The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1902-04-17
Washington
DaYby Day

Washington, April 16.-(SpeciaD-It
is utterly incomprehensible that any
man in Congress or out of It, any able
legislator or any ignorant backwoodsman.
should offer so much as a hint of objec-
ton to changing the date of the Presi-
dents Inauguration, since there is nothing
on the earth, under the earth or above
the earth involved except weather and the
physical comfort of the people who quad
rennially desire to see their ruler drive
from the White House to the Capitol and
back to the White House again.
The chances are more than thirty to
one, they are sixty to one. that the 4th
day of every March will be a rainy day.
or it not actually rainy. extremely dis
agreeable. March is the most discomfort
ing month of the twelve in Washington,
as everybody knows who has dwelt in the
capital Members of Congress especially
are familiar with the fact. The 4th of
March this year dawned in rain. By D
o'clock the weather was clear, though
raw. By D. m. rain, snow and sleet all
were falling and there was a wind that
cut like blades of ice. In the memory of
living men there has been but one inaug-
uration day of pleasant weather. That
was when Mr.. Cleveland first came into
power, March T. 1885. That day was clear
and bright and the temperature OF the
atmosphere was pleasant.
Within the past year the governor of
every state in the union-flve and forty
has accepted service as a member of a
committee, the object of which ts to bring
about change in the date of the Presi-
dents Inauguration from March to April,
the precise day finally agreed upon by the
central committee in washington being
the second Thursday in April which this
year fell on the 10Th of the month. A
joint resolution providing the way for the
change is pending in Congress; a similar
resolution has been offered in almost ev-
cry Congress for a hundred years; and
1t would appear that this last one Is
doomed to the fate that befell all the
others. In the House the resolution was
referred to the Judiciary committee This
com mittee referred 1t to sub-commit-
tee of three of Its members, of which
Mr.. Littlefield of Maine, one of the old
est men in the House, was made chair
man. After considering the simple prop
ostion so simple and so harmless that
any three high-schoolboys in America
might agree to 1t within quarter OF
an hour-the subcommittee Of able law
yers announces today that 1t has reported
the resolution back to the general COM
| mittee without recommendation.
Wit
enough to take themselves out OF the
rain, asked Mr.. Littlefield why the reso-
luton had been so reported back He re-
piled that there was such a difference of
opinion among the three that they could
not agree to recount mend or disapprove the
resolution. Three grown men, mind you
three members of the House of Repre-
sentatives-were unable to agree or dis
agree unanimously upon this schoolboy.
newsboy, bootbiack proposition!
1t is amazing-it is beyond the wisest
wit of thoughtful men to comprehend.
The purpose of the resolution Is merely
to open the way for constitutional
change, the sole purpose of which is to
have the President inangurated on a day
when there may be some hope of other
than stormy weather. incidentally it
would extend the present Presidential
term from March 4, 1905, to April Il, 1905,
but there is no politics in it-"no posi-
BILE probable politics whatever" to para
phrase the words of a popular comic
| opera. And no comic opera ever present
ed to a laughing world was quite so COM
zeal as the dispute over this simple little
| affair Of state-this enthusiastically small
| comedy in national legislation.
The chances are this Congress will
tread the miserable path trodden by
previous Congresses and refuse to adopt
the resolution, and on March 4, 1905, Pres
ident Roosevelt or President Hanna, or
! President German, whatever be the Pres
idents personal Names will drive through
downpour of rain from the White
House to the capitol and back to the
White House, while quarter OF mil
lion of Americans, wet and shivering
will cheer the President, and curse Con-
gress for its stupidity In not perceiving
its duty or its wilifulness in disregarding
plea so simple and just that little
child might understand 1t.
Yet we have interminable nonsense in
behalf of constitutional amendments
| which would revolutionize and in the end
entirely destroy our system of govern
ment The popular Branch" of Con-
gress stands in the way of a trifing
change for the personal comfort of the
people; the upper house stands In the
| way of revolution. Thus in a sense there
Ia an offset to the double-dealings OF the
| howlers.
The Senate, which refused to convict
President Johnson upon the mandate OF
a nartisan, revolutionary and wholly ire
snonsible House of Representatives, is
once more standing between the wild
recklessness of the House and the real
| interest of the people. 1t was
stated to you in this correspondence
many days ago that the mad act OF the
| House in passing the entirely crazy
| Chinese exclusion bill would be nullified
by the Senate. which. as Senator Hoar
| declared in effect, was never before so
| conservative or so faithfully and 10y
| ally representative of the people against
| partisan clamor as now.
| IT will not-I cannot-vote for the Chi
nese exclusion bill as 1t passed the
| House." said the most alert of the Demo-