The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1900-01-18
Attitude of Congress Towards Cap
tured Territory.
ELECTION CASES.
Extra Pay of Dead Soldiers VIII Not Go to
Heirs.


Special Washington Correspondence 20 Signal.
Neither the bill introduced in the
senate by Mr. Foraker, of Ohio, nor
that introduced in the house by Mr..
Lacy, Of Iowa, proposes TO give the
people of Puerto Rico as wide powers
of self-government as are enjoyed
by the people of the present terri
tories of the United States, and as
will be enjoyed by Hawaii. Both
propose to return to the discarded
system Of century ago, by which
the American colonies elected the
lower houses of their legislatures, but
had the upper ones appointed by the
British crown, the object then, ~
now, being to retain the control of
the affairs Of the colony OF territory,
in the hands of the executive, and
prevent the people from taking any
radical action. Mr.. Foraker's bill
proposes house of delegates elected
by the people and an executive coun-
Gil Of IL members, seven Of whom
are appointed by the president. Mr..
Lacy's bill allots 18 members to.the
council, of whom eight are to be ap-
pointed by the president. In both
bills the governor is given the usual
veto power, which can be overridden
by two thirds vote. The bills are
not quite clear as to the terms of
office of the appointive members, nor
whether the president can remove
them at any time for acting contrary
to his wishes Probably they will
be appointed for a fixed term.
Neither is any mention made in either
bill of the age and qualifications Of
voters Governor General Davis, of
Puerto Rico, who is now in the city,
has recently told the senate commit
tee on insular affairs that the fran
chise should be restricted to about
80 600 people, half of whom are en-
titled to it, in his opinion, because
they can read and write and half be-
cause they own property, The per
centage of ignorance aud illiteracy
is very large.
The comptroller of the treasury
has decided that the extra pay voted
by congress to the soldiers serving in
the war with Spain cannot be paid to
their heirs in case of their death
The grant is held to be in the nature
Of gratuity, which, if not reduced
to possession, does not become a part
of the estate of descendent. 1t will
be remembered that until the extra
pay law was passed, the war depart
ment granted all soldiers one or two
months leave, according to whether
they had served within or without
the United States, and that it was to
avoid the Inconvenience Of this sys-
TEN the extra pay was granted. OF
course, if man was not alive to re
ceive the furlough, he did not re-
ceive the pay for it. and for this
reason it is held that his heirs cannot
receive the extra pay. There seems
to be a certain injustice to the dead
in the decision, however, and bills
will be introduced in congress to per-
nit the extra pay to be awarded to
the heirs of the decedents.
As always at the beginning Of a
session of congress, there is talk of
rushing through the contested elec-
ton cases with all possible dispatch.
In this case the republican majority
is so small that there may be de-
cided party advantage in haste in
throwing out three or four of the
: democrats whose seats are contested,
: and an effort to lose no time will