Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1906-07-18

to make that con trN as weak and:
Intellectual as possible, and then
when the. bills had been emascu-s
lated as far as possible, those.
skulkers came up and voted for
them in order to be in position
to claim, that they we're friends;
of the people. But in spite of all
these efforts to hinder, some
thing was accomplished by con-
gress, and the disappearance of
party lines was the great factor
that is responsible for what was
accomplished. Had the friends
of corporations been able to make
partizan questions of the pro-
posed reforms they could have
defeated most if not all of them.
They tried desperately to make
the rate issue democratic issue
when they put it in Tillman's
hands, but the trick failed. The
democrats would have been glad
to have the responsibility for the
rate bill thrown on their party.
It would have been beaten, of
course, but they would then have
had a splendid issue on which to
appeal to the people this fall.
The republicans who were not
mere corporation tools recog-
nized this and refused to fall in
to Aldrich's trap.
Thus we saw the inspiring
sight of members of congress
acting as responsible individuals
instead of as mere cogs in a po-
litical machine, and the result
was more than could have been
anticipated, tho far from what is
needed.
The rate bill was probably
juggled so that it will not amount
to very much when the supreme
court gets thru with it; but it's
passage is an acknowledgment
that the railroads are public SER
wants and that it is the proper
sphereof the government to regu-
late and control the means of
transportation. Having taken
that position it remains for the
government to try various means
of control until ineffective one is
discovered and applied.
The pure food bill has been be-
fore congress for many years but
not until the sham fight between
parties was abandoned and real
work was taken up did it stand a
ghost of a show. Now it is on
the statute books of the nation,
placed there by an almost unani-
nous vote.
The meat inspection bill was
passed the same way. It is an
attempt in the same direction as
the pure food law, to protect the
consumers against deleterious
substances in their food. What
the results will be remains to be
seen, but the attempt is in the
right direction.
The new naturalization law
aims to make it difficult for the
ignorantand clannishimmigrants
from southern Europe to become
citizens. It is generally conceded
that that class of voters in the
large cities is one of the most
potent weapons in the hands of
political corruptionists, and the
bill was prepared for the purpose
of shutting out that class. In
doing this it will of course shut
out some others who would make
good citizens, but that is un-
avoidable. After the 9th of
September this year, naturali-
zation papers will be granted only
by federal courts. The applicant
must be able to speak English, if
he can speak at all, the only ex-
,ception being for those who have
filed homestead claims before the
law goes into effect.
The new law in regard to per-
sonal injury cases is about as
radical a s piece of legislation
against the railroads as has ever
been passed in congress, and
shows that the. legislators have
more respect for the organized
laborers than they have for the
majority Of thepeople. Itthrows
such cases into the federal courts;
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