Gilpin observer., 1903-12-03
EVENTS IN WASHINGTON AND
TRANSACTIONS OF CONGRESS-

Senator Quay has introduced q bill
granting statehood to Oklahoma. The
bill is the same as that introduced In
the House November 18th by Delegate
MCGUIRE.
The Senate, In executive session, con-
firmed the following nominations:
George r. Carter. Honolulu, Hawaii.
to be governor of Hawaii; Sanford B.
Dole, Hawaii, district Judge Of the Ter
rttory Of Hawaii
The Senate committee on military af-
fairs will designate a subcommittee to
go to Cuba to take testimony regard
ing the conduct Of General Wood. The
personnel Of the committee has not yet
been agreed upon, nor the number of
members. It is asserted that 80 much
has already been said about the con-
duct of General Wood in Cuba that II
will be necessary to examine witnesses
In that island who cannot come to the
United States.
An order has been issued by the
Postof1ce Department at Washington
by Acting Postmaster General Wynne
calling attention to that section of the
postal laws which excludes all living
insects and reptiles from the mails,
and insisting on its rigid enforcement.
This action is the result of a report
that has reached the department that
specimens Of the Texas boil weevil. an
insect hostile to the cotton plant, have
been found in the mails.
Senator Thomas c. Platt and Gov.
BENJAMIN B. Odell Of New York have
reached an absolute and entire agree
ment politically. Both will work in
perfect harmony with each other, and
with President Roosevelt. This. in brief,
Is said to be the net result of a con-
ference held at the White House re-
Gently. The parties to the conference
were the president Senator Platt, Gov
ernor Odell and Chairman George w.
Dunn of the Republican State Commit
tee Of New York.
But one member of the United States
Senate Is more than eighty years of
age. Mr.. Pettus. the junior senator
from Alabama, who was born in 1921.
Fourteen are between seventy and
eighty. twenty-nine are between sixty
and seventy. and thirty-two between
fifty and sixty. The fifteen who have
crossed the three-score-and-ten line
include both senators from Alabama
and both from Connecticut, besides
Messrs. Teller. Allison, Frye. Hoar.
Gibson. Stewart, Plat OF New York.
Quay, Bate, Proctor and Cullom- The
Constitution Of the United States spe-
cifies thirty as the age requirement for
made good this condition by q safe
margin Of ten years.
Representative Mondell has intro
duced a bill prohibiting the selection
Of timber land in lieu of lands within
nd Vvhtch f011nNryu
the recommendations made by the COM
missioner of the General Land ONCE
in his last annual report. The text
Of the bill follows: mo public lands
Of the United States. chiefly valuable
for the timber they contain. shall be
subject to location or application un-
der the provisions OF the law provid-
ing for <he location, selection and pat
enting of lands in lieu of tracts COW
cred by an unprotected bona fde claim
or patent within a forest reserve. and
any location or selection made or
sought to be made OF lands chiefly val
uablo for the timber they contain, In
lieu Of lands within q forest reserve,
shall be void and Of no effect"
In spite of all reports to the con-
trary, the United States Senate seems
to be growing more youthful. Thirteen
years ago q careful computation was
made. from which 1t appeared that the
average age of its members was sixty
years. There were then only eight who
were less than fifty years old. and one
who was less than forty-hve. To-day
the average is fifty-nine years and
four months. and In a slightly larger
Senate there are fourteen men. instead
Of eight, who are less than fifty, and OF
these eight are less than forty-nve.
This difference is doubtless due to the
new states which have come into the
Union since that time, whose political
leaders were naturally younger men.
The Delaware overturn has also given
the Senate two youthful members. II
is almost . rule that the young states
have young senator's.
President Roosevelt entertained at
luncheon on November Gath representa-
tives Of the labor organizations OF
Butte. Montana The special guests
were Malcolm Giles, president Of the
Long. president Of the Miners Union;
M. R. Dempsey. former president OF
the Miners Union; +. M. Cronin, presi-
dent Of the Hotel and Restaurant
Helpers Union; William Robinson.
former secretary Of the Miners Union;
J. w. Gilbert, president Of the Miners
Union: J. w. Gilbert. president of the
Workingmen's Union, and Frank
Doyle. president of the Trades and La
Dor Assembly. Invited to meet the
labor representatives were Secretary
Corteiyou Of the Department Of Com
merce and Labor. Carol d. Wright,
commissioner Of labor; Represents
tive Dixon OF Montana and Wayne
MacVeagh. former attorney general
and one Of the counsel Of the Pennsyl-
vania coal operators.
The Bureau Of Statistics has issued
the preliminary figures for the Inn
ports and exports Tor 1908, corrected