The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1906-01-11
! WAyHINGTON~%
t& f. r NEWCa

Kentucky Legislature to succeed Black
burn. with six votes to spare. Senator
Blackburn, who stood game. accepted
his defeat like a soldier, and in a
speech Immediately following the first
ballot. which settled one of the most
| fiercely contested Senatorial elections
i'm the history of Kentucky. pledged
his loyal support to Senator elect
Paynter. Senator Blackburn has rep
resented Kentucky in the House or
Senate for nearly 25 years. with q brief
intermission. The defeat is bitter. for
it means the beginning of new things
down there i'm the Democratic Party
Gratis have ever turned Blackburn
down. 1t may not be generally known,
out Blackburn has generally chosen to
wear q gray business suit in the SEN
ate Chamber, a real Confederate gray.
He is the last of the Senators from the
South who will do this i'm all prob
ability.
Postmaster-G General Cortelyou made
public the following statement on Tues
day. the day of the nomination of
Paynter, regarding the claim made by
Senator Blackburn, of Kentucky, that
some of his private mail was tempered
with:
referring to the investigation made
by the Post Office Department to ascer-
tain the facts in the case of irregular
handling of mail at Frankfort, KY. the
report of the Post Office Inspector has
been received. 1t shows that the mis-
treatment of it was due to the careless
ness of clerks in the Frankfort Post
Office. No evidence that the mail was
tempered with designedly i'm the
Frankfort Post Office or elsewhere was
found
The extent of Government encour-
agement i'm the building of country
roads is shown i'm report just issued
by the Office of Public Roads of the
Department of Agriculture. In the last
year q roads were built by the Gov
eminent in different sections of the
country. 1t is the purpose of the De-
partment to build the best roads posi-
BILE out Of the most available material.
In the roads built. stone, shale, burnt
clay, sand-clay, shell, gravel, and mari
were used.
A comparative statement of cost is
given which shows that macadam roads
have maximum cost of SO cents, and
an average cost of So cents per square
yard; sand and clay roads cost 81
cents, burnt clay, 20 cents, and shell,
"a cents per square yard. OF the OBJ
ject lesson roads built, three were in
Ohio, one in Illinois, three in Missouri
one in Kansas, two in Washington, one
in Texas, one i'm Louisiana and seven
in Florida.
In the Mississippi delta the lack of
suitable road building material has at
tracted much attention to the problem
there. 1t is believed that it is to be
solved by the burnt clay or "gumbo"
process, which is described in detail i'm
the report. A road of this character
was constructed at Clarkesdale, Miss.
with such success that the county
board has appropriated $4,000 to con-
tinue the work.
To build up the Engineering Corps of
the Department, the plan has been
adopted to employ each year a number
of graduates of engineering schools, at
$50 per month and field expenses, for
one year, after which they may be pro-
NOTED.
Complete statistics as to the cost Of
roads in each County in the country are
being prepared and will be available
during the year.
There are SO bound volumes. COM
prising a thousand petitions in the
Reed Smoot case which will be filed
with the Secretary of the Senate as
soon as the committee submits its re-
port. The petitions are being bound in
New York. The names of more than
100000 women have been affixed
pleading with the Senate to take
stand for the purity of the home.
Before the report is submitted to the
Senate the committee will endeavor to
obtain the exact language of the test
oath taken in the endowment house
to which Smoot subscribed while boy
Several witnesses have sworn to having
taken this oath, but the exact wording
has not been fully established. Senator
Smoot himself, when on the stand, re-
fused to repeat the oath as he remem-
bered it. The first oath taken, accord
ing to one witness. imposes an Obliga-
ton on the subject which is calculated
to deter one from gossiping among his
neighbors about it. AS near as the wit
ness can remember. the oath was adj
mnistered in this language:
You, and eacn Of you, do solemnly
promise and VOW that you will not re-
veal this the first token of the Aaronic
priesthood, with it's accompanying
name, sign. and penalty. Should I do
SO / agree that my throat be cut from
ear to ear and my tongue cut out by
its roots from my mouth" This quick
shift in the personal pronoun is said
| to be hardly correct, but 1t is argued
that the witness may have been excited
There are several other vows includ-
ing the VOW of vengeance, which is in
TINS language: THAT you, and each of
you, do promise and VOW that you will
never cease to importune high heaven
| to avenge the blood of the prophets
upon the nations of the earth or the in
habitants of the earth" The last wit
ness to take the endowment oath OBJ
| tainable so far is August W. Lund-
strum, who swore that he took this OBJ
/ legation: And we ask Thee, God, the
| Eternal Father, TO avenge the blood of
| Joseph Smith upon this nation"
1t has been brought out in the testf-
| mony that the test oaths have never
| been changed, and for this reason il is
especially desirable that the exact
words employed be known, SO that the
Senate may understand the obligations
Senator Smoot assumed.
Here is tit-for-tat proposition from
| Representative GroSvenor, of Ohio He
| believes that If the railroads can save
| $10,o00.000 a year by withdrawing all
passes over their lines they will be So
| 100000 better able to carry the United
States mails for that much less. So
| Gen. Grosvenor proposes to cut lust thai
amount off from the annual appropria-
ton for carrying the United States
mails.
| Chairman Tawney, of the House Ap-
| preparations Committee-which by the
way. is Pathological, as there is but one
lot