Grand Rapids Herald-Review Newspaper, January 18, 1911, Page 8

"> SOME-CRITICISM - GRAND RAPIDS HERALD-REVIEW WEDNESDAY, JAN. 18, 1911. PAGE FIVE OF COMMITTEES Speaker Ounn Oid Not Satisty All Factions, ROW READY FOR REAL WORK Legisiature Expects to Get Down to Business Without Further Preliminaries. St. Paul, Jan. 16—With tne appoint. ment of his committees by the speaker of the house the legislature has finally ot dowu to real work. he character of both the house and senate commit: fees makes it plain that from this ime on it will be pushed. Naturally there is among those who opposed Mr. Dunn's election more or less disposi- tion to criticise bis committee assign: ments, principally on the ground: that the progressives have not been given adequate representation. In respect te the progressives who held out for Mr. Burnquist and thus, to a greater or tess extent, embarrassed the speaker {nm the work it 1s customary for him © do before the house meets, this criticism has oo doubt some founda tion. In the case, however, of ac: knowledged progressive Republicans who aligned themselves with Mr. Dunn's supporters, and there were many of these, no such complaint can be made. They have informally re-! ceived generous treatment at his hands. +e & It is only fair to Mr. Dunn to state that he has so grouped the strong men of the house, without respect to their affiliations, as to make a com- pact and well officered working or- genization Some complaint is made that on the committee on taxes and tax laws the so called interests have ereater representation than the mem- bership of the house would seem to entitle them to, which, judging of the past affiliations of some of the com- mittee’s members, is likgly to prove true in case radical measures are in- troduced as, for instance, for the taxation of tron lands. One would), expect the committee to be opposed to the tonnage tax. But there seems little probability at this time that such a measure will be pushed; and there is nothing otherwise in the consti- tution of this important committee to warrant the assumption that any fair measure for the equalization of the tazation in this state or for such re forms as are advanced by the tax com- mission would not receive favorable consideration. ++ + The temperance. committee is the enly other committee that bas heen subject to serious criticism—this of course from the advocates of tem-j} perance reform. This committee is composed of fifteen members. The chairman and five of his associates are said to favor county option. The balance are supposed to be liberal in their views and opposed to county op- tion. The speaker’s pledge in regard to this committee was that it would be a fair one and make such a re- port as would insure county option full and fair consideration. How this is to be brought about remains to be seen. The course the committee will pursue, however, is anticipated to be that the bill will be reported out ac- companied by a minority and majority report, and that subsequently it will be considered by the committee of the whole where the matter can be threshed out, as it doubtless will be, and later the members put on record with regard to it. However that may be, there is no reason to anticipate that the speaker wil] not fulfill his pledge to the letter so far as county option is concerned. It is anticipated, nevertheless, that in regard to general temperance legislation. the commit-| tee will not hold specially advanced ; views. | +t + The education committee headed by | Representative Kunze, formerly super- intendent of schools at Red Wing and one of the acknowledged progressive Republicans enrolled under Speaker Dunn’s banner, has been the first to report bills referred to it. The most important was for a constitutional amendment to provide for educa- tional qualifications for county super- intendents of schools. It is proposed that in the meantime a county board of education be formed to appoint such superintendents. This subject has been discussion for some years, both in the legislature and out of it, and sentiment ‘in favor of the change appears to be growing. The committee recommend- ed the bill under consideration for} passage. bob ot Two bills have passed the house, and the first of these the senate also, under suspension of the rules. This measure provides for an appropriation for the hospitals for criminal insane end insane tuberculosis patients at St. Peter. These hospitals have recently been constructed, it was explained, but no appropriation was made for their maintenace. The need of haste in making the appropriation was that a man who had committed murder in Dakota county and had been acquitted on the ground of insanity was sent, as required bylaw, to the St. Peter hospital for the criminal insane. In the absence of an appropriation the | mittee. only way to care for him was to allow him to assoeiate.\with -the. other. pas tients. On the representations made by Senator Schaller this was‘thought to be dangerous and the appropriation was made under suspension of the rules. 5 + fe The other bill which passed the bouse under suspension of the rules was to prevent the establishment of a cemetery within three-quarters of a mile of any college or university or the Soldiers’ home. It seems that private parties contemplate opening a ceme- tery in yrounds adjacent te the Sol- diers’ home at Fort Snelling and both the old suidiers and the peopie of Min- aeapolis are up in arms about it. They took this way of heading theu. off. ete dee 4 bill about which there has been a good deal of discussion, and this bas covered several legislative sessions, involves the principle cuntained in a measure introduced by Seaater Hack- mey of St. Paul. The bili provides for the creation of a legislative bureau to secure .and compile'for the uss of the members of the legislature tne laws ot other states and countries which may be used as a guide. Senator Hackvey would put the bureau in charge of a director appointed by the governor, attorney general and presi- dent of the board of regents of the State university. His salary 1s fixed at $3,000 a year, and $10,000 is appro- priated for the work of the bureau. Similar bureaus are in operation in New York and Wisconsin, and it is said that, by taking advantage of the work they have done, the bureau could be put in operation here at compara- tively small expense. 1 am told that im anticipation of the passage of the law an upstate politician is already laying wires in hopes of securing the appointment of director. ; te + A bill which is regarded.as of con- siderabie importance by temperance reformers in the northern part of the state has been introduced by Repre- sentative Converse of Detroit. By it ho seeks to eliminate drunkenness on trains. said to be commoua in logging | districts His bill makes it a misde- meanor to drink intoxicaants in puovlic coaches and gives the conductor of the train authority to arrest the offender without a warrant and confiscate the Mquor. Mr. Converse has other meas- ures in mind to suppress drunkenoess on trains 5 tt + : A curious proposition is made in the form of/an amendment to the rules by Representative Stone of Park River. He would have « new committee ap- pointed to have similar powers to those of the tri-county committee and to be called the public interest com- mittee. {t would be composed of three members from each congressiona! (is- trict except the Fourth and Fifth and that part of the Highth represented by St. Louis county members. In other words, be would exclude from the pub- lic -imterest committee the members | of St Paul. Minneapolis and Duluth, While there ix some reason in this, Dr. Stone’s proposition is generally vegarded as 4 sardonic kind of joke vt The house rules committee has | taken back water in the matter of Mr. Nolan's proposition to put mem- bers on record regarding their votes in committees. The house voted down the rule he first presented to accom- plish this. Members of the rules com- mittee said it was impracticable, They have apparently changed their minds On Mr. Nolan again presenting the matter in slightly different form it was referred to the committee on rules. That body, after pondering over it a little longer, concluded there might be something in it after all. So they re wrote it, changing the form somewhat, and recommended its adoption The rule as recommended to pass makes it incumbent on committeees to take aj Toll call on final action on all bills, the result of the vote to be reported to the house and filed with the clerk and later with the secretary of state for public inspection. The roll cal) will not be published in the journals except when demanded by a vote of the house. ++ + Senator Moonan’s amendment to the primary law, besides providing that party candidates for the office of United States senator and for state offices shall be nominated by direct vote and containing provisions de signed to prevent voters of one party taking part in nominating the candi dates of another, does away with nom. inating conventions. However it pro vides for another convention to formu- late the party’s platform-and to select @ campaign committee. This conven- tion is to be composed of the candi- dates nominated for the various state offices, for the office of United States senator and for the state senate and house of representatives. They are to meet at the state capitol for the purposes above stated on the second Tuesday after the primary election te + In this state the most that can be Tecovered for death resulting from ea wrongful act, that is as a result of an accident due to defective machinery, negligence not the victim’s own, or other similar cause, is $5,000. Repre- sentative Lundeen thinks that entirely too low. Indeed he seems to be of the opinion that it should be left to the Jury, as it is in many states, they bas- ing their findings on evidence of the victim’s earning capacity, etc How- ever Mr. Lundeen will be satisfied now to have the limit raised to $10,000. That is the purpose of a bill he intro- ‘duced which he is going to try to:see is not smothered in the judiciary com- , JOHN LAWS®O’ GREAT WARSHIP TAKES TO WATER at Camden, NJ. IS MONSTER FIGHTING SHIP Pronounced to Be the Most Formida- bie Vessel in Gun Power of Any Now Afloat. Philadeiphia, Jan. 15.—Splashed with the traditional bottle of cham- pagne the battleship Arkansas, the largest) warship »everconstructed in this country, was launched from the yards of the New York Shipbuilding company at Camden, N. J. Miss Mary Macon, daughter of Representative Robert B. Macon of Helena, Ark., was the sponsor for the ship. There was one unusual feature to the launching, the absence of an offi- cial delegation representing the state | government of Arkansas. The failure | of Governor Donaghey or other official representatives to attend was due to {a controversy between the governor | and the navy department at Washing- | ton over the date of the launching, the | governor wanting the launching post- poned so that the state could make | adequate arrangements to send an of- | ficial party. | The principal dimensions of the lat- est and largest addition to the navy | are: Length over all, 562 feet; beam | over armor, 93 feet 2% inches; draft, | 28 feet, 6 inches; displacement, 26,000 | tons. The contract for the ship calls fora | speed of 2034 knots an hour. j | When complete the Arkansas will have the greatest gun power in broad- side fire of any ship afloat. The main armament will consist of twelve twelve-incn breechloading guns mount- ed in six heavy armor protected tur- rets. For defense against torpedo boat attacks there will be a battery of twenty-one five-inch rapid fire guns. There will also be two submerged tor- pedo tubes: and: tem.smel: guae-;The total weight of broadside fire will be about 11,000 pounds. The armor belts | will have an average thickness of three inches, The Arkansas will be turbine driven and will Lave 28,000 horsepower. The yessel will be fitted for a flagship and her compiement will consist of eighty- five officers and 1,030 men. The kezl of the Arkansas was laid last January and at present the ship is about 60 per cent completed. WRECK COSTS FOUR LIVES Eighteen Others Seriously Hurt in New York Central Collision. Batavia, N. Y., Jan. 14.—In a colli- sion between train No. 49, the Boston | and Buffalo special, and train No. 28, on the New York Central railroad, at | Batavia, four persons were killed and eighteen seriously injured, some of them perhaps fatally. The accident occurred when train 40 was standing in the station waiting for its time of departure. Train No. 23, the Western express, crashed into the waiting train from the rear. “4 The engine of train No. 23 tele- scoped the rear Pullman of the wait- | ing train and smashed into a day coach which was next in the train. With one exception the bodies of passengers in the wreckage of the crushed sleeping car are so mutilated as to make identification difficult. | | ARE INDICTED FOR PERJURY Four Members of Auditing Committee of New York Bank. New York. Jan. 15.—The four mem- bers of the auditing committee of the Washington Savings bank, one of the Robin institutions which was recent- ly closed, were indicted on a charge of perjury. The men are Charles K. Lexow. William P Youngs, Thomas G. Mur- phy, assistant postmaster of New York, and Dr. Harry James. It is alleged the men certified, July | 29, in the bank’s semi-annual state- | ment, that they had examined all the books of the bank, whereas they had not done so. . VARIOUS CHARGES ARE MADE Legislative Report on Wisconsin Sen- atorship. Madison, Wis., Jan. 12,—United | States Senator Isaac Stephenson is} | charged with a number of violations | of the laws of Wisconsin in a lengthy statement filed with Governor F, E. McGovern by the 1909 state senate committee in its report on the investi- gation of the primary campaign and election of Senator Stephenson. | The committee recommends that a copy of the report be submitted to the | United States senate and, that body investigate Mr. Stephenson’s election. Sleet and Rain Cripple Wires. Chicago, Jan. 15.—Telephone and telegraph companies found their serv- ice severely crippled in Iowa, Western Battleship Arkansas Launched | Furniture Store Is Now Open For Business and carries a full line of ; Furniture and Undertaker’s Supplies Everything of the latest designs; quality good; prices as low as the lowest. We solicit your patronage F. E. REUSSWIG LICENSED EMBALMER. Phones: Residence No. 127, Store 33 PRESIDENT WILL | REPRIMAND SIMS Naval Officer Went Too Far in London Speech, THE RED GROSS DRUG STORE IS NOW READY FOR BUSINESS FRESH CLEAN STOCK FULL LINE OF Colgates Perfumes, Soaps and Talcum Powders. Cigars, Pipes and Tobaccos. Lowney’s Candies. Perscriptions Compounded Day or Night PHONE No. PLEDGED AID TO ENGLAND Chief Executive Deciares That Offense Was Sv Conspicuous That Re- proof Should Be Equally So. Washington, Jan. 11.—Presideat Taft has decided that Commander W. S. Sims, the United States naval offi- cer who, at a recent dinner given in London by the mayor of that city, de- clared that if Great Britain ever was seriously threatened she could depend on “every man, every dollar, every drop of blood” in this country, should be publicly reprimanded. “His offense has been so conspic-} uous,” said the president in his letter to Secretary of the Navy Meyer, di- Tecting the reprimand, “that the ac- tion of the department in reproving it should be equally so.” The president says that whenever @n officer of the American navy “is called upon in a foreign country to speak in public, so that what he says will necessarily be brought to the at- tention of the people of other foreign! countries, it is his obvious duty to avoid invidious comparisons and to limit his speech and his expressions of friendship for the country whose guest he is to language that will not indicate @ lack of friendship toward other coun- tries. “The navy is used much as an in- strument of peace. One of the chief functions that 163 BLASING & WHITTEMORE PROPS, TROOPS FIRE INTO THE MOB) oo?" Serre LEAVE ORDERS AT MILLER’S FOR Costello's Ice Creams We also carry a fine line Eighteen Persons Killed in Rioting at { Bombay. i Bombay, Jan. 14.—Bighteen persons were killed and twenty-four others wounded during rioting here. As usual the occasion of the Mu- harram festival brought about a clash between Sunnites and the Shiahs and troops called out to restore order fired several volleys into the mobs. os Lowney's, Weasels’ and Reach, Tisdale & Co's Candies when they visit foreign ports is the representative one of conveying to all nations the good will of the United its officers perform] LANDSLIDE KILLS FORTY Gang of Spanish Laborers Buried by Earth and Rock. FRUITS, NUTS, Goloiptegy, States. They are under special obliga- tions to see to it that what they do or| shall say shall not embarrass their government in foreign nations.” Commander Sims cannot escape censure, the president holds, “on the ground that what he said was a mere expression of his personai opinion; un- der the circumstances he must speak @s an official representative and he should have known that the words he used would at once call for severe | en cians bind Se crece” comment in other countries than Great visit to Grand Rapids on usual Britain and might involve this gov-| P gates, the 15th and 16th of every ernment in explanations and disclaim ers.” i PEARY DIDN'T REACH POLE Observations Show He Came Within About a Mile. Washington, Jan. 12—Testimony before the house committee on naval - — — - — affairs tended to show that Captain Robert E. Peary had not succeeded in getting closer than a mile and a sixteenth of the North pole. Hugh C. Mitchell of the coast and geodetic survey told the committee that he had handled Peary’s observations and the best he could make out of them was that the explorer was honest in his computations but that he had not act- ually reached the pole. Admiral Chester will review the testimony so CICARS AND ; TOBACCOS REMEMBER OUR a FOUNTAIN have it ia all Castro Urdiales, Spain, Jan. 11.— Forty persons were killed and five in- | fured when a landslide overwhelmed a} gang of laborers, burying them all be-} | mesth 3 moss af serth ant Sererrerrersesrrerere 5 eee ae % a of a cool We tlavors. soft drink. POLS Her Sh Hirt Serer Must be left on Saturday t Orders for Sunday Ice Cream month. - All those having de- fective eyes, or im need of the proper service for the fi ot sper are cordially im call at Hotel Pokegama the Mth and 16th of & Larson & Wanted-Able bodied men, ages 18 to 35, for U. S. Army Service. Recruitiug office in McAlpine Block, Grand Rap- ids, Minnesota. month. HOUSE WIRING AND FIXTURE HANGING A SPECIALTY Electrical Supplies and Machinery Ww. N. DELCOUR that the committee may be in a posi- ELETRICAL CONTRACTOR tion to act on the bill proposing a Peary’s retirement as a rear admiral. P. O. BOX 154 Grand Rapids, Minn. Leave Orders at HARDWARE DEP’TMENT Yeggmen Wound Officer. Henry Hughes @ Co. Minneapolis, Jan. 11.—After shoot- {mg and painfully wounding Mounted Patrolman James J. McGuire of the Bast Side station, three yeggmen fired their revolvers into the air until as- sistance arrived and then fled. Patrol- man McGuire was hurried to the city IMinois and Southern Minnesota. Sleet and rain which swept across the coun- try also delayed to some extent treia | farvice. hospital, where it was said that, al though his wound is painful and wit fnoapacitate him for some time, it ts mot serious. Serer ‘GRAND RAPIDS HERALDREVIEW