The Springfield herald., 1902-06-13

If the platform pledges promising state
| hood for the territories are not kept
and New Mexico and Arizona are re-
| fused admission to the Union at this
session of Congress. Advocates of
statehood are doubtful of securing
passage of the bill in the Senate at
| this session. t.H... I'd. %.
Representative James NJ. Robinson
| of Indiana. one of the leading Demo-
Gratis in the House, has announced his
| opposition to the national irrigation
! bill now pending. Mr.. Robinson says
| the bill, from the point of economical
administration, is one of the most dan
| gerous measures that Congress has
| been called to act on in years. He de-
| clares the objections to it are so many
and SO forceful that they can scarcely
! be named within the compass of a
| readable article. He asserts that rail
roads subsidized by land grants, and
otIiceholders who want continuance of
| Jobs and places for relatives and those
who EXPECT to share in the exploitation
and jobs that will be necessarily Incl
| dent, are promoting it; that agricul-
tural and mineral colleges in each state
will suffer and the taxpayers of the
larger states will suffer in contribut-
| ing for an enterprise which in no way
affects them advantageously.
Senator Culbertson. who favors the
construction of the Si,OOO,OOO dam at
El Paso, in order to compensate Mex
! leo for damages on account of alleged
Isurpation of the waters of the Rio
| Grande. has given notice of an amend
ment he proposes to offer to the bill
authorizing statehood for New Mexico,
Arizona and Oklahoma, when it comes
up. This amendment will provide that
the government shall retain control of
the waters of the Rio Grande. 1t is
rumOred that the Elephant Buttes
Dam Company which is one of the
chief factors in opposing the construc-
tion of the international dam, will be
backed by the Santa Fe Railway Com
pany in the construction of its dam in
Mexico. 1t is proposed to make the
dam much larger than was ut first in
tended and thus be able to grant to
the city of Ell Paso water at the eQuit-
able price for which it has been con
tending and provide for greater scale
of opera tionS in the Rio Grande valley.
Truman g. Palmer of Chicago was
a witness before the Senate committee
on Cuban relations. For the past four
years Mr.. Palmer has been engaged in
the promotion of beet sugar interests.
Ilt SuNe II llsl VI seventeen
corporations which, he said. have $751;
III acres in sugar producing lands in
Cuba. with an annual capacity of 2J5.-
425 tons. OF these seventeen com
ranies ten have on file war claims
against the government of the United
States aggregating S9,665.974. The
largest of these claims. for S411I.69S.
was filed by the Constancio Sugar
Company, with an estate of $1,000
acres and an annual capacity of 21,O00
tons. Mr.. Palmer said he had secured
the facts upon which this statement is
based from the official records of the
Spanish claims commission. and from
statements made by witnesses before
the Senate committee and the House
committee on ways and means. The
witness said that an effort on his part
to place the bonds of Il beet sugar
company had failed last December be-
cause of the agitation to secure Il re-
ductlOn of the duty on Cuban sugar,
and that he later had sold his interest
in this company and since then had been
devoting his attention to the question
of the proposed tariff reduction. When
Senator Ilatt asked what had induced
witness to manifest so great an inter-
est in the legislation proposed he re-
piled: Because that l believe that if
shall have no difficulty in securing the
means of building at least one beet
sugar factory a year.
Felipe Buencamino, former secretary
of state in Aguinaldo's Cabinet was
heard through an interpreter by the
House committee on insular affairs.
Chairman Cooper asked Senior Buen-
camino why he had come to the United
St1tas i'll no w hppn nnt-
ing the Federal party. and the influen-
tial element of the Insurgents and the
Iatipunan society. IIe said his coun-
try. the Philippines, was like Il sick
man convalescing from dangerous i'll
ness. 1t was still bleeding from the
wounds of war. Its aspirations were
those of Washington. liberty with jus
tlce. under American society. which
they loved. They looked to Congress
to give them n just and liberal govern
ment. He detailed the facts connected
with the early uprising of the Filipinos.
Aguinaldo was an idol, and the people
believed him when he told them that
Dewey had promised them iudepeu-
dence. He revived all that had been
done since the outbreak. and spoke of
the gradual extension of American alI-
thority 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 Filipinos have greater liberty than
they would have enjoyed under the
Aguinaldo government had it been es-
tablishcd. 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 be Americans. The
IL l..I