started out It had but a few committee and fewer rules. The rule of the house were made in four day, buti by - 187S the accretion that were born, of political exigencies had brought the rule up to a cumbersome volume of 16$ rules, each Of which had lta subdivision. At ' this - juncture, a committee consisting of eminent par Uamentarians Randall, . Blackburn. Stephens, Garfield and Frye adopted a code of rules Whose purpose was "to secure accuracy in business, economy of time, order, unirormlty and impartial ity.') These' rules remained in force until the Reed rule took their place. , Orography Cat Wo Hear. deorranhieal considerations seldom en ter into the makeup of committee' to any extent. In a recent congress , the 68 most populous cities of the United State had out one member of the com mittee on . rivers and harbors, and but two members on the committee on bank ing and currency. The temptation to take care of one's constituents at homo Is such a strong one that few member or the house or senate can resist it, and the speaker I usually carerul not to ap tiolnt one man to any two of theae com. mlttees. s 'The only man who in recent year has held membership on the two fxeat "pork dispensing" committees at he same time river and harbors, and public buildings and grounds was Rep resentative Bankhead of Alabama, That he took care of his district- better than almost any other man In congress needs not be said.. But even In the face of this, Hobson, the hero of the Merrimac, with no other issue than a greater navy and the district so far inland that a naval shell could never reach It de feated him at the primary. A everyone in Washington know, a man opportunities for usefulness in crease) in congress with length of ser vice. Count the 10 most influential men in the senate, and the 10 most in fluential men in the house, and almost without exception they are the men who have been there longest. The commit tees of congress are like bread lines. If a fellow has not the patience to start at the tall end of the line and stay there until all those ahead of him get their hare, ha will go hungry. If a state or district has not the patience to wait until those ahead leave congress, that state or district will never get the chair manship of an Important committee. MINER TAr? SHAFT FILLED WITH WATER Orovllle, Cal., Dec. 16. R. McEwen, one of the owners of the Bumblebee mine, six miles from this city, while working at the inner end of a 600 foot tunnel last 8unday. drove his pick into an abandoned shaft filled with water, which gushed out Into his face washed him and his tools entirely out of the mine. McEwen realized that he was working near the old shaft and he was half ex- fectlng water, but not In any such quan ity as greeted him. When the under ground flood brust "n blm he was powerless to save himself and was car ried out to daylight by the turbulent etream.y- When he was picked up he was Benseless and did not recover conscious ness until the following aay. ARTHUR HARTMANN CONCERT TOMORROW Tomorrow evening at the Heillg the atre. Arthur Hartmann, the brilliant vlo linlHt. will a-lve a rare program, assist ed by Alfred Calzln, the pianist. Among the numbers will oe tne iamous eaini Ksens concerto, for which Hartmann has been widely praised. His work Is always artistic and his Hungarian an cestry gives to nis tone a lire ana an impetuosity thai one ooea not orten find. Among the other fine numbers selected for the program tomorrow at the Heilig will be some of the Debussy Hartmann compositions, played for the first time In Portland. The concert is under tne airection or j-iOis steers Wvnn Coman and seats are now selling at the Heillg box office. ' My youngest boy, 3 years old, was sick with fever last June, and when he got better the doctor prescribed Scott's Emulsion, and he liked it so well that he drank it out of the bottle, and is now just as plump and strong as any child of his age any where . ..w two bottles fixed him OK. MR. JOHN F. TEDDER, Box 263, Teague Freestone Co., Texas. SCOTT'S EilLSION is the greatest help for babies and young children there is. It just fits their need; it just suits their delicate, sensitive natures ; they thrive on it. Just a little " does them so' much good and saves you so much worry. You owe it to them and yourself to make them as strong and healthy as possible. Scott's Emulsion . will help you better than anything else; but be sure to get Scott's. It's the best, and there are so many worthless imitations. AU DRUGGISTS Mr, TMd.r Km Jnat wrlttan as another letter abtrnt hi brothsrln-Uw"! ohlldna. . Let wi mnd too bis latter aad other tntormtto oa the subjMt. A Post Oud, mantioslna this popor. It a 81 cleat. SCOTT BOWNE 40 Pearl Street New York WHAT'S Your Health Worth? Yon start sickness by mistreating nature, and it generally shows first in the bowels nd liver. A ioc box (week's treatment) of CASCARETS will help nature help you. v They will do more vsing them regularly as you need them than any medicine on Earth. Get a box today; take) a CASCARET tonight Better in the morning. It's the result that makes millions take them. - , gji CASCARETS ioe a hnx for a rek' ' TICKET SCALPERS J '.': WILL HAVE TO GO " (T7a!te4 Proa Laattd W!i. Now York, Deo. Ticket ca.lper who for year have pestered pede trlan in tha vicinity of the Broadway theatre a welj a patron of the play- hounfg, learard today that Mayor Mo Clellan has affixed hi signature to an ordinance passed by the board of alder, men which will abolish their privilege on and after January 1. . For several year an attempt ha been made to supprea the scalper and frequent complaint were made to the aldermen. It waa not however until recently, after the theatres had combined to fight tha peat that measure waa presented to the board. '-T A Companion ordinance, providing that tickets shall not be sold for mora than fac value was vetoed by the mayor who had been advised that the measure was unconstitutional. kTha bill wa aimed to prevent the sale of theatre ticket at hotel agencies. Clothing Co Site $2150 and $20.00 Soils and Overcoats $13.90 $27.50 and $25.00 Suits and Overcoats $30.00 Military Raincoats $19.35 $15.00 Suits, Topcoats, Raincoats and Overcoats $ $9.35 AT HALF PRICE BOYS' OVERCOATS For boys, ages 14 to 18, will be closed out at 50c on the dollar Special Bargains in Holiday Furnishings TWO SHIRTS in fancy box for $1.69 SUSPENDERS in fancy box, 75c values. .49 FANCY SUSPENDERS in box, $1.00 values .69 NECKWEAR in fancy box, $1.00 value 69 Cor. IVIori-Ison arid Second Streets The Christmas Grocery Store D. C. BURNS COMPANY, 208-210 THIRD ST., Bet. Taylor and Salmon No Christmas table is truly satisfying unless filled with the choicest viands in the market. D. C. Burns Co. cater to the proudest and most exclusive families. 1000 Fancy Turkeys Have contracted for 1000 Fancy Turkeys to be de livered fresh from the farm to us December 23 and 24 no cold storage stock. Phone Your Order Now ; .. ' - 1 - " Some Christmas Specials Crowe & Blacktrell Plum Puddlnic. 2-lb. cans 75 Crosse & Blackwell Plum Pudding. 3-lb. cans ..01.15 Crosse & Blackwell Plum Pudding. 4-lb. can . .01.40 Franco-American Plum Pudding, 1.1b. can 35 vMv.nA a Plum Pudrilne. individual can 12H Mrs. Jackson's Plum Pudding. Individual pan 12Hj& 12H .-10d Bon Ton Fancy Seeded Raisins, No. 1 cartons 10 No. 1 cartons for.. 81. 10 Tropic Fancy Seedod Raisins No. 2 cartons 8 No. 2 cartons ror ....aac . , Fancy Genuine ImportPd Bleached Sultanas. ro. 1 cartons 25 Fancy Sultana Raisins, No. 1 cartons . . ., 12H Fancy Unbleached Sultana Raisins, bulk, per lb.. 10 Seedless Muscatel Raisins, bulk, per ID 10 4 Crown Loose Muscatel Raisins, per id 3 Crown London Layer Raisins, per lb 16 Per box 20a. 6 Crown Dehesa Cluster Raisins. No. 1 cartons, lb. 20 3 No. 1 cartons for SO 6 Crown Dehesa. Cluster Raisins, No. 2 cartons ..50 Fancy Currants, No. 1 cartons 12 H 10 No. 1 cartons ..01.15 American Glace Citron, per lb 25 Broken Citron, per lb 20 American Glace Lemon Peel, per lb ,....25 American Glace Orange Peel, per lb 25 Sweet Cider, per gallon 40 Boiled Cider, per quart 35 Boiled Cider, per pint 20 Ilelns Mince Meat, 1-lb. can ". ...20 Helm Mince Meat, 2-lb. can 40 Heln Mince Meat, i-b. crock Sl.OO Bulk Mince Meat, home-made, per lb 15 Black Mission Figs, per lb..". ...IO California Figs, bulk, per lb loj? California. Figs. 1-lb. cartons 20 California Figs. 12-o. bricks, 3 for 25 New Orleans Table Molasses, per gal gl OO New Crleans Molasses, for cooking, per gal 50 3 Lbs. Juno Mocha and Java Coffee for $1.00 Fancy Norway Bloater Mackerel 40 No, 1 Bloater Mackerel 25 Finnan Haddie. fresh 20 : Imported Anchovy. ... - 30 Imported Anchovy, n Columbia River Salmon Bellies Columbia River Salmon Tip . , Fancy Codfish Middles ........ Pill Pickles,' per gallon , Your Patronage Once Secured WHI Follow Us Always SO V::::fiJJ v4U D. C. B 08-210 Third Street URNS COMPANY Bet. Taylor arid Salmon m FA Mm When thoroughly com pared with the average new residence addi tion, shows the FOLLOWING POINTS OF SUPERIORITY LOCATION No residence property in the city of Portland, including the best of the west side, has the exclusive and desirable features that recommend PROSPECT PARK, the cream of Irvington, to the discriminating home builder. Only y2 miles from retail center and a ten minute ride. It is unexcelled. TRANSPORTATION f1'" Woodlawn ana Alberta, leaving either Second or Fifth and Wash ington streets every five and three minutes, all day long, reach Knott street, where you leave the car, in ten minutes, without transfer. No such transporta tion is to be found elsewhere in Portland. ENVIRONMENT APar o IrvfrS! record as such, PROS PECT PARK is admitted to be the most pbpular residence section of the city. It is surrounded by re stricted districts. The same character of improve ments as are now found in PROSPECT PARK will be continued in adjoining additions when completed. IMPROVEMFJVTSNo"'''" n United States. Asphalt pavements, cement walks, Bull Run water, gas mains laid, most perfect system of street drainage in the world, wide parkings and every lot leveled down to a uniform grade. Over $250,000 have been spent in making PROSPECT PARK what it is. RESTRICTIONS ETL nm; ,unl miSsl cost $2500 at least. Not more than one home will be allowed on 50 feet. Every home must be built 25 feet back of the property line.. With these restrictions and an uniform method of parking, wide streets and fine homes, PROSPECT PARK cannot even be duplicated in Portland. FOR INVESTMENT Jhe consexva- tive busmess men have stated that PROSPECT PARK will double in value within two years. It may double before, but it is practically certain to double in that time. This will return a man's money twice over in two years, or 50 per cent a year. Nothing to equal this. PRICES AND TERMS 50 feet may now be had for $1000 and up. Considering location, trans portation facilities, the splendid environment, the ex- j ceptionally high character of the improvements, ample restrictions arid low price, such property is un equaled in Portland. Prospect Park in the Making Is the title of one of the most unusual pieces of litera ture ever published by a real estate firm. It describes the improvements in detail, accompanied by wash drawings and a sectional drawing of the street, show ing every detail of the work. Tak "Woodlawn" or "A" car at Second or Flflli and Wash ington streets. Get off at Knott street and walk one bloclc EAST to the office. O 241 Stark St. E. 7th and Knot! L. MUM FORD Manager of Ennt flldc CfH ROHJNIHEE