West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1906-03-15

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to the Hepburn bill are destined &c
be fought out.
Another effort is being made on
the part of Porto Rico to secure
home rule. The complaint Of the
islanders now is not that they are
no' we'll governed, but they fear
that at some future time they might
not be SO well treated under the
form OF government that now exists
IN the island. The res ident Com
missioner, Mr.. Lartinga, has ap-
pealed directly to the President to
exert his influence with Congress TO
extend absolute autonomy to the
island This OF course the Presi.
dent is not likely TO do. He has
enough on his hands with Congress
at the pr sent session without pull.
ing on fight over Porto Rico.
which. is doing very well as il is.
But the Porto Ricans, according to
the commissioner, are feeling very
agsf'eved over the way they are
being held by the United States and
yet denied the rights Of citizenship
or self government. They say in
fact that there is less self povern-
ment in the island now than there
was under the Spanish regime.
But they admit the government
is better. Back of this appeal
there is another thing, just a little
thing, which il adjusted would quite
satisfy the autonomous longings of
the natives. That is the need of a
tariff on coffee in favor OF Porto
Rico. They have 1t figured out and
the calculation was laid before the
Presiden', that tariff of five cents
pound would amount to only
about fifth of cen, meal for
the average family and 1t would
greatly stimulate the production of
coffee in the island. Doubtless il
would, and with that much encour-
agement 1t probably would stimulate
the enterprising capitalists OF the
United States to reach out and
absorb the whole of the coffee
growing industry in not only Porto
Rico but in the Philippines and
Hawaii as we'll. The claim Of the
inhabitants of Porto Rico is that
under this stimulous the United
States would in FIVE years be raising
all the coffee consumed. This
might also be true. But the inhabi.
tan,s Of Porto Rico must be mighty
poorly informed of the situation in
the U ited States if they think the
Speaker is going to let the House
get started on the tariff revision
subject this session.
Time is drawing close for vote
on the live stock transportation bill
which is drawn with view 10 in
creasiDg the suferings of all cattle
tIansportated to market IN the
United States. There IS being a
strong fight made against the bill by
the Humane Societies and an appeal
is being circulated to each con
gresssmen TO vote against the
measure when it comes up on the
floor Of the House. This appeal
doubtless will have some effect.
But there is another way in which
every voter interested in killing the
measure can bring influence to bear
on the congressman from his parti-
cuIar district. That is by going TO
the local manager OF the con
gressman's campaign, and nearly
every congressman has such a local
manager and stating the case to
him. Pressure brought in this way
will be quickly transmitted to Wash
ington. The bill in question pro-
poses to extend the time that cattle
may be transported without food or
water from 28 to SO hours. The
conditions are bad enough now,
but the proposed measure for some
reason has the support Of the Sec
rotary Of agriculture and would
make the lot Of the cattle fully eight
hours worse The bill in ali prob
ability will be fayorably reported.
and the only way TO kill it will be
on the floor OF the House. And
this can be done only by getting
heavy pressure on every Con
gresham TO vote against il.
Cutting OF the nose TO spite the
face in an old trick usually ascubed
to idiots. There is a sample of it
in Chicago now. The city's new
directory is in course Of preparation.
Twenty-Five thousand printers in
The city arc on strike, and the di.
rectory is being printed by the op
position, that is, by printers not IN
sympathy with The strike. In order
to site somebody, it's not very
clear who il will be, the striking
printers have agreed that they will
all give 10 their names 10 the new
as I0hn Smith II tbev