THE. : 
National ¢ Capital 
Events of Interest from the Seat of 
Government 
By J. E. Jones 
The Breeze Bureau 
Washington, March 31, 1914 
Executive Traveling Bugs. 
When former Presidents Roose- 
velt and Taft were in the White 
House they educated the American 
people to expect them to ‘‘get 
around and eall’’ every year or 
two. Both men—and especially Mr. 
Taft, had a fondness of making 
‘“swings around the cirele.’’ The ad- 
visers of President Wilson have been 
trying for more than a year to get 
him to go to Panama, and now they 
insist that he should go to Alaska, 
or at the very least make a trip 
across the country to meet the mil- 
lions of ‘‘original Wilson men,”’’ 
and the rest of the voters, and ex- 
plain face to face the accomplish- 
ments of the Administration. ~Pres- 
ident Wilson is entirely unlike his 
predecessors, inasmuch as he does 
not care to travel very much. As 
a platform speaker he is one of the 
best that the country has produced 
in recent years, and those who have 
cast their fortunes with him are 
most anxious that he should go out 
into the byways and hedges, and im- 
press his personality upon the mas- 
ses. The President may decide to 
take a trip during the summer and 
fall, but it is safe to say it is not 
because of his personal inclination, 
inasmuch as it has been very clearly 
pointed out that he prefers the com- 
forts of the White House, and likes 
nothing better than to remain there 
and stick to his job. 
Painless Trust Busting. 
Attorney General McReynolds is 
the greatest fixer that ever was cal- 
led to the job. He does not wait for 
new laws, or the enforcement of old 
ones, to adjust matters with the 
trusts. One by one the offenders 
in big busines are called in, and Me- 
Reynolds ‘‘fixes up’’ with them. His 
latest accomplishment has been in 
reaching an agreement for the disso- 
lution of the New Haven railroad. 
The McReynolds way appears to be 
painless, but many question whether 
the process of surgery will prove ac- 
curate and definite, and there are 
plenty of fears expressed that the 
trusts that are ‘“‘busted’’ may quiet- 
ly work in a joker in their dissolu- 
tion or readjustment, since the 
plans of meeting the government 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
demands are to remain mostly in 
their own hands 
Looks Like a Scrap. 
While leading Democrats of the 
House, including the ‘‘big three’’— 
Speaker Clark, Leader Underwood, 
and Representative Kitchin, have 
expressed negative disapproval of 
the position of President Wilson in 
reversing the Baltimore platform in 
reference to canal tolls; the White 
.-House has taken careful note of the 
conditions among Democrats in the 
House, with the result that it is said 
that Mr. Wilson will pull a tighter 
rein in forcing his position than he 
has heretofore assumed in reference 
to previous matters. And~so the 
country may be shown whether the 
Democratic platform or the Presi- 
dent of the United States is the real. 
master of the job. 
Mathematical Victories. 
For almost a year there has been 
placid harmony among Republican 
and Democratic members of Con- 
gress, and now the mathematicians 
of the two parties have it figured 
out that there are sixty-seven Dem- 
ocrats in the House who were elect- 
ed by a minority vote in November, 
1912, coming from districts normally 
Republican. The discovery has been 
made that if the Republican and 
Progressives can keep out of each 
others’ hair that they have a fight- 
ing chance in seventy-four Congres- 
sional districts, and if they could 
win all these they would have con- 
trol of the House. While Colonel 
Roosevelt is in South America the 
gentlemen in Washington are try- 
ing to figure this thing out. 
Parcel Post to Replace Middleman. 
There has been no order of the 
Postmaster General of broader mo- 
ment than the experimental plan 
that will be tried in a number of 
offices that have been designated, 
by which the postmasters are di- 
rected to receive names of persons 
that are willing to supply farm pro- 
duce in retail quantities by parcel 
post shipments. The city consumer 
is given the names of the farmers, 
and he is enabled to place his or- 
ders for butter and eggs and other 
farm produce, which will be deliv- 
ered by the postman at his door. 
The Postmaster General predicts 
that the trial will prove a success, 
and result in enabling the people of 
the country ‘‘to enjoy the potent 
benefits of the parcel post.’’ Mr. 
Burleson adds that ‘‘no one has 
ever questioned the possibility of 
reducing the cost of living by es- 
tablishing direct relations between 
the home consumer and the original 
producer.’’ It is the purpose of the 
~Postoffice Department to make the 
postoffice the direct agency between 
the individual producer and the in- 
dividual consumer. The ‘‘middle- 
man’’ is to be eliminated; and this, 
says the Postoffice Department, will 
result in a reduction of the cost of 
living. 
Uncle Sam is a Poor Banker. 
The government has been experi- 
menting with Postal Savings Banks 
for three and a half years and the 
results are purely negative. At the 
end of the last fiscal year, June 30, 
1913, the total deposits throughout 
the country amounted to $33,818,- 
870, standing to the credit of 331,- 
006 depositors. It takes about two 
of the big savings banks of New 
York City to equal the total num- 
ber of depositors that are found in 
the government banks, but as 
against the total amount on deposit. 
in government banks, the Bowery 
Savings Bank of New York is ecar- 
rying more than $100,000,000 of de- 
posits; and there are three other 
New York institutions in the same 
class. 
Means of remedying this situa- 
tion have been urged upon Con- 
gress, and the substance of the rec- 
ommendations are to the effect that 
the lid be raised on the restrictions 
as to the amount that may be de- 
posited in a government bank. 
The results so far seem to clearly 
prove that the people of the coun- 
try are not as much afraid of pri- 
vate banks as has been generally 
supposed, and are willing to place 
their risk with the private institu- 
tions in preference to the govern- 
ment itself, because of the larger 
rate of interest paid by privately 
owned banks. 
Freight Rate Hearings. 
The Senate has adopted a reso- 
lution urged by Senator La Follette 
calling upon the interstate com- 
merce commission to print a record 
of all hearings of the proposed 
freight rate increase. The railroads 
insist they must have increased rates 
to enable them to properly finance 
' themselves and do business, and they 
have made their case so strong that 
even the most bitter critics of rail- 
road management are cautiously 
studying the question to determine 
just when they should ‘‘let up’’ on 
the railroads. Senator La Follette 
declares that the rate investigation 
is the. greatest. work the commis- 
sion has ever done. 
