HFwrm, "Tf,-jt-T .v TWJHJfPTS-r'"
W (tJVJt.W1-Sf
75 sS
The Commoner.
FEBRUARY 28, 1913
13
ig?r7i'WM-l'"w "wwutiwywn - mmmfK
WASHINGTON NEWS
it is ueciueu mat congress win
M be called in extra session April 1st.
An Associated Press dispatch says:
An eight-hour work-day lor women
workers throughout the country em
ployed in an industrial concern en
gaged in interstate commerce would
he provided for in a bill introduced
by Senator Kenyon. The measure
would also forbid railroads engaging
in interstate commerce from accept
ing goods from any concern violat
ing its provisions. Bight hours is
prescribed as the maximum time for
a day's work for women in the Dis
trict of Columbia in a bill a senate
committee agreed to report favor
ably. The two bills are included
among those favored by the republi
can caucus and a' determined effort
will be made to have them acted
upon before the close of the session.
The house of representatives re
fused, by a vote of 213 to 114, to
pass the Dillingham-Burnett immi-.
gration bill over the president's
veto. The change of five votes would
have given the two-thirds necessary
to override the veto. An Associated
Press dispatch of the proceeding
says: Before the result was an
nounced Representative Gardner of
Massachusetts, one of the leading
advocates of the bill, changed his
vote to "nay," and after the an
nouncement moved to reconsider the
vote. Speaker Clark overruled the
motion, going back to the time of
Speaker Jones of Virginia in 1844
for the only recorded precedent on
the, subject. Representative Gardner
. appealed from the decision of the
chair, but the motion by Represen
tative Underwood to lay the appeal
on the table carried.
The sen,ate passed, the Burnett
Dillingham immigration bill over the
president's veto, by a vote of 72 to
18. The Associated Press report of
the proceedings says:
"I fail to understand why it is
that the United States alone among
nations is not thought to have the-
right that all nations have to say
who shall come within its borders,"
said Senator Lodge. "It is the only
-country in the world where it is
argued that people born in other
countries, who never have been in
the United States, are entitled to cer
tain rights therein. It is for the
citizens of the United States to say
who shall come into their country.
That is a primary right. Still less
do I understand this extreme opposi
tion to requiring that people shall
be able to read before they enter
the United States. "We do not allow
a man to become a part of our body
politic unless he can read and write
his name. We do not hesitate to ap
ply a literacy test to our own people.
"Why is it we should hesitate to ap
ply it to a foreigner? The opposition
to this test at bottom is the same
opposition that is made to every
effort to Improve our immigration
-laws or to restrict in any degree the
number of immigrants. It comes
from the steamship companies. For
twenty-five years we have met that
opposition at every turn. It is here
today."
"My reasons for supporting this
bill," said Senator Williams, "Is that
I am afraid of ignorance. I am
afraid of the man who strikes out
blindly to overcome the wrongs he
thinks exist."
Senators voting to pass the bill
over the veto were:
Ashurst, Bacon, Bankhead, Borah,
Bourne, Bradley, Brandegee, Bris
tow, Brown, Bryan, Burnham, Bur
ton, Chamberlain, Clark (Wyoming),
Crane, Crawford, Culberson, Cullom,
Cummins, Dillingham, Dixon, Fall,
Fletcher, Foster, Gallingor, Gamble,
Gardner, Gore, Jackson, Johnson
(Maine), Johnson (Alabama), Jones,
Kavanaugh, Kenyon, Kern, La Fol
lette, Lea, Lippitt, Lodge, McLean,
Martin, Myers, Nelson, Nowlands,
Overman, Owen, Page, Penrose,
Percy, Perkins, Pittsman, Poindex
ter, Pomereno, Richardson, Root,
Sheppard, Simmons, Smith (Ari
zona), Smith (Georgia), Smith
(South Carolina), Smoot, Suther
land, Swanspn, Thomas, Thorton,
Tillman, Townsond, Webb, Wetmore,
Williams and Works.
Senators voting to sustain the
veto: Clapp, Carton, Clark (Ar
kansas), Curtis, Dupont, Gronna,
Guggenheim, McCumber, Martine,
O'Gorman, Oliver, Paynter, Shively,
Smith (Maryland), Smith (Michi
gan), Stephenson, Stone and Warren.
Senator Dillingham, one of the
authors of the bill, attacked Secre
tary Nagel for condemning the liter
acy test.
"The immigration commission,"
said Dillingham, "has made an in
vestigation of all the principal cities
of the Rocky mountains, and it
showed that immigrants who came in
more than a decade ago were draw
ing higher wages than those who
had arrived within the last ten years.
The cheap, unskilled class of labor
ers coming in for the last ten years
has crowded out the better class of
immigrants.
"The immigration committee's re
port shows," he said, "that 87 per
cent of this class of immigrants enter
singly and work for " low wages,
crowding out the older class of im
migrants. It is for congress of the
United States to say whether it wants
that class or not."
Senator Stone made the first
speech against 'the repassage of the
immigration bill. He declared the
bill proposed to establish a radical
and unwise change in the immigra
tion policy of the United States.
Literacy is not agood test of citi
zenship, he declared. The black hand
and similar organizations, he said,
were composed largely of people who
could stand the literacy test.
"Who murdered Garfield? Who
assassinated McKinley? Who com
mitted those frightful crimes that
startled our country?" demanded
Stone. "They had taken these tests,
and passed theni."
The house appropriation com
mittee reported the sundry civil bill
carrying total appropriations of
$113,271,614, which is -$4,855,368
less than the same- bill provided last
session.
A dispatch to the Cleveland Press
says: Senator Atleo Pomerene an
nounced a novel plan for "disposing
of the claims of Ohio democrats who
want jobs in the Wilson administra
tion. Shortly after March. 4 Pomerene
will go to Ohio, where he will act
as Solomon while contestants for
jobs present their petitions and
other credentials.
Pomerene will hold impromptu
court either at his home in Canton
or at Columbus. He will decide on
his recommendations to President
Wilson after he returns to Washington.
A dispatch to the Louisville
Courier-Journal says: Democratic
members of the ways and means
committee are to be selected in
caucus called to meet March 5. The
first draft of the democratic tariff
tchedule has been completed and
was sent to the govcrnmont printing
office.
Senators Root, of Now York, and
Crane, of Massachusetts, declared
themselves in favor of calling a con
vention of the republican party to
revise the rules for selecting dele
gates to conventions.
The largest pension bill ever re
ported to congress was passed by
the house of representatives. Jt
carried an appropriation aggregating
$180,300,000.
MAJESTY IX A DEMOCRACY
The new president of the United
States will take ofllce at the ago of
fifty-six yearB. In his lifetime the
chief magistracy has been revolu
tionized. When he .was born it was
In some respects parochial, in many
respects patriarchal and in most re
spects partisan. It was a position
of increasing dignity and power,
carrying the curse of politics large
and small that usually attaches to
party leadership.
In fhoso days we had presidents
of the United States. Now we have,
presidents not only of the United
States btit of Alaska, the Philippines,
Guam, Porto Rico, Hawaii, the Pana
ma strip, Samoa, Wake and other
islands, to say nothing of the very
real lordship which they exercise
over Cuba and an ill-defined claim
under the Monroe Doctrine and dol
lar diplomacy to a supervision of the
affairs of the whole western hemis
phere. At the beginning of the decade in
which Governor Wilson was born we
numbered 23,000,000. Now wo are
nearly 100,000,000. Our wealth was
$7,000,000,000. Now it is $120,
000,000,000. Our debt was $03,
000,000. Now It is $1,000,000,000.
The receipts-of the national govern
ment "were $43,000,000 yearly. Now
they aro $091,000,000, exclusive of
the post. Our expenditures were
$41,000,000 yearly. Now, exclu
sive of the post, they aro $051, 000,
000. At that time, when there was no
governmental regulation, wo had
9,000 miles of railroad. Now we
havo 216,000 miles. At that time,
when no president was concerned lit
trade combinations and conspiracies,
our manufactures were $1,000,000,
000 yearly and our exports $144,
000,000. Now thoy aro $21,000,
000,000 and $2,200,000,000 respec
tively. At that time wo had possibly
30,000 federal officeholders and em
ployes. Now we havo more than that
number In Washington alone, with
a total of 391,350, excluslvo of the
army and navy.
Viewed as a ruler, the president Is
the greatest on earth, for no other
man exercises so much power in so
many ways over so many people.
Viewed as an employed ho is the
j greatest on earth, for no other man
has as many positions directly or
Indirectly at his disposal. Viewed
as an arbiter of business, he is
the greatest on earth, for the sys
tems and policies which ho directs
give him more power over commerce
and industry than that possessed by
any other man.
Whatever it may have been In the
past, the presidency Is no place for
a self-seeker, a trlfler or a mere party
chieftain. Its responsibilities to man
kind are enough to stagger the most
capable mind and to appall tho
stoutest heart. No one can succeed
in that station who doc's not turn his
baqk upon ease, favor and Intrigue,
and, as Governor Wilson has phrased
It, address himself soberly to "jus
tice and public right." The majesty
of tho task does not always develop
a superman, but it calls for him un
ceasingly. New York World.
H PMMMMHMHMBMMM1I
MS
FOR SALE
An. Improved Texas Farm
I OFFER for Sale 240 acrs of
land, three miles from Mission,
Texas, on the Rio Grande, 200
acres are cleared and under irriga
tion. The improvements, consist
ing of a $2500.00 house with
barns, fences, etc., have cost over
$5,000.00. Easy terms will be
given on deferred payments. I
would not care to sell to anyone
ess purchaser makes a personal
examination of the property. Ap
ply to owner for price and terms:
W. J. Bryan, Lincoln, Neb.
r
,WV