Active Mr. Madden

Representative Martin B. Madden of Illinois, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, is a keen financier and wary junketeer. Since the adjournment of Congress he has traveled some 12,000 miles, visiting the Canal Zone, and in general "sticking his nose" into Government finances. In Panama he is said to have discovered a $7,000,000 surplus of the canal railroad, Government property, the books of which had never been audited by a Government auditor.

According to accounts, he paid for the entire trip out of his own pocket. He is also reported to have written to the Shipping Board asking that he be allowed to pay his expenses on the Leviathan's trial trip. He is expected to join Secretary of War Weeks on a tour of the Eastern Army posts in August. Already he has investigated the proposed new naval base at Alameda, Calif., reclamation projects in the West, and the needs of the Canal Zone in fortifications.

With this preparation he will tackle the difficult questions of appropriations and taxes necessary for them when Congress reassembles in December