Gilpin observer., 1902-06-05
LATE WASHINGTON NEWS AND
CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS

| ripping Oh tne SaVel from the chair.
Representative Shafroth says he has
not lost hope of securing passage in
the House at this session of his bill
appropriating S25O,OOO for branch
National Soldiers Home mt Denver
Mr. Shafroth is collecting data from
various soldiers homes showing the
number of old soldiers annually turned
away and unable to obtain admission
on account of the overcrowded condi-
ton of these. During the past five
years LOO applicants have been re-
FUSED admission to the Leavenworth
home becatse of lack of room. Mr.
Shafroth's bill is on the House calen-
dar and he has assured Speaker Hen
derson of his Willingness TO take it up
on suspension day" when majority
of two-thirds of the House is necessary
to pass Il bill. He is satisfied he can
get practically unanimous vote for
the measure if he receives recognition
On June 2nd the House by vote of
I'D to 46 suspended the rules and
adopted the joint resolution extending
the thanks of Congress to Secretary of
State John Hay for his address on the
occasion of the Mckinley memorial
exercises last February. Unanimous
consent for the consideration of this
resolution was objected to by Mr.. De
Almond of Missouri, some time ago,
and when 1t was finally taken up Mr..
Clark of Missouri made twenty-min-
ute speech in opposition to its adop-
ton on the ground that Mr. Hay had
abused the occasion by injecting Il RE
j publican stump speech" into the ad-
dress. General Hooker of Mississippi,
a one-armed Confederate veteran, de-
livered an eloquent defense of Mr..
Hays address, denying that it con-
tained anything Objectionable from a
political standpoint.
Messrs. Shafroth and Bell of Colo
RADIO were the principal speakers
against the IIill subsidiary coinage bill
ir' the House. In strong speech Mr.
Shafroth set forth the damage such
legislation would do to the currency
of the country. it proposed, he said,
not only to melt up all the silver dol
lars of the country into subsidiary
coinage, but to take all the bullion now
in the treasury and coin ii into subsid-
larry coin. Mr.. Bell declared that every
great panic from which the country
had suffered had been precipitated by
the currency tinkers" like Hill. The
ultimate act of Mr.. Hill and his
friends. he said, was to create an all
powerful banking trust. which would
control the issue of paper currency. If
this program was carried out. he said.
all the currency would disappear ex-
cept gold and bank paper. The pend
ing bill. he said, was one of three and
the only one the Republicans dare pass
i'll the face of the congressional cleo
tions.
In an able speech in the Senate dur
ing the discussion of the Philippine
bill, Senator Morgan of Alabama ex-
pressed himself strongly in favor of
the main features of the bill, taking n
decided stand in opposition to his
Democratic colleagues. THE lauda-
tons of Aguinaldo's patriotism and he
roism," said Mr.. Morgan. that have
been poured out in his honor here and
elsewhere in the United States are as
much out of place as if they had been
uttered in honor of the fox in Aesop's
fables" Aguinaldo, he said, was only
a convenient instrument in the hands
of cunning cOnspirators. Had he died
another would have been found. for
the Hong Kong junta had not commit
ted their fortunes perpetually to him.
The Filipinos are not fighting for lib
erty." Mr.. Morgan continued. but
simply as the savage tools of the junta
at Hong Kong. We have dedicated
these islands," he said. ITO the freedom
of religion: we have unshackled them
from the dominion of an established
church, and no power will ever exist
that can undo our work through mil
l-itary civil or other agencies"
Felipe Buencamino. former Secretary
of state in Aguinaldo's Cabinet was
heard through an interpreter by the
House committee on insihar affairs.
Chairman Cooper asked Senor Buen-
camino why he had come 10 the United
States. He said he was here represent
ing the Federal party. and the influen-
tal element of the insurgents and the
Katipunan society. He said his coun-
try, the Philippines, was like sick
man convalescing from dangerous i'll
ness. 1t was still bleeding from the
wounds of war. Its aspirations We're
those of Washington, liberty with jus
tice. under American society. which
they loved They looked to Congress
to give them just and liberal govern
ment He detailed the facts connected
with the early uprising of the Filipinos.
Agulnaldo was an idol, and the people
believed him when he told them that
Dewey had promised them indepen.
dence. He revived all that had been
done since the outbreak, and spoke of
the gradual extension of American a,i-
thorlty and practical pacification of the
greater part of the islands. There
were now 500 municipalities estab-
lished. and they had proved satisfac-
tory. Under the Taft system, he said.
the Fillpinos have greater liberty than
they would have enjoyed under the
Aguinaldo government had 1t been es.
tablished. Governor Taft now was the
idol of the people. He said the people
of the Philippines would have their
political status fixed. whether they are
Americans or Filipinos. He preferred
that they should he Americans. The
happiness Of the people depended upon