Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1899-01-11

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The weather bnivl is got to be wit
ness in lawsuit. Claims amounting to
81 100000 or more have been filed against
the owners of the steamship Portland,
which went to wreck in the November
blizzard and was lost off the Massachu-
setts coast. The company has anticipated
these claims by appealing to United States
courts for decree limiting the liability
of the stockholders to the par value Of
their stock. Involved in this application
is the question whether the managers are
not liable for criminal negligence also in
sending the steamer to sea in the face Of
warning from the weather bureau. 1t
can be clearly shown that the usual fore
cast of the weather was furnished at the
office OF the con- aany on the morning of
the day on which the steamer sailed, and
that it indicated foul weather anu a Sc
we're gale, and that the captain of the
Portland personally received warnings
against venturing out in the face of the
| gale, but did not heed them, and with the
consent of his employers carried 1855 souls
| to destruction.
The war inquiry commission has been
| informed that the Rev. DR.. Emil G.
Hfrsch of Chicago asserted in a recent
sermon that thousands of young men in
| the army were poisoned oy chemically
| preserved beef. A subpoena will be issued
| AID DR.. Hirsch will be asked to prove his
| statemer- y such statement was made by
him. A Washington minister declared
from his pulpit that thousands of soldiers
! had died of starvation, and when called
| before the committee admitted he did not
have personal knowledge Of a single case.
New York clergyman in E published
sermon asserted that the army surgeons
at Montauk Point were in the habit Of
| reeling through the hospitals drunk with
whisky begged for their patients from the
Red Gross stores. When called to ac-
count he confessed that he had no per-
sonal knowledge, but had read in the
newspapers that contract surgeon had
been dismissed for drunkenness.
-
general outline of the course on which
the United States Government may be ex-
pected to proceed in establishing military
rule in the Philippines is presented in the
Presidents instructions, forwarded to
Gen. Otis through the regular channels of
the War Department. The instructions
recognize the fact that military govern
ment necessarily must be temporary and
provisional, and they oppose no bar to the
action of Congress-, in case Congress
should wish ultimately to relinquish con-
troll of the new possessions. They do
however, provide for an occupation of in
definite length, and both In their general
tone and in the announcement TO the Fill
pinos that ''the mission of the United
States is one of benevolent assimilation
there is the hint that the President antici-
pates an occupation which in the end must
| make the tie between the nation and its
dependencies too strong to be broken.
-
Aged statesmen in Washington are in
a panic over the devastation wrought by
| grip. The malady is making awful havoc
among old men this winter, and several
Senators and Representatives in Congress
have been frightened within an inch of
their lives by grip attacks. A sneeze is
enorgh to keep an ancient statesman in
doors, and real hard visitation of aches.
pain and cold in the head puts him to bed
for a fortnight. There is plenty of sea-
| soned material for grip to work on In Con-
gress, especially in the upper branch,
where thirty-six out Of eighty nine Sen
ators are 60 years old or over. Twenty
Senators are 65 years or over and twelve
are 70 years of age or older. In the
House forty-fve Representatives out Of
357 are above 60 years and twenty-five
above 50. 1t will be seen from this that
the Senate has a vastly gre 1ter percentage
of old men than the House.
-
Since the retirement of Senator Brice
| Washington has had no royal entertainer
| among it's list of Senators or Representa-
tives. Senator Brice spent $150,O00 a
| year in maintaining a princely establish
| ment. Thei,e are men in Congress now
| as rich as Brice was, but they do not run
to lavish display. Senator Perkins of
California, Senator Jones Of Nevada, Sen
ator Proctor of Vermont, Senator Wet
more of Rhode Island, Senator Hanna Of
Ohio and Vice-President Hobart rank
high up in the millionaire class, but none
of them, with the exception of Mr.. Ho-
bart, IS great entertainer. Senator Ell
kins of West Virginia, Senator Fairbank
of Indiana and Senator Foraker of Ohio
probably do more in that line this winter
than any other members of Congress. The
majority of Senators are poor men.
-
Among the Senators whose terms ex-
pire the 4th of next March and who will
be reelected without opposition, is Cock
rell of Missouri. Senator Cockrell has
wonderful hold on the people of his State.
| He is not a man of signal ability, but he
is remarkably obligins. He will work all
day and get up any time in the night to
favor constituent, regardless of his poll
tics. He has a happy faculty of remenl-
bering names ard family histories and
can go into any section of Missouri and
call off the names of members Of the fam
lies of the people he may not have seen
in twenty years. This en1ears him to the
voters in the back districts and makes
every man he meets feel as If he were the
Senator's special friend.
-
Investigation of the beef furnished the
army will be just as thorough as the COM
mission can make it. The President has
manifested a personal interest in the sub
ect with considerable emphasis. He has
expressed to the commissioners his wish
that they shall take all of the time that
may be required and exhaust all sources
of information. At the time this story
Of alleged use Of chemicals was sprung by
Gen. Miles the commission was about
bringing the investigation to an end. 1t
was the intention to submit the testimony
and report to the President within ten
DAYS. Now it is stated that by reason of
the new field of inquiry and the deterr'ina-
ton to get the bottom facts about the
beef, the investigation will go on at least
another month.
Deal Involves S2,5oo,ooo.
The biggest telephone deal on record
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