Show STAR ROUTE B G DHIUNCfO EVILS OF PRESENT SYSTEM HAY BE OLE Senate Provides That Contractors Must Reside On the Route Where the Service I Performed Washington Feb ISThe senate spent most of the day on the postofflce appropriation bill but failed to complete com-plete It After an animated discussion of the pneumatic tube system Mr CullomB amendment increasing the appropriation ap-propriation for the purpose and designed design-ed to extend the system to Chicago was tabled An echo of the old star route developments was heard when several senators criticised the method by which a combination of speculators secured the a star route contracts A number of bills of minor importance were passed early in the day At 4 oclock tributes I to the memory of the late Representative Representa-tive Simpkins of Massachusetts were I pronounced A bill was passed amending section 46 A bl the revised statutes so that when an applicant for a patent becomes Insane pending the granting of a patent pat-ent the guardian conservator or representative rep-resentative of the inventor shall proceed I pro-ceed and obtain the patent and hold it in trust for his estate Consideration of the postofllce appropriation appro-priation bill was then resumed Mr Cullom of Illinois offered a amendment appropriating 300000 instead in-stead of 5225000 as provided by the bill for the extension of the pneumatic tube mail senice either by purchase or otherwise He presented a long pet tion from business men of Chicago urging that the city be given the benefit bene-fit of the pneumatic tube service and the idea of his amendment was that it should be extended to Chicago Mr Quay in charge of the bill favored 11 vored the use of pneumatic mail tubes but was inclined not to admit the propriety pro-priety of putting the amendment on I the bill Mr Wolcott Colo chairman of the I postal commission appointed by congress con-gress in opposing the amendment declared de-clared that it would cost 25000000 a year cared properly maintain a pneumatic tube service in the principal cities of the countries Mr Wolcott said the pneumatic tube stervice had come to pneumatc stay there should be a wellcon sidered plan devised by the government for the introduction of the service lest it become involved in serious difficulties difficul-ties Mr Pettigrew vigorously opposed op-posed the adoption of the service unless un-less it could he operated under govern ment ownership Mr Mason and Mr Cullom advocated the amendment The amendment was tabled 29 to 23 The bill was amended by extending the franking privilege to the Hawaiian Islands A spirited controversy arose over the senate amendment that star route bidders bid-ders shall reside on the route where the service is to be performed Mr Stewart upheld the amendment declaring that at present the country was divided up by a combination of star route speculative bidders who sublet the contracts to local bidders The amendment was allowed to stand with a suggestion from Mr Jones of Arkansas that the conferees provide against subletting of star route bids aaInst The bill was not completed when at 4 p m the senate tood up the special older of eulogies on the lats Representative Represen-tative John Simpkins of Massachusetts At 450 p m the senate adjourned |