Show TO ia F POLITICS poLITIC 5 SEEN alen IN ON CANAL TOLLS rolls EX emption REPEAL FORKING WORKING NOW OH SENATORS administrations supposed oed FrI friendly encIll ll to great arouses pre pro say alison cannot afford to loee lose by GEORGE CLINTON washington because of the fact tbt tut champ clark the speaker and underwood tho the leader of hie his 0 part in the bouse house stood so opposed to tho repeal of the panama tolla tous exemption law demanded by president preal dent wilson washington baa has een seen large quantities of presidential politics in the situa situation tiou it 0 of course courso would be ungracious to lay say that either mr clark or mr lar underwood was opposed to the repeal on any 1 grounds other than those which they consider to bo be for tho the public good it la is truo true that loth both of these gentlemen ent lemen probably will be candidates for tho the presidential nomination in 1918 md and also that both of them being good good politic poll politicians tic san kao kno tho the delegate cecur ing ins possibilities in the big centers of population where opposition to repeal and especially to what has been called a truckling to great britain la Is most determined the center of interest in tho the repeal matter Is shifting to the senate chamber and while debato debate there may not be as bitterly personal as has been the case in tho the house of representatives it certainly Is to to be bitter ksough to please people who liko like the acrid flavor in the debate dist diet politics Poll tice in ane opposition so far as presidential politic politics are concerned with this matter of ohp repeal of the tolls exemption law it can be aid said that men with presidential ambitions and who oppose the repeal probably hope to count on support lo 10 1 the future from large sections of ol the coast country which a are opposed to the pros pres ident in bis his position from a few mid country sections and of course from the large cities clues the mid countr regions however no wever seem to bo be largely in favor of the repeal the strength which one or wo of the possible democratic presidential cardl candidates have developed heretofore on the interior regions however it iswald is said nay may enable them to withstand without injury any critic lams which may come because of their present action in opposition to mr wilsons Wll sons policy in other words the gained strength from the coast states and from the hig cities it Is apparently figured will offset olet any defections from the interior resolutions adopted by scores of organizations urging that repeal be defeated are being recer reserved rec elVed ved every day by the united states senators with whom now it optima that the only hance bance to defaut repeal lies congress for some reason or other has heard and Is hearing more from one side of this controversy than from the other elde side and this probably accounted for the desire of the opponents of repeal to delay consideration of the matter in the house prejudices have bee roused while most of the letters resola alons and telegrams which have come to washington on this matter have urged that repeal be denied this does not mean necessarily of course that a majority of the people of the country tre are opposed to the course which the president abelo 1 l congress to take tahe it means only that the opponents of repeal have been much more energetic throughout the country than have its friends and this probably can be accounted for by reason of the fact for it is a known fact that certain ele eremanta eleca manta ente in the community have been more bitter about this thing because of the nature of its suppo supposed seil friendliness to great britain than for any other reason that can be adduced the controversy has stirred prejudices and when this isalone ie Is done clone the response is to always certain and active politicians in washington say president wilson cannot afford co to lose this contest for they bold it will hurt the prestige of his administration it Is a it matter of record that thus far he has been victorious in nearly all the things which he be has set out to do washington citizens alarmed they assert will mean the na there has just acca formed in wash ington a committee of business then and influential citizens ns whose duty will be to arouse throughout the entire united states an interest at in the well being of the capital of df the country this committee owes its origin to the recent attempt in to change the aholo system of taxation of the district by making the residents dents of washington pay all the taxes the government to pay ab telY nothing for the upkeep of the streets the sowers sewers the police and abo are department and other necessities of a city government things 11 ire at present too e alixes am divided balf halt and half that is the real dents of 0 washington ston ih T pay half the amount necessary to run things and congress tf appropriates tor for the other liaf half of course cour it was dot not intended tended by bv 00 congress tho city of 0 wash eh in u 8 t 0 u hould efu pay for the erection of 0 p pubs u b 1 lo 10 buildings de or for their main tenasco te nanco or for sc anything hs bich was aa used or intended to bo be used for purely governmental atlon ct lon it le Is maintained aa however boever that ll 11 it 1 cow now the in to make tho the residents ot of t district dis brict pay for tho the lulng end and to tor r tho the maintenance or the and till dava sya upon which government property abuts the senate has positively declined to stand 1 for tho the drastic change of 0 the ast of taxation cowd by the house or of representatives tho the residents of washington say aaa tant this city doing being tho the capital congress congre aa should do he its abaro in keeping the place beautiful and in la making it a credit to the people of the united states they say that if it they have to pay nil all the taxes it will impoverish thoro them that real estate will decrease in value that people will rell out and leavo leave wash ington and that without government aid the city will go to decay As tho the country pretty generally knows b this time the haphazard method of beautifying washington has been stopped there is now nov a alno arts commission which pauses passes judgment on all proposed improvements and no building can be erected no and no park laid out without It hout getting tho the sanction of the members of this commission of experts one inquiry worth while while whilo abo activities of the lobby investigating committee have been more m oro or less criticized it seems that they have produced results some few officials in washington continue to maintain however that the lobby investigation was as not worth orth whilo while some of them seem tu to think it will prevent law abiding citizens pimply through fear that they may bo called from coming to washington to plead for or against legislation in which they feel natural interest bo so far as can be learned there seems to be nothing to tm ola line of reasoning the men imen who aho havo honest reasons to enter objection against proposed legislation or to plead for it seem to be just as willing filing N to come to tho the capital as ever they were it Is true however that the men who mho lobbied for pay and who used methods not altogether commendable are no longer in evidence the corridors of the capitol seem to be clean it seems to be true therefore that the lobby investigating committee has done a good r vork ark and has produced a condit condition ioa which a good many men would I 1 like to have seen produced years ago the question la Is sharp in washington hoit however ever whether the ma bority of the inquiring activities ot of senate and louse house w athin the last three or four years have been worth the time and energy expended seme of the critics have hato balled the ser series 3 of inquiries government by In tion has I 1 paid william williams call calls it a craze senator john sharp williams democrat of mississippi Is baying saying sharp things about what he seems to Is an investigating craze mr williams says it has cost a lot ol 01 money and be apparently feels that the results amo not been common with the cost in three years about have been spent on n in vesti gating along various lines and thero there are men of all political shades of opinion who say that the mort hac hae not been as fruitful aa as it might lave been others however declare that no money spent in investigating sub ejects to which aich suspicion attaches can be wasted now there are investigations and investigations somo some of the inquiries are forced by the very nature ot of things as for instance inquiries into whether or not members of congress are rightly entitled to their seats there are other kinds of investigations bo however uever which seem to spring solely from the desire of some sena tor or representative who thinks thai that he has scented a trail to obtain maln a in tho limelight for himself which shall be held as long as the in investigation Is in progress spokesman for president there are some der decroi rats licano and arid progressives in bouso and senate who aho are urging that In eions shall DO be stopped unless a clear case can bo be jadv mad in advance that strong evidence of an evil exists and that there Is a real intention to root it out president allson apparently Is not in entire sympathy with all the investigating activities of his party in house and senate it Is barely possible that senator williams unbeknown to his colleagues has been tho spokesman c the tile administration when hen he charged that tbt a largo large percentage age of tho the great inquiry reposes s have suing dent spent for been cen used to little avail avat mr william williame apparently wants bis his col cIl leagues deatore to re member that economy la Is the uumo 00 cratic watchword |