Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-03-12

ing to give ten cents for every 1902
cent. 1t was inferred that the latter
contained enough gold to make this a
profitable investment for the govern
ment. AS consequence the treas
ury has been beseiged by crowds of
men women and children with packets
and bags full of 1902 pennies. The
cashier at the treasury said that 1T
would seem as though the little boys
OF Washington had collected all the
1902 pennies in the city with the BEAU
tiful vision of growing suddenly rich
The anxious crowd has been regularly
sent away with the sad information
that the story was nothing more than
a sensational press canard.
A very insistent young lady, living
in Des Moines, wrote Senator Dolliver
the other day demanding that ne give
her a civil service position because she
had passed the examination success
fully, and the influence of Iowa's SEN
ators and delegation at the capital
ought to do the rest Her letter Show
ed serious misunderstanding OF the
civil service rules which exists in the
minds of many other people. Passing
the examination is of course the first
thing. The second step is simply to
wait. There is nothing on earth that
can hurry the appointment to the SER
vice. 1t is positively against the law
for Senator Dolliver or any other legis
lator to try to push the claims of any
of his friends or constituents. Each
state has waiting list at the civil
service commission and the names
there are taken in their regular order
with absolute fairness to the states
and to the individuals. All that Sen
ator Dolliver could do for his anxious
Des Moines friend was to see that her
name was properly on the waiting list
and this he did.
Now that it is all over
the democrats who led the
filibustering the last few days
of congress are beginning to realize
that the history of the house contains
no action more insane. Some of the
wiser and older leaders, such as Champ
Clar, Williams of Mississippi, ETC., had
nothing to do with this matter from
the start And those who did uphold
the tactics got uneasy and disguised
towards the last. Major Lacey's pa
thence gave out the day before adjourn
ment and in warm little speech he
took few shots at the democrats that
they found impossible to dodge. Here
we are" he said, within twenty hours
of the final falling of the speakers
gavel. There are forty-seven bills on
the speakers table, all awaiting action,
and they concern one side of the house
as much as the other. At the north
end of the capitol nothing can be done
except by unanimous consent; OBJ
structionists are running riot. And so,
with twenty hours of this congress re-
naming with this amount of bust
ness pressing for action, priceless
hours are being wasted by demands
for wholly unnecessary roll calls.
desire to furnish at this time a few
facts for the Record that think ought
to go to the country. In the last ses-
sion of congress running seven months
we had in all. Sc roll calls. In the pres
ent legislative day, commencing Feb
ruary &c and ending March s, We have
now had &c roll calls. There are upon
the speakers table forty-seven meas
ures, house bills with senate amend
ments, vainly awaiting action. One of
these is to mark the graves of the con-
| federates who died in the north or
who had been in the cemeteries of the
nation. This is a bill which should
be near to the hearts of the gentlemen
of the other side. 1t lies on the speak
er's table and you talk of patriotism! :"
| The democrats accomplished abso-
lutely nothing by their action. The
vitality important bills of the session
were gotten through anyway The
! blockade was begun when the republi-
cans attempted ito unseat Representa-
| tive Butler of ST. Louis. When they
accomplished this it was thought that
the democratic leaders would have
sense enough to quit. But the blood of
certain hot ones was up, and the conse
quences We're not seen until too late
| In spite Of the advice of the house
leader, and in spite of urgent messages
that came over from democratic lead
ers in the senate to stop the idiotic
| proceeding" the blockade was kept
up and the country plainly shown
where the blame must be put for the
loss of the volume of important legis-
lation that might hove gone through
in the closing hours. A ludicrous eli
max to the nonsense came the last
day, when there was some attempt at
opposition to the resolution of thanks
to Speaker Henderson When opposi
ton votes were called for only seven
teen struggling democrats arose. Not
ond of the alleged leaders who had been
at the front in the filibustering fight
| had the courage to arise, and those
get up were mostly young men who
had been following in the wake of the
older men and thought this was to be
part of the program. One of them
was heard to express his Indignation
afterward at such treatment and to file
his oath that he would never take
part in any more filibustering.
The extra session of the senate is
not expected to develop much of es-
pecial interest. Only two matters of
Importance are to be considered, the
canal and Cuba, and it is settled fact
that both will be ratified in time.
Senator Allison said today that he
thought the session might take about
IL