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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 24, 1905)
LTZmiBA 6 The Commoner. VOLUME 5, NUMBER United Slates the island of Puerto nico, together with the Philippine Islands and the Island ol Guam In the Ladrones, the United States paying to Spain $20,000,000. Under the constitution trea ties aro made a part of the supremo aw of the land and they have a legal status slmi ar to that of contracts. Numerous treaties have been made with the Indians." AFTER four hours' deliberation, February 11, the proceedings marked by caustic criticism of Mr. Roosevelt's course, the senate ratified with amendments ten international arbitration treaties. Tho word "agreement" as used in Article II was changed to the word "treaty." The vote on this amendment was 50 to 9. Those voting in opposi tion to tho substitution of the word, but in "no with tho wishes of the president, were: Dolliver (Rep. la.), Fairbanks (Rep. Ind.), Hopkins (Rep. 111.), McGumbcr (Rep. N. D.), Nelson (Rep. Minn.), Piatt (Rep. Conn.), Stewart (Rep. Nev.), Warren (Hop. Wyo.), Wotmoro (Rep. R. I.). Those voting for the amondment an in opposition to the presi dent's wishes as specifically set forth in a letter which Mr. Roosevelt sent to Mr. Cullom, chairman of the foroign relations committee, were: Messrs. Algor, Allison, Ankeny, Bacon, Bailey, Bard, Bate, Berry Beveridgc, Blackburn, Burnham, Burrows, Carmack, Clark (Mont.), Clay, Culberson, Cullom, Daniel, Dick, Dillingham, Dry den, Foraker, Fos ter (La.), Foster (Wash.), Fulton, Gallinger, Gam ble, Gorman, Hale, Hansbrough, Heyburn, Kean, Kittredgc, Lodge, Long, McComas, McCreary, Mc Laurln, Money, Morgan, Newlands, Overman, Patterson, Scott, Smoot, S'pooner, Stone, Talia ferro and Teller. NEWSPAPER correspondents devoted extraor dinary attention to the differences between tho president and tho senate. The Washington correspondent for the New York World, under dato of February 12, says: "Other presidents have had pot projects squelched by the senate, but no president in this generation, the wiao men of the upper house say, has ever been rebuked a3 Presi dent Roosevelt was yesterday. That rebuke was drastic, historic, caloric. Its effect was more no ticeable today than last night. There are many features manifest now that serve to emphasize the firm determination of the senate to teach the president a lesson. The executive sessions pre ceding tho final vote aro described as the most dramatic in tl.o memory of those who have been senators for twenty years. Tho intensity of feel ing, the earnestness of speech, the unanimity of sentiment have not prevailed on any similar propo sition since the war." THE senators criticise the president because ho addressed his communication to an indi vidual senator rather than to the senate itself, also because the president made the letter public before it was delivered to the senate. There soems to bo a disposition among the senators to find fault with tho present president on many Bubjects. It is claimed that while the Swayne im peachment case was in progress, tho president summoned to the white house a number of senators and lectured them on the problems cf their duty Tho Washington correspondent for the New York World says: "This has grown to be a favorite practice of the president, and the rank and file of the senators do not like it. They feel that such a course Implies that the majority of the senators are like sheep and will follow leaders without reference to what their honest convic tions may be rn any pending public question." "pOLONEL BILL" HACKNEY presided over V the committee of the whole in the Kansas house of representatives, February 9, and the in foresting proceedings are related by the Toneka correspondent for tho Kansas City Journal in this way: 'It has been twenty-eight years since I sat n this chair, said he. lt doesn't swell me m a bit I have long sin-e discovered that most anybody can preside over tho house in committee of tho whole ' Just then some bill camo up which Hackney didn't see much merit in. 'What will you do with this fool bill?' he asked. The 7ool bill was recommended for passase 'vn, L! make less racket and do more" bSss, le shoS to some members who were talking, The coiSmS spied a couple of lobbyists working on , V? of tho house. 'Wo will suspend business SJT 'until those lobbyists get their member i! Someone made a motion that was rSr h I don't understand the motion and T i? azy else does either,' said Hackneyso fwll now.' He did so and it carried. When the com mittee arose and Hackney stepped from the chair he said: 'Mr. Speaker as chairman of this outfit (waving hi3 hand over the house) I make tho fol lowing report.' The members rather enjoyed tho colonel's way of running things." RECENTLY Senator-elect Hemmenway of In diana appeared on tho platform as a speaker, iu company with the governor of his state. A writer in the Philadelphia Enquirer, referring to this incident, said: "When Hemmenway was work ing in a livery stable across the street from the place of meeting, the governor was digging a ditch in front of it for a gas company. Minnesota has" just elected a governor by au unprecedented ma jority whose father was sent to the poor house as a common drunkard when the potential governor was 10 years old. Tho latter went to work at ?1 a week and increased his wages until it was pos sible for him to get his mother to retire from the washtub, since which he has supported her. Massachusetts has just installed a governor who' learned tho trade of cobbler as a small boy and rose to high place in the manufacturing world by industry and integrity. There are at present in congress at least 100 men who began life under apparently the most untoward circumstances and have made their way in the world without the benefit of higher education (unless secured by their own efforts) and against what most persons would consider normal chances of achieving dis tinction. If it were necessary we could point out many cases, in fact the majority jf those who have achieved distinction, from Washington to the present, have worked out their financial, moral and intellectual and political salvation by industry, energy and economy." A BILL is pending in congress to extend suc cession to the presidency to the new cabinet oiheersthe secretary of agriculture and the sec retary of commerce and labor. A writer in the Kansas City Journal, referring to this measure says: "In 1885 an act which sent the' line of suc cession down nrough the cabinet was adopted. It provides that upon the death or disability of ,hniiDi;ffi(ientan(i 7,ice President the succession shall be to the cabinet officers in the order in which their departments were created, commenc ing, of course, with the secretary of state. At the beginning of things congress fixed the succes sion first in tin president pro tern of the senate then in the speaker of the house. This law stood for many years. It never solved any problem be- andSGv ct6nnnhTene(1 tbat th e presTde'nt Si? iT L? f ide,nt Were dead or incapacitated. But it left the chance that The presidency mi-ht pass to a party which had not carried the election as, for instance, to the speaker of a democrat house to succeed a republican president There 7oZXlZ CU0n t0 this law that had been lounu in 1804 to the manner of choosine- tho in president. As the constitution Snarly sto0d each member of the electoral collece vZJ rssr&.ss wrlter that open. The Journal writepys-Th0 BtU1 left provides that in case of ' 'removni , ?,r6Sent law tion or inability of both T I ' .d,eath' resiena" president, the secre ar of s tTK and vlco dent until the disability of th n ?Ct as presi presldent is removed or a m n J 'eSldent or vl Who, asks the Outlook is V 71 is elect' tion of inability, Sm iues II the president-elect should dS w 1 5y ceases? ration would the vice presidonf of ;e, hi3 lnauS for tho term? If boto fhp ele,J be Patient President-elect should dieC f ?nd vico tion on whom would the succession f i naueu cabinet officers of the outw n ,falI-on the cabinet officer should suSVtfdent? If won d he continue in office aurnf presidcy, of the presidential term or won?! i'emainr held to fill the office at once an election bo held,wouldit be before theunlXDran ele?,tlo were term or for a full term of fZrTaT n f thG to these questions is not fount m le answer tional provision or In anv a?t , anX constitu book. While all of ttei Lal?on the statute vice president. Why these questions have been loft nnrm it is hard to say. Probably. hmvnVnw ,4 nnf fov nnv roiil reason, but KimnW linnnn.. . VUG U1UIO Ui 1COO Alty.yjr-fc,V-U.jr XOJUUUUl IU WfllCJl we often treat important matters. A.nd now, that a bill is pending on the question, it would be tho part of good statesmanship to remove all doubt." IT IS CLAIMED that there is marked growth of the sentiment in New York city in favor of the use of the rod in schools. The Newark, N. J News says: "For several years past the discussion over corporal punishment, in the New York board of education has grown more and more heated, and the rod party has become m'ore and more aggres sive. At tho board's last meeting the committee on elementary schools presented a majority and a minority report, the latter recommending tho restoration of corporal punishment. Four of the committee favored it, and five were opposed to it. After a lively discussion in the board the vote taken on the minority report showed fifteen in favor to twenty-two against. This in a compara tively close vote. The conversion of only four more members to the corporal punishment rule would restore it to every school in New York city, and this would unquestionably exert a powerful influence in many cities and states in which moral suasion does not meet all requirements. Ninety per cent, it is formally stated, of all the principals of the New York schools for boys favor the rod. They argue that only four boys out of every 100 are bad enough to deserve corporal punishment, but that the 9G others are entitled to protection from the example set and the disorder caused by those who are incorrigible without the use of the rod. The strongest argument against the use of the rod in schools is the one least considered; ils effect upon the good children who are never in danger of it. They think it may be their turn next. They are in constant dread, and in their mental unrest and distress they sometimes incur tho very penalties they strive to avoid." A PHILADELPHIA GROCER has adopted a novel method of advertising his coffee. This grocer has displayed a sign 'reading as follows: "If one grain of our coffee was placed on the first square of a checker boad, two on the second, four on the third and so one, doubling throughout tho whole 64 squares, the total number arrived at ?paU!?b Le 18446.744,073,551,615 coffee beans, or 7, JbU,9l5,394,584,601 pounds of coffee. This would represent 331,704,808,107 car loads, and a freight train to cary it would be 3,967,841,4(50 miles in length. It would reach around the earth 158,313 times and would extend 42 times the distance be tween the earth and the sun. The quantity would make 13,374,337,082,902,130 gallons of coffee and JJSo? C?St at 28 cents a Pund $872,407,300,806, rfJ7..o. if each person in the country drank three cups daily it would take the entire population of the United States 2,442,801 years to consume it." DR. BROWN of the New York board of health has brought upon himself considerable criti cism by declaring "idiot children should be put in tne dog pound and drowned." To a New York World reporter, Dr. Brown said: "Every child with the slightest deficiency receives a special exami- ";? If lie is blind or deaf e is sent to an in stitution where that deficiency is given special treatment and possibly cured. In like manner an imbecile is often made into a useful citizen. But lor the idiot there is absolutely no hope. When it is found that he is too lar gone for a surgeon's t fi ? ,elp' his life had better bo extinguished, idiot children should be drowned. We would then have more time and energy to spend on the chil uren m whom there are possibilities of success. nor the imbeciles who have less mental depravity ana the weak-minded pupils we have the training classes. In these a great deal of manual work is, taugnt. The boys are trained to be expert carpenters and the girls learn to cook and sew. in another class we teach the 'slow.' This is called the coaching class. Boy3 and girls in these classes often make the best students and the big gest successes in later years, but they are for somo reason slow in comprehending. By separating tnem from their classmates, the normal children aF aowed to go ahead and learn as fast as they Please. Then there is the unruly, lazy pupil who 'a put in the disciplinary class. There are great nopes for him when he wakes up and sees tho useless trouble he has caused. Nevertheless, his Place is not with the real student whoso ambition is to lead his class. Already we have these various classes in seventeen schools. Every month tho eaPh" ar examIned and a new report made of --Aiurmtmi2