The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-03-27
Declares He viii Sign No Bills Re-
less They Be Very MeritOriOus.
NEW LEGISLATION PROPOSED
FEATURES OF BILLS AND RESOLU-
TIONS BEFORE CONGRESS.
Conferees Unable to Agree on the
War Revenue Repeal Measure-M.
Il. EndicOtt a Rear Admiral.

Roosevelt has vetoed three bills removing
charges of desertion from veterans who
served during the civil war, and the con-
gressmen are wondering what it means.
Thousands of bills are now pending before
Congress which have been introduced at
every session for ten or twenty years. The
members who have introduced them time
and again insist that there is no doubt that
hundreds of these bills should be passed
because the charge of desertion should
never have been placed after their names
and will remain forever a black mark on
their character without relief from Con-
gress.
During the first days of the session a rep
resentative- called upon President Roose-
welt and related to him the history Of one
of his constituents who was stamped as q
deserter. HE was merely a boy when he
enlisted and his father made strong OBJ
j~ections. The first chance he had the
PAL ent took his son from his regiment and
hurried him away to Europe. He kept him
there until after the war was over. Now,
1 don't think he should be considered to be
a deserter. Do you, Mr.. President?' asked
the representative.
HE is a deserter,' said the President.
II have not decided whether 1 will sign any
of these deserter bills. II l do they will
have to be very meritorious cases. l think
the general law is sufficient, and / do not
believe I'm special legislation"
Since the President has vetoed these bills
the congressman have been flooded with
letters from their interested constituents
asking them 10 make a special plea for
their particular case. The members have
no hope and the committee in charge of
these bills has lost hope. In the first place
the members do not feel Hka CnnnhinO n
lot of time securing the passage of a bill
knowing that it will be vetoed. and the
members of the say that there
is no use reporting them, which would indi-
cate that the charge Of desertion will re-
main against the record Of several thou
sand veterans for some time to come. To-
day the President declared that so long as
he is in Office no deserter from the army or
navy would find favor from him The
statement was made to Capts. Frank Bru-
ner and Ferd McDonOugh, of Lyttle Post,
@. A. r., of Cincinnati. who handed him a
set of resolutions from the eX-Union sol
dierS of Cincinnati condemning the restOra-
ton Of deserters to the rolls and approving
his course in vetoing certain bills recently
passed by Congress. They also arranged
to present to the President at the next al
nual encampment of the c.. A. r. the reso-
lutiOns passed by Lyttle Post thanking him
for the stand he has taken in giving prefer
enCe TO civil war veterans in the matter Of
appointments.
Representative Hill, a member of the
banking and currency committee, and also
Of the coinage committee Of the House, be-
lieves strongly in the introduction of Amer
lean money now as the most effective step
towards Americanizing the Philippine
islands and furthering their business inter-
ests, and says he is against the silver
scheme tentatively proposed by Senators
Allison. Aldrich and Beveridge. That pro-
posal," said he to-day, lis for the coinage
nf vvh1f IL Ennvrn &c q Dhifnnfro dn11or ~
be the equivalent of the Bombay dollar In
value. This proposal was considered by the
Taft commission and reported last year.
The report contains what seems to ne a
clear demonstration that this plan would
not meet the exigencies of the situation,
a-ggravating rather than alleviating them.
OF course, If the United States holds pos
session of the Philippine islands solely for
the purpose of exploiting them for our
profit. it might be a good plan to sell them
bullion for the coinage of such a dollar.
leaving the loss by shrinkage to be distrib-
uted over the commercial interests in the
Philippine islands. Their foreign trade will
be conducted on the gold basis, no matter
what form of currency may be chosen for
use among the people"
The secretaries of the members Of the
House who last week went on strike in the
form of a demand that their salaries be in
creased to $3.50 per year have added an
other section TO their complaint. They in
sist that their names be placed upon the
pay rolls of the House of Representatives.
AS IL is now every member draws 500 per
month for clerical hire. They get this 800
no matter whether they have a secretary
or not. Some of them really have a secre-
tary who draws the entire amount, others
hire a young lady for $40 a month, While
some others insist upon a young man or
woman whom they have had appointed to
a place i'm a department doing this work.
The work of a secretary consists not only
of writing letters TO the members con-
stituents, but addressing thousands of frank
envelopes in which is inclosed garden seed.
set speeches, farm bulletins, etc. A bill has
been introduced requiring each member to
make a sworn statement at the end of each
month showing the amount he has expended
for clerical hire.
The state Department made public to-
day a synopsis of the arbitration treaty
recently signed between Bolivia and Peru,
a copy of which has been transmitted by
Mr.. NELL, secretary of legation at Lima,
under date of Feb. IS. The contracting
parties bind themselves to submit to arbi-
tration all controversies now pending and
whatever question may arise between them
while the treaty is in force. The treaty
continues I'm force for ten years. dating
from its ratification, and shall continue.
unless denounced six months before the
expiration of the ten years time, for
another eight years. and so successfully.
1t is agreed that the arbitrator shall be
the permanent tribunal to be established i'm
accordance with the resolution adopted bv
the Congress. Decisions are
to be strictly in accordance with the rules
of international right. and I'm questions of
boundaries with the American principle of
1910.
The President to-day nominated Civil En-
gineer NJ. I. Endicott, United States navy.
10 be chief OF the bureau of yards and
docks, with the rank OF rear admiral.
Representative Hill, of Connecticut. to-
day introduced a special rule for the early
consideration of the financial bill entitled
ITO increase the subsidiary coinage" No
date is specified in the rule.
Mr.. Beaupre, charge d'affaires at Bogota.
informs the State Department in a cable
gram, dated March p. that the government
announces an important victory over the
revolutionists. who have been threatening
1 the capital during the last few months.
Representative Corliss, of Michigan. to-
day introduced resolutions directing the at
torney general to institute proceedings
against the Commercial Cable Company for
violation OF the act of July 2. 1890. known
as the antitrust law. The resolutions are
identical 10 those Mr.. Corliss proposed in
the House some time ago.
XIX
were unable to reach an agreemnt to-day.
the main division occurring on the tax on
: bucketshops. which was taken OF by the