Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1897-04-10
RETROSPECTIVE ENAcTnENTs.
Senator EIkins' Speech President
McKinIey's Appointments Notes.

ICY ldIAu Jill having AtSS 49,
the House. receiving every Republi-
can vote, five Democratic votes and
one Populist vote, is now in the hands
of the Senate Committee on Finance
Every statement made concerning
changes in the bill by that Commit
tee is guess. Senator Allison,
Aldrich, and Platt, of Connecticut,
who have been going over the bill as
a subcommittee are not the kind OF
men to announce their conclusions,
even when they have definitely ar
rived at them, to the public, before
making their report to their colleagues
on the Committee. When the Com
mittee decides upon the amendments
to the bill will be time enough to
praise or to criticize its work. Until
then your guess is as good as any
bodys, if you must have a guess.
The honor OF being the first fourth
class postmaster appointed by Presi-
dent Mckinley fell to Mr. John p.
Kelley, of White Cloud, Kansas. The
delay in making appointments OF this
class was owing to the change in the
Office of Fourth Assistant Postmaster
General. Mr.. Bfistow is now occupy
ing that position and will proceed as
rapidly as possible to fill the $500
vacancies which have accumulated
since the new administration came
in. There will probably be an aver
age Of about 50 appointments a day
made until the work gets up to date.
Senator Elkins has for a long time
been studying the question OF how
best to restore the old time prestige
of American shipping As result OF
that study, he made very strong
speech in the Senate in favor OF his
bill providing for the imposing OF
duties upon imports in a manner that
will discriminate in favor of Ameri-
can ships.
President Mckinley seldom makes
promises in connection with appoint
ments, but he has made one that will
please every patriotic American, that
is, to appoint young Phil Sheridan a
cadet to West Point as soon as he
reaches the age of eligibility, which
will be sometime next year.
Representative Grosvenor, of Ohio,
is good lawyer, and the following
opinion from him on the decision of
the Supreme Court which so many
persons, especially Democrats, pro-
fess to think is opposed by the amend
ment to the tariff bill making the du-
ties imposed by that bill go into eff
feet April /, and upon the right OF
Congress to pass such an amendment,
is both timely and interesting. After
citing other misunderstanding, Mr..
Grosvenor says: Simply and sole
" what the Supreme Court did hold
was that the Wilson law, which went
into effect on the 2Sth day of August,
and was said to take effect from the
first day of August, did not repeal the
Mckinley law until the day when it
was passed, and how anybody could
have had a doubt about that is a
mystery to me, but the Supreme Court
did not hold that the long line OF
retrospective legislation in the Wilson
law was not approved. That law
bristles with retrospective legislation.
Whisky in bond and not in bond that
had been manufactured and deposited
in the bonded warehouse or was on
that day deposited at tax Of ninety
cents, wasimmediately raised to $I.1o.
New bonds were required, the whole
system remodeled. but no lawyer in
the United States ever disputed the
power of Congress to pass just such
an enactment. The best evidence OF
the popular estimate Of this retroac-
tive amendment is found in the fact
that the vast body of importers who
presumably have the very best legal
advice at their command, have all ac-
copied as conclusive that Congress
has that power"
President Mckinley appointments
have been uniformly good, and even
his bitterest political opponent have
found it extremely difficult to criticize
any of them, and his appointment
of Maj. Benz Butterworth to be Com.
missioner of Patents is commended
by everybody, including Democrats
and Populists. This is just as il