Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-12-06
concur and commend the matter to the
favorable consideration Of the con


l am well aware of how difficult Il IS
to pass constitutional amendment
Nevertheless, In my Judgment, the
whole question Of marriage and divorce
should be relegated to the authority OF
the. national congress. At present the
wide differences in the laws of the diff
ferent states on this subject result in
scandals and abuses, and surely there
is nothing SO vitality essential to the
welfare of the nation, nothing around
which the nation should so bend itself
to throw every safeguard, as the home
life of the average citizen. The change
would be good from every standpoint.
In particular 1t would be good because
1t would confer on the congress the
power at once to deal radically and eff
ficiently with polygamy, and this
should be done whether or not mar
rage and divorce are dealt with 1t Is
neither safe nor proper to leave the
question of polygamy to be dealt with
by the several states. Power to deal
with 1t should be conferred on the ma
tional government.
When home ties are loosened, when
men and women cease to regard a
worthy family life, with all its duties
fully performed and all its RESPONSE
billties lived up to as the life best
worth living, then evil days for the
commonwealth are at hand. There
are regions in our land and classes of
our population where the birth rate
has sunk below the death rate. Sure
~ 1T Should need no demonstration to
show that willful sterility is, from the
standpoint of the nation, from the
standpoint of the human race, the one
sin for which the penalty is national
death, race death, sin for which
there Is no atOnement, sin which is
the more dreadful exactly In proper
ton as the men and women guilty
thereof are in other respects, in char
acter and bodily and mental powers,
those whom for the sake of the state
1t would be well to see the fathers and
mothers of many healthy children,
well brought up In homes made happy
by their presence. No man, no wo-
man, can shirk the primary duties Of
life, whether for love OF ease and
pleasure or for any other cause, and
retain his or her self respect.
American Shipping.
Let me once again call the atten-
tion OF the congress to two subjects
concerning which have frequently
before communicated with them One
Is the question of developing American
shipping. | trust that law embody-
ing In substance the views or II major
part of the views expressed in the re-
port on this subject laid before the
house at Its last session will be passed.
am we'll aware that in former years
Objectionable measures have been pro-
posed In reference to the encourage
ment Of American shipping, but it
seems to me that the proposed meas
ure Is as nearly rlnobjectionable as
any can be. 1t will of course benefit
primarily our seaboard stntes-slch as
Maine, Louisiana and Washington
but what benefits part of our people In
the end benefits all, just as govern
ment aid to irrigation and forestry in
the west is really of benefit not only
to the Rocky mountain states, but to
all our country. II 1t prove imprac-
tlcable to enact law for the encour-
agement Of shipping generally, then
at least provision should be made for
better communication with South
America, notably for fast mail lines
to the chief South American ports. 1t
is discreditable to us that our business
people, for lack Of direct communica-
ton in the shape of lines Of steamers
with South America, should in that
great sister continent be at disad-
vantage compared to the business peo-
pie of Europe.
Currency Reform.
especially call your attention to the
second SUBJECTIVE condition Of our
currency laws. The national bank act
has ably served a great purpose in
aiding the enormous business develop
ment Of the country, and within ten
years there has been an increase in
circulation per capita from $21.41 to
$33.08. For several years evidence has
been accommodating that additional leg
islation is needed. The recurrence OF
each crop season emphasizes the de-
fects of the present laws. There must
soon be revision of them, because to
leave them as they are means to incur
liability Of business disaster. Since
your body adjourned there has been a
| fuctuation in the interest on call mon
| ey from 2 per cent to 80 per cent, and
the fuctuation was even greater dur
ing the preceding six months. The sec
| rotary of the treasury had to step in
and by wise action put stop to the
most violent period Of oscillation.
Even worse than such fuctuation is
the advance in commercial rates and
the uncertainty felt in the suficiency
of credit even at high rates. All com
mercial interests suffer during each
| crop period. Excessive rates for call
money In New York attract money
from the interior banks into the specu-
lative field. This depletes the fund