Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-12-17

master gen eral for an extension of the free
delivery and money order system: com
mends to congress the recommendation
of the secretary of the navy. and saws
there should be no hesitation in promptly
completing a navy of the best modern
type large enough TO enable the country
to display its flag on all seas for the pro
lection of its citizens and its extending
commerce.
Chinese Smuggling
On the question of smuggling into the
country of Chinese through Canada the
president says there is satisfactory, evi
dence that this business is oganized and
active. The construction placed upon
the exclusion law by some of the district
judges that such Cinnamon must be re.
turned to Canada and not to China. robs
it of all effectiveness and he recommends
such legislation as will remedy these de
fects in the law.
Pensions.
Much attention is given to the work of
the pension bureau, and the opinion is
expressed that there will be no necessity
for deficiency appropriation this year.
Irrigation
The irrigation question is dealt with at
length and the president expresses the
opinion that the government should not
part with its ownership of reservoir sites,
except on conditions that will insure to
settlers their proper water supply upon
equal and reasonable term?
No trif1ing with Polygamy
On the polygamy question the pres
ident says: We can not afford
to experiment with this sub
ject, for when a state is once consti,
tuted the act is final and any mistake
irretrievable. No compact in the enabl-
ing an act could, in nv opinion be bind
ing or effective.
Ihe Seed Department.
Much space is devoted to the depart
ment of agriculture, the work of which
is very highly commended. Reference
is made to the great grain crop of this
year, the largest in our history, and to
the fact of the opening of new markets.
The larger demand resulting from short
crops in Europe, the president says, have
sustained prices to such an extent that
the enormous surplus of meat and bread
stuffs will be marketed at good prices,
bringing relief and prosperity to an in
dustry that was much depressed.
The Civil Service.
He commends the report of the civil
service commission to the careful atten-
ton of its opponents as well as friends.
He believes the law is being executed
with impartiality and that system is be-
ing improved.
The attention of con gress is again ur-
gently called to the necessity of legisla
ton for the protection Of the lives of
railroad employees.
Gerrymanders.
The president devotes much space to
the gerrymander question, having par,
ticular reference to the recently adopted
Michigan plan of choosing presidential
electors by congressional districts. That
concurrence in plan should be broken is,
the president thinks, unfortunate and a
threatening episode and one that may
well suggest whether the states that still
give their approval to the old method
ought not to secure by constitutional
amendment practice which has had the
approval of all. Gerrymander schemes,
he says, have already found effective ap-
plication to the choice of senators and
representatives in congress, and now an
evil start has been made in the direction
of applying them to their choice of presi
dental electors. If this end is accomp-
lished we shall then have three great de-
partments Of government in the grasp
of the gerrymander, the legislative and
executive directly, and the Judiciary in
directly through the power of appoint
ment. The essential features of re-
publican government, he says, are
the right of the people to choose their
own officers and the nearest practicable
4
in determining that choice. The state
is to choose and, under the pretense of
regulating methods, the legislature can
neither vest the right of choice elsewhere
nor adopt methods not cOnfOrmable to
republican institutions. sit is not my
purpose here" says he, ''to discuss the
question whether the choice by the legis-
lature or by the voters of an equal single
district is a choice by the state, but only
to recommend such regulation of this
matter by constitutional amendment as
will secure uniformity and prevent that
disgraceful partisan jugglery to which
such a liberty of choice, if it exists,
offers temptation. If | were called
upon to declare wherein our chief ma
tional danger lies, should say without
hesitation in the overthrow of majority
control by the suppression or perversion
of popular suffrage" The president
urges that some steps be taken to avert
the danger and says the energies OF those
who have seen it have been chiefly eX
pended in trying to fix responsibility
upon the opposite party rather than in
efforts to make such practices impossible
by either party.
The Election Bill
The president speaks of the election
bill. which failed of passage last year,
and says he yet entertains hope that it is
possible to secure calm, patriotic con-
sideration of such constitutional or sta
tutory changes as may be necessary to
secure the choice of officers of the gov
eminent by fair appointments and free
elections. He thinks a commission
should be appointed, non bipartisan in
membership, to consider these mOmen-
tous questions.
Conclusion.
In closing, the president says he has
been greatly rejoiced ia notice many evi
dences of the increased influence OF our
people and of a revived national spirit
The vista that now opens to us is wider
and more glorious than ever before. A
trust momentous in it's influence upon
our people and the world is for a brief
time committed to us and we must not
be faithless to its fairest execution. The
defense of the free and equal influence
of the people in the choice of public
officers and the control Of public affairs.
GRAVES CASE