ITEMS OF INTEREST March 2, 1907 Issue

ITEMS OF INTEREST

Active and extensive work of preparation is being done by the Committee of Arangements for the National Peace Congress to be held in New York in April, which will be the greatest national demonstration in behalf of international arbitration and peace which this country has ever seen. Two national arbitration conferences have already been held, both of them in Washington, the first in April, 1896, and the second in January, 1904. The coming Congress will be wider in scope than either of these and will include in its program not only arbitration, but most or all the great subjects with which the international peace movement deals. The purpose of the New York Congress is to promote the development and expression of American public sentiment in support of the subjects which have been suggested for the program of the second Hague Conference.

The committee of the thirty-five insurance companies which acted in unison in settling their San Francisco losses by fire and earthquake, has made public the list of the net losses by the disaster. The estimated sound value of the destroyed or damaged property insured by two hundred and thirty-three companies in San Francisco was $315,000,000, on which there was a net insurance loss of $180,000,000, covered by one hundred and two thousand policies. The gross loss of all kinds by the disaster is estimated by the committee at $1,000,000,000. The thirty-five companies in their settlements handled forty-two thousand and seventy-seven claims.

It is probable that the appropriations of this session of Congress will exceed by $100,000,000 the appropriations of any other Congress in the history of the country. The expenditures have now grown until, if they are as large next year as this, a "two billion dollar Congress" will be at hand. Scarcely an appropriation bill has been passed by the House that has not exceeded in amount any bill of a similar nature ever passed by that body. In addition the members have voted an increase in their salaries of fifty per cent, have passed a big river and harbor bill, have added $15,000,000 to the annual pension roll, and have authorized $200,000,000 worth of battleships.

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