Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1901-02-13
THE INAUGURAI.FETE
PREPARATIONS FOR THE EVENT
ARE WELL UNDER WAY.
Affair Is TO BE- ON a Grander Scale
shan Ever Before - Administration
Does Not Favor an Extra Session
Shipping BiII's Stains.

Washington correspondence:
The Inauguration preparations this
year are well under way, and are ON a
grand scale. Pretty nearly every prom
inent man in the city is on one or an
other of the committees, and there are
to be several novel a.,d interesting feat
TIRES, which will make the event more
than usually noteworthy. Ii is felt
that uncommon elaboration is justified,
because it is the first inauguration in
the new century, and il Is partly due
also to the great personal popularity
of Presid Mckinley, and 10 feel
| ing whicl Jmehow prevails that the
| beginning of his second term will
usher in kind of new EZRA of good
feeling" Partisanship during this SEES
sion has certainly been reduced to a
low ebb. and the peoples representa-
tives nowadays seem actuated more 10y
| considerations affecting individual and
! national prosperity than by old-fash-
Toned political differences of opinion.
1t is becoming daily more apparent
| that Congress is determined to avoid
| an extra session If ii can. The recent
| talk about an extra session was started
mainly by the reported wish of the
administration to have supplementary
legislation about the Philippines and
| the new Cuban constitution. But the
| best authorities in Congress incline to
| the opinion that the necessity in the
| Philippine case is not sufficient TO de-
mand n cnncial SaSciop. ond now thara
| is an increasing doubt as to whether
| Congress has any right to supervise
| the Constitution of Cuba. The original
| position of Congress, as promulgated
| just before the war with Spain, was
! that the Cubans "are, and of right
| ought = be, free and independent"
and that this country disclaims any
! dispositi IN or intention to exercise any
control over the island except for its
pacifi 'ptlon. 1t is now argued by many
| Congressman thgt this pacification has
been accomplished and therefore that
| we have no business to interfere
| further with the Cubans. If this opin-
ion should prevail. it would probably
knock out the extra session idea alto
! gether.
In considering the tending shipping
| bill, it should always be remembered
F., that the greatest benefits flowing from
| j. win be to the farmers of the United
! States. The Secretary of Agriculture,
| MIR. Wilson, pointed this out very plain
1 ly in a recent interview. Secretary VIII
| son saiG that the most important ma
tional pr 1blem for us to solve was
| what to do with our surplus products,
| and especially our surplus agricul-
tural products, This surplus is now
about one-third of the total production,
| and 1t is constantly increasing. In 9th
| er words, our farmers and other agri-
| cultural workers now produce one
third more than they can use or sell
| in this country, and this vast surplus
| must be disposed of IN foreign mar
kets, or, if it is not, there will be ire
| mendous crash one of these days. Ac-
cess to foreign markets is now had,
in the main. only by the employment
i of.foreign carriers. The service is
slow, uncertain, irregular. costly, and
unfriendly, or at least Indifferent
| What we need most of all, and at once,
| the Secretary said, is large, adequate
! American merchant marine, for the
| transportation of our exports and for
| the further development of cur foreign
| markets.
If it be unsafe and absurd to rely
! upon foreigners for our shipping facili-
ties In time of peace, how much more
SO in time of war! Yet that was what
we were reduced to in our war with
| Spain. All our transports, golfers, etc,
were borrowed from other nations. and
| there were only few American ships
which were available as auxiliary
| cruisers, etc. But these few were of
| invaluable assistance. Commander
| briggs, executive officer of the aux,lj-
AIRY cruiser st. Louis, recently declared
! that 1.-THE actual value of this ship TO
| the navy in the war was more than the
| total amount of the proposed subsidy
during the whole fifteen years of its
operation" The ST. Louis is one of the
crack steamships of the American line
| which was employed by our govern
ment for auxiliary service during the
war. Commander briggs stated fur
Their that the original intention of the
( Spaniards was to send some of their
warships TO our Atlantic coast, in or.
| der to lombard our cities, and that they
were deferred from doing so only be-
| cause they learned of the employment
| of the four swift and powerful Ameri
can line steamships as auxiliary crujs-
| ers. They had no ships able TO com
pete with these four, and therefore
! they gave up the idea of the lombard
ment.
The foreign nations, whether friendly
| or unfriendly, would like nothing bet
ter than to see this shipping bin fail
| The agents of most of the leading Ger
| man and English steamship lines have
been busily engaged in this country.
ever since the bill was first preached
| lobbying against 1t. In this fact re-
sides one of the strongest arguments
! for the measure, from the American
| point of view. Many English newsna
| sers and commercial periodicals. inst
| received on this side. contain quite
alarmist references to the matter. The
Yorkshire Post says that the pending
bill threatens very seriously our own
| ship-building aud carrying trades" The
| London Economist declares that this is
1.-The most important among national
movements adverse 10 the interests of
| British shipping" and that America