| Show TO BE KEPT powerful lobbies ar laboring in the capital special correspondence washington D C dec 17 fro the comparatively deserted app earan ot the hotel lobbies in the inexperienced observer might led to believe there was nothing 6 ing on the contrary ie are axi the calm before the storm and ere long the latter will break and washington will see the liveliest session since the civil war it Is the very tenseness of the quietude prevailing which justifies the prediction A meeting of a town council might have attracted as much attention locally aa the opening of congress this is unnatural almost uncanny and can be explained only on the ground that here are subsurface sub surface workings of which the public knows little or nothing without going into the subject in detail a glimpse can be given by the lifting of the corner of the veil is here or business this trip to attend to that business carefully and conservatively and to get away promptly Is the end of the statesmen on the hill therefore there ifa no time for footing for speeches ars A compact minority skillfully gilded by a shrewd leader like williams of mississippi may cause an unwieldy majority like that behind speaker cannon A great deal of trouble and the latter recognizes this tact consequently the edict has gone forth that it is to be business from the fall of lie flag and any straying from the reservation will be severely punished we are therefore off in an orderly and decorous manner but without a rip plo of excitement under this placid surface however mens nerves are strained almost to the breaking point no one knows where this session will lead us and in the mazes of legislation political fortunes are to be made and loat this winter rate regulation tor lit revision the panama canal ship subsidy philippine tariff increase of the navy federal supervision of corporations po rations and life insurance these are a few of the many problems that will be presented to congress and which must be acted upon or passed over and the political complexion of the next house depends how congress deals with these questions while alie hotel lobbies not a lively appearance yet there are many of different interests in the city and their presence coupled with camake activity indicates that the combinations are alive to tho importance of the session among the interests already represented here are the railroads who oppose rate regulation the ship builders and ship owners who favor ahe subsidy bill the beat sugar men and tobacco men who oppose a reduction in the philippine tariff the advocates and opponents of a pure food bill the friends and foes ct the annexation of the islo of pines and many others not all are at the hotels fonie hav apartments others alko oxnard aliu beet king have taken houses for the winter later will come the brewers the liquor dealers the and fifty others so there will bo plenty doing there will be at least five distinct lobbies on the railroad rate question the first will be headed by president spencer and ex senator faulkner representing a oc eastern and southern boals tho second will be directed by george W peck the well known railroad attorney of chicago who will have charge of the western railroad contingent the third is composed of ship pera and 13 in the hands of frank K barry representing the interstate commerce law convention ven tion tho fourth a the catt lemens combination whose are looked after by judge cowan of texas while the fifth Is that of the commission men who seek the scalp of the private car lines at the head of the commission mens lobby is george F mead of boston who la assisted by john C scales of chicago george W bond of baltimore charles M ayres of ohi c igo and others charles A of pittsburg Pit Is expected later with other commission men from various aclus clus and it la proposed to maintain a delegation or lobby herd permanently through the winter the contentions of tho commission merchants briefly put are that since the introduction of the refrigerator car line service the commission business has been revolutionized ami tho prosperity of tho commission men so thre abend unless the private car lines are extinguished formerly the and shippers of fruit and early vegetables were utterly dependent on the comm lasion men being compelled to ship their products on and take chances that the shipment would ar alvo in good condition and that fair prices would be realized if the fruit was injured in or arrived when tho market was glutted tho grawer or shipper often identical he blosor and was frequently compelled to send the commission merchants money to pay the transportation and commas elon charges ant when ahe lion of the refi igei cir afeei guaranteed the fruit would arrive at its destination in precisely he same condition as shipped the situation wai changed and buyers were encouraged to the fruit direct from the grower and ship it themselves con frequently vast quantities of coaches lo aches cantaloupe strawberries and early vegetables are sol by ai the coln of instead ajr through the commission men in d danl cities and tho risk i pow as fumed ba the biryer of tho krower in ganv of the men havo boan compelled to be coffia buyers at tho points instead of merely handling on consignment and in addition to being compelled to compete with other bev era for the ferit and aw foroud to all risks of or a clutter whar h fell on the grower necessarily tte appearance at diio orchards anil farms ot competing buyers has enabled the growers to dispose of their products mora easily and at higher prices than under the old system while tho guarantee that he fruit will arrive in first class condition causes them when they prefer to ship themselves to look w ath suspicion on statements that was damaged and therefore good prices were not realized by the commission men the commission men prefer to return to the old condition of affairs and to handle even thing on a commission bisla the shipper taking all tho chance and to that end the seek congressional action by which the private car lines will bo abolished and tha railroads be compelled to perform toe service as best they can it being impossible to compel the ever to guarantee the shipment of perishable freight in first class condition the growers who do not wish to be left at tho mercy of the men as before prefer present conditions mr mead la also interested in tile subject in behalf of a new private car line which Is endeavoring to get a start it hae a capital of one million dollars and proposes to construct refrigerator friger ator cars under a now patent other interested parties believe that it the railroads can bs forced to equip themselves with refrigerator cans there will be ft good opportunity air meada friends to dispose of cars manufactured under their patents to the railroads turning a moment to the philippine tariff I 1 have had conversations auli several parties on this ot late and am grieved to note a disposition on the part of some to take loiue with secretary taft on the importance of letting down tho tariff bars to tho filipinos senator scott at west clr alma representative hill of connecticut and others in congress ate ready to agree to the program tor tree trade in everything but sugar and tobacco but mr oxnard representing the beet sugar company and mr hathaway representing abo michigan factories principally are opposed to any change in the present tariff which is 75 per cent of the dingley rates in justice to the beet sugar men it should be said that this la a complex question but little understood by the public and one in which the public is very little interested except from nn ethical standpoint taft proposed redaction will affect principally the producers of sugar and tobacco and as they are a limited number the general public Is disposed to let them fight it out with secretary tatt passing from politics to other things permit me to relate a little story on lew dockstader which came to me ahll he was playing ahre this week after he performance one evening a lady approached him and sough tan introduction tro 1 I am flattered indeed to meet you madam paid tha ear courteous of minstrelsy with his best bow 1 I wanted to say how much I 1 enjoyed your performance she continued but and the tears welled up in her ayos you dont know how it hurt me to have you refer to my husband aa you did my husband Is mr blank mentioning tho namo of a shrewd and powerful politician whose name is a household word dockstader looked at the lady and then at the ground madam he said it Is unnecessary for mo to say that I 1 regret that your pleasure should havo been marred by this a occurrence pray tell me how I 1 can evidence my regret his visitor hesitated a moment and then replied it would bo a great favor to me mr dockstader it you would eliminate that reference from your performance in a moment mr dockstader responds certainly madam it shall bo as you wih and it was done abla explains the absence of one of the brightest in monologue and also why one little lady in washington feela better I 1 asked dockstader about this incident bua he declined to it in any way but did talk minstrelsy on which subject he Is probably better informed than any other man now living wherein does minstrelsy of tody differ from that of tho past and what la its future was the question minstrelsy has changed greatly within the past few years he replied 11 II was one of the amusements in this country and overy other form of amusement has preyed it vaudeville comedy the drama comic opera and even grand opera today have more or leas which originated with minstrelsy the only thing we can do la to take from these in turn what we can to make our show the greatest drawback to a minstrel show Is the absence of women A minstrel show la the only form of theatrical amusement chere women and heart interest are not featured years ago a minstrel was well equipped if it had enough coverings for the chairs in the first act two cheat set plugs a handful of flour a paper window and a slapstick slap stick one tuan hit another with the stick ho feu through the paper window and when ho struck his hed back again number one threw a handful or flour la his face mow it requires two sixty foot cars to carry our scenery and it costs nearly twenty thousand dollars to put it on the stage I 1 really enjoy hearing tolk after discussing heavy politics all day it Is a relief what Is ahei principal part of show today I 1 asked that Is hard to say he replied there are the songs wo try hundreds of them I 1 am always on the lookout for something new such as everybody works but father it it goes well we keep it a while and then let the public have it if it dont take it Is discarded and la a total loss thero are the local gags the monologues ol the settings always the search Is for something new all I 1 am after and I 1 think 1 have it is to present ci show that Is entirely new and can not bo seen anywhere else abuy and naval officers as well as others aho vho attended the recent toot baal game a princston between the MUl iary ana are loud in their condemnation of the service given by the pennsylvania rail road on that occasion and it Is extremely improbable that future games be tween these academies will bo played on princeton field As a matter ot fact the arrangement to have the game played at princeton was largely in the nature of a moneymaking scheme as it necessitated a journey on the part of almost everyone who wished to be present and there were also opportunities to sell a great man meals sandwiches etc it is said the pennsylvania railroad spent thirty thousand dollars laying an extra track from princeton junction and putting in terminal to haul the trains all of which t expected to recoup itself tor from tats one game the army special did not reach point until midnight being delayed over an hour at princeton and for at least the same time at jersey city I 1 9 hoped the next game will be played cither at washington or philadelphia there is no park at washington with the facilities necessary but this might be arranged it it were determined to have the game played here ever year to this end col bromwell su perin of public grounds in washington that if congress will contribute there will be no difficulty in obtaining sufficient funds by private subscription to erect a station at a cost of for all games and exercises THREATEN TO WITHDRAW FROM FRANCE paris dec 17 some large amer ican insurance companies threaten to withdraw from prance as a result of the sharp controversy over the new french insurance laws the ideue has now reached an acuto stage owing to the insurance department of tho alu ryot commerce having framed rules under which the insurance law becomes retroactive the rules have no yet been officially promulgated and the insurance companies are making a final effort to induce members of h cabinet not to permit their going into effect representing that it will be a serious detriment to american inter esta the law as originally passed required foreign insurance companies to purchase and deposit french securities hero as a protection tor french policy holders tho american companies are willing to accept this as applying to further business but not on policies already written A committee representing the insurance department the and the insurance corn banies have doaa over the subject at this conference it was decided to reject the american companies con the entire outstanding american business in france amounts to man minions af pf dollars and therefore tha law compels deposit bi these companies of a large amount of french bonds with the government as a guarantee to french policy holders the american embassy has submitted a lengthy written protest asking tha council 0 ustate to suppress the objectionable tio retroactive clause before the regulations are promulgated MINISTER FORTIS RESIGNS rome dec 17 the c prime minister fortis resigned this evening following a twelve hours debate in the chamber of deputies and the defeat by the opposition of the commercial modus with spain the sitting was a most exciting one it had been understood that the fate of the cabinet would be decided by tho ate on the measures and deputies wera present the visitors gallery was crowded to overflowing and the famous tragedian who had been unable to gain admittance was sent to the press tribune with a ticket on which was written salviani Salvi ai editor of success in the debate premier fortis defended the position of the government saying that the modus would protect italian interests and the assertion of the opposition that a reduction in the duty on spanish wines from 1 to would open a market to spanish growers was untrue in order to avoid a misunderstanding he said he would request the chamber for an explicit vote of confidence independent of th vote on the measure in debate and declared tho government was willing to resign it it was defeated on either question the poll on confidence on the government resulted in affirmative majority of 63 but that an the madu was lost by a majority of the ministry then resigned |
