NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
— 
THE | ‘ 
National Capital 
Events of Interest from the Seat of 
Government 
By J. E. Jones 
The Breeze Bureau 
Washington, May 5, 1914. 
Meditation is the Big Event. 
The biggest lump of sugar in the 
government teacup has been furn- 
ished by Argentine, Brazil and Chili 
—known as the A. B. C. meditators. 
The offer of these South American 
countries to use their good offices in 
adjusting our differences with Mex- 
ico has been welcomed by Wash- 
ington. According to the Hague 
convention when ‘‘meditation oc- 
curs after the commencement of hos- 
tilities, it causes no interruption to 
the military operations in progress, 
unless there be an agreement to the 
contrary.’’ Since the fact has sunk 
in upon Mexico that the United 
does not propose to be trifled with 
any longer, there has been a notice- 
able change of front, and the offi- 
cial relations —though the direct 
representatives of the countries 
have been recalled from Mexico 
City and Washington, have been of 
a more definite and satisfactory na- 
ture than heretofore. 
Unregulated Discriminations. 
The Interstate Commerce Com- 
mission has come to be known as 
the sworn enemy of discriminations 
and inequality in transportation 
rates. A pecular instance outside 
the jurisdiction of the Interstate 
Commerce Commission has _ been 
brought to light. It relates to ocean 
traffic. A few days ago a party of 
foreigners who had been thrown out 
of employment and were discusted 
with the ‘‘land of the free and the 
home of the brave,’’ called at Wash- 
ington steamship offices for the pur- 
pose of purchasing tickets to Hu- 
rope.. Two were going to German 
ports and two to England, and be- 
ing friends, they decided to travel 
by the same steamship. Going into 
the offices of one of the big British 
‘steamship companies they found 
that while the two men traveling to 
Liverpool would be compelled to 
pay $40 for third-class passage in- 
eluding railway fare from Wash- 
ington, the two travelers to the Ger- 
man port, five hundred miles fur- 
ther away, could make the same 
trip for $30, although the four 
would be carried to Liverpool on the 
same vessel, where the two destined 
to the continent would be trans- 
shipped to another steamship for 
the last stage of the journey, a ser- 
vice which costs the shipping line 
a considerable sum. The explana- 
tion is that a rate war is on among 
the trans-Atlantic steamship com- 
panies, and the British lines in an 
effort to wrest the important im- 
migration traffic from Hastern Eu- 
rope away from their continental 
rivals, are carrying steerage pas- 
sengers at a rate which means the 
loss of hundreds of thousands of 
dollars in the aggregate. In this 
particular case the would-be voy- 
agers decided that all should pur- 
chase tickets to the continent, while 
the two going to England would 
leave the ship at Liverpool, thereby 
saving a sum equal to one-third of 
their passage money. 
‘‘Upholding the President.’’ 
A good deal of criticism has been 
visited upon Republican members of 
the Senate because they sought to 
frame the form of the resolution de- 
fining ‘‘our unpleasantness with 
Mexico.’’ Editors everywhere have 
been declaring that the hands of the 
president must be upheld. There is 
no question but what practically 
everybody is back of the President, 
but some of the men in Congress 
have declared that while they want 
to follow, that they would like to 
do so with their eyes open. After 
a Short experience in ‘the Presiden- 
ey, General Harrison characterized 
the White House as ‘‘a fool’s para- 
dise.’’ Nothing not intended to be 
pleasing is ever spoken to the oc- 
cupant by visitors. The ‘‘jolly’’ 
that is handed out to the President 
is polished off until it glitters. Un- 
selfish partisanship of rose-colored 
hue, the soft pedal, and easy speech, 
labeled ‘‘respect’’ to the office, are 
things of which the President must 
ever be on guard. About the only 
relief the President gets from days 
of gush and soft soap is in the de- 
lightful diversion of reading the 
criticisms that appear in opposition 
newspapers. In Congress anyone 
who disagrees with any view of the 
President usually prefaces the re- 
marks by asserting an unusual 
quantity of respect for the occu- 
pant of the White House. It will 
be recalled that when the tariff bill 
was in Congress that although the 
President did not set himself up 2s 
a tariff expert, the man who 
framed the measure put the Presi- 
dent’s judgment above their own, 
notwithstanding that they had spent 
months in calculating the schedules. 
The same was true with the cur- 
rency measure; while it is assumed 
9 
that the President knows all about 
the anti-trust question. Things are 
different from what they were when 
Washington told a land-owner that 
he should be more respectful, and 
remember to whom he was talking. 
‘Oh, you never would have amount- 
ed to anything if you had not mar- 
ried a rich widow,’’ was the reply. 
The Washington monument now 
stands on land formerly owned by 
this same.man who thus taunted the 
first president. 
The Race Issue. 
Robert H. Terrell was appointed 
a justice of the peace by President 
Roosevelt, and because of excellent 
service was promoted to be judge 
of the Municipal Court of the Dis- 
trict of Columbia by President Taft. 
President Wilson reappointed Mr. 
Terrell to this position, on February 
18, and within the past few days the 
appointment has been confirmed in 
the Senate after a bitter fight, the 
vote on the confirmation being thir- 
ty-nine to twenty-four. The action 
of President Wilson was based upon 
the recommendation of Attorney 
General McReynolds, and was ap- 
proved by the Bar Association of 
the District of Columbia, who de- 
clared the official record of Mr. Ter- 
rell to be unusually good. The rea- 
son may all be found in the fact 
that Terrell is a negro. His ap- 
pointment was bitterly opposed by 
Senator Vardaman of Mississippi, 
the man who wears his hair down 
his back like an Indian doctor. Var- 
daman declares that he will fight 
the appointment of all negro ap- 
pointees, and there are plenty of 
other southerners who will do like- 
wise. ‘It shows the serious status 
of the race problem in Congress. 
The Five Per Cent. Increase 
There is evidence that in the case 
of the Interstate Commerce Commis- 
sion granting the request of the 
railroads for five per cent. increase 
in rates, that there will be nothing 
short of an explosion in Congress, 
as a number of Senators who spe- 
cialize in going after the railroads, 
threaten to raise hob in ease the In- 
terstate Commerce Commission finds 
that the railroads have ‘‘proven 
their case.’’ 
The Dollar Dinner. 
It is said that the reason why a 
lot of leading Democrats in Wash- 
ington went to Ohio to attend a 
‘‘Pollar Dinner’’ was because of 
their inability to buy a ‘“‘feed’’ in 
the National Capital at the same 
price. 
