Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1906-05-08

ViNUOj0/ID
When motion is made and carried
in the United States senate that the
Senate proceed to the consideration of
| executive business, the galleries are
cleared, the doors are closed, sud Il
secret session begins. Executive busi-
ness" is that in which the assent of
| the Senate is necessary to the acts of
the President, the chief executive, such
as tariffs and nominations to office 1t
has become customary to cali a secret
session of the Senate an executive ses-
sion Oddly enough. all sorts 1f socie-
lies and committees have adopted the
phrase, and now almost any meeting
Behind closed doors is Incorrectly
| called an executive session" The
wisdom of attempting secrecy in GER
tain deliberations of the Senate is app
parent. In discussing the fitness Of the
Presidents selections for Office many
facts can be brought out in private
conference which should not be spread
the country. Senators would not speak
as freely as they ought If these We're
the conditions Whatever leaks" out
! now is unofficial But il is in the con-
sideration of treaties that the secret
| session is most necessary. \ President
often has reasons for the adoption Of
a certain policy, which would be upset
| if all the world knew what these were.
! All the sessions of the Senate in the
| First Congress We're secret. as were
those of the convention which drafted
the Federal Constitution. Much of the
important committee work of Congress
is still done behind closed doors.
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The first amendment of the national
| Constitution denies to Congress, the
right to abridge the privilege of petit
tioning the government for the redress
of grievances. That the American peo-
pie make large use of the privilege is
shown by the overlooking petition
box on the Speakers desk in the
House of Representatives, ana by the
records of morning bus ness in the Sen
ate, in which body petitions are formal
| ly presented. Congress inclines to at
tach less Importance to petitions which
seem to be 'machine-made' than to
! those which appear to be from citizens
who of their own motion ask for some
! thing. lt is notorious that many. per-
| hapS, most men and women are will
ing to sign almost any petition that is
| presented to them. and hence il is
never certain that IA large number of
the signers really care anything about
| the cause they seem to advocate. Yet
| by far the greater number Of petitions
are the result of concerted movement
! The leaders of an organization favor
ing proposed legislation ask each lodge
or chapter or church or union or local
group to petition for it, and usually
they receive signatures in ample num-
Der.
Postmaster General Cortelyou has
recommended to Congress the adoption
| of the new postal note in denomina
! Tons running from l cent to $3.50 as
an ampiihcation of the present money
order system. 1t would afford con
venient means for transmitting small
sums of money through the mail. 1t is
| proposed that notes of the denomi,.a-
| ton from / to 10 be sold at their face
value without a Fee A fee of / cent
would be charged for notes from 10 to
40 cents, and cents for notes from
80 cents to $3.50. TO carry out the law
an appropriation of $150,0OO is asked.
-: 4
The House naval committee favors
the construction of the largest battle
ship in the world, one which, when
armed and armored, will have COS, as
much as 100000. 1t will he in the
neighbOrhood of 10000 tons displace-
ment The present bill is to carry an
appropriation of 100000 for the hull
and machinery alone Other vessels
to be authorized are three torpedo
boat destroyers and a number Of sub
marines. Provision is made for the re-
pair Of the old warship Constitution
as a show vessel The naval bill win
carry a total of 500, 10000
-
The Bureau of Labor has been di-
Tected by the President to investigate
thoroughly the charges brought by or
gained labor that the national eight
hour law is being violated in many
cases. At the same time the officers of
the American Federation of Labor
have been urged by the President to
transmit any evidence they may pos
pess to Commissioner Of Labor O'Neill.
1t may be true that agnostcism Is
spreading in the United States. but in
Washington it is still the custom TO
profess religion. The President, Vice
President and all of the nine cabinet
councillors are avowed members of
some denominations Presbyterianism
and its allied creeds claim the majority
of those distinguished families
-
Formal greetings were exchanged be-
tween President Roosevelt and the
Emperor Of China on the occasion Of
the opening of the Commercial Pacific
cable office at Shanghai. thus making
the first direct cable connection between
the United States and Asia This is
the last link Of the cable which runs
between San Francisco, Honolulu.
Guam, and Manila, nearly 10000 miles
of cable which has been laid at an
average depth of 2,64G fathoms.
-:
The Secretary of the Interior is con-
sidering an irrigation project that
will, if adopted, make the State Of
Washington Sj0OO0,O00 richer 1t In
rn1rns thn 11sinr If thn tratnra nf tI,n