Show W r t p WT F gossip of washington interstate commerce commission assumes importance of high united states court members no longer a laughing stock mr roosevelt hopes republican house will be elected some campaign speakers the jamestown exposition washington under the new railway rate law the interstate commerce commission becomes a tr more important body than it ever was itis increased in size from five members to seven members and the salaries have been raised from 7 to the commission assumes the importance of a high united states court its membership Is only two less than the supreme court of the united states and the salaries are equal to those drawn by the nine gentlemen in blaak the commission now has a specific law back of it giving its decisions force and it aul wul no longer be a laughing stock as it had been tor some years because it had no power to enforce its decisions eg arding railway rates that has all been cured now and when the commission designates a certain rate the latter goes into effect and must be observed unless overthrown by the courts the commission under the new law will have two more members than at present the old commission consists of five which strangely enough under a republican administration consists of three democrats and two republicans under the new law there are to be seven commissioners no more than four of them to be of any one political party the two new members will therefore be republican in order to bring the majority of the new commission into political alignment with the administration the new members of the commission have been selected and are J S harlan of chicago a brilliant young attorney and son of the distinguished associate justice of the supreme court john M harlan is one of them E clarke of iowa the head of the railway conductors association has been selected as the second new member these two men will probably be appointed upon the law going into effect on august 28 MEN OF HIGHEST ABILITY AND there Is no doubt that the new law raises the standard of the commission and in the future men selected for it will have to be of the highest ability and integrity in the past this commission has at times been regarded as a very convenient place in which to land some lame duck or political has been who had tailed of reelection reelect lon to some other public office for some years it had been considered as a convenient harbor of refuge for politicians and was regarded as the legitimate patronage of the big political leaders this has changed now and with the added re provided for by the new law men of the highest grade will have to be selected it Is fortunate that the members of the old commission of five men are not disturbed but will go right along serving out their terms these five gen tiemen or at least four of them are men of tried ability and their work during the past few months under specific authority of congress in the investigation of big rail road and coal companies demonstrates their fitness for the new duties under the new law knapp prouty and clements all have had long expert ence on the commission and mr cockrell although a member of but a little over a year s standing has brought to the commission the painstaking habata of a generation in the senate mr lane has just been added to the original commission and has his reputation to make there is some talk of making young mr harlan president of the commission and it Is understood that president roosevelt favors that proposition the election of a president lies with the commission itself and unless mr knapp who has been president for some time should voluntarily retire from the contest there may be a pretty hot fight over this position mr knapp baa been active and was one of the most industrious advocates of the new rail way rate law and feels that he Is entitled continuation in the position of president of the commission MR ROOSEVELT A GOOD PARTY MAN this will be a busy season for the spellbind ers of mr roosevelt s cabinet no secret Is made of the intention of three or tour of tha cabinet members actively to engage in this year congressional campaign the president feels la a way that his administration Is on trial and he looks to the people to indorse it and particularly to indorse the policies which congress enacted into law on his recommendation the president despite all that has been said and written about his reform ideas Is a pretty good party man and Is honest enough to express the hope that a re fulfill house of representatives will be reelect 1 I ed he boes abot object to his cabinet officers aj v 8 komg into the campaign and it is not H d able that he himself will make one or two speeches of a somewhat political character secretary shaw of the treasury is the best campaign speaker in the cabinet there are few men on the stump who can get closer to an audience than he can he has the old lincoln faculty of illustrating his points with humorous stories the application of which Is instantaneously recognized he expects to be right busy and the congressional campaign committee will use him in several states where there are doubtful districts the old farmer of the administration sec detary of agriculture wilon has a mighty effective way of talking to voters and his services will be utilized very freely the orator in whom president roosevelt apparently places the greatest confidence is his secretary of war william H taft the number of engagements the latter has already made indicates that he will be able to keep his avoirdupois down to its present pounds by the arduous traveling he haar in view attorney general moody will have a few speeches to make in which he will recount the achievements of the administration in its prosecution of the octopi CHOICE FOB nomination TWO YEARS HENCE it is somewhat amusing to note the jealousy that exists in the little group of statesmen who have their political lightning rods elevated to catch the presidential bolt in 1908 these men who aspire to the presidency are thoroughly human and they are watching each other like hawks while for public consumption their words and acts are altogether disinterested in private conversation they indulge in some pretty severe criticisms of each other there has been great anxiety among these candidates to find out on whom the administration favor would rest the developments of the past few weeks seem to have settled that point and now it appears to be the field against secretary taft for the latter is looked on here in washington as president roose belts choice for the republican nomination two years hence BOOM DAVA IN WASH there are vice president fairbanks secre tary of the treasury shaw senator foraker speaker cannon gov cummins of iowa postmaster general cortello Cort elyo i and one or two others who cannot help gazing on the taft boom with considerable envy the idea that mr taft will adept an appointment as associate justice on the supreme bench seems to have been abandoned his opponents in the presidential race declare that his actions and his public speeches demonstrate beyond all question that he is an active and aggressive candidate for the presidential nomination there la only one thing they say which might take him out of the and that would be a vacancy in the chief of the supreme court to obtain that honored place it Is mr taft would forego all ambition to be president of the united states president roosevelt recently in discussing the outlook for 1908 was quoted as saying that secretary taft in his opinion was the only man who could defeat william J bryan and it looked as though the latter would be the democratic candidate the other aspirants for the republican nomination are not disposed to accept this estimate of the president THE NATIONAL exposition IDEA congress has become resigned to the national exposition idea it has gone so deep into these enterprises lu the past that every new proposition to celebrate some great event by a national exposition is pretty certain to meet with support and favor preparations are now under way tor a fair which is to be the celebration of the found ing of jamestown the three hundredth annever u of which will occur next may speaker gan non who is of an economical turn of mind tried to check granting of government aid to this enterprise bat national expositions are somewhat in the nature of public buildings when it comes to getting aid from congress they are made part of a log rolling scheme and combinations are formed that alway insure the enterprises being indorsed it was said at the time of the worlds fair at st louis that this country could get along with out another exposition for a quarter of a century to come but there imme followed the big fair at portland ore last year and now comes the jamestown exposition there is no telling how soon another noted event in the history of the country will be presented for similar recognition these celebrations have become so much the fashion that one of the regular committees of the house has been created to take charge of matters relating to them the government Is no way a loser by these expositions the money loaned to them has always been repaid and in any event it is con good governmental policy to encourage enterprises that will adver tise the commercial greatness of the united states and creat good lopres sion among foreign countries |