Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1906-07-19
Record of a Great Congress.

Except in the first Congress of the
rebellion days, that which met under
Lincoln's call on July 4, 1861, no ses-
sion of any Congress since that which
opened at Washington's inauguration
in 1888 placed so many measures of
important constructive legislation Oh
the statute book as did the session
which ended recently. 1t established
railway rate regulation under the in
terstate commerce commission; proyid
ed for pure food and also for meat In
spection, both under rigid governmental
surveillance; passed q Tree alcohol act,
under which the country will be bene-
flied to the extent of tens of millions of
dollars year; decided on the type Of
canal which is to be built at the 18TH
mus, and thus cleared the way for the
beginning of the active constructive
work, which is to start in a week or
two; gave the finishing touches to the
solution of the Indian problem, which,
in one phase and another, has bothered
the country since Washington's days,
and provided for two new States, which
will transform the last of the territory
of the contiguous part of the United
States into self governing communities.
This roll call of the principal meas
ures which were written into the stat
utes between the first Monday of De
cember 1905, and the last Saturday of
June, 1906, tells a great story of the
earnestness and intelligence of the
President and the practical balance
and sanity OF Congress. President and
Congress were enabled to make this
inspiring record because the great body
of the American people melted them to
their work. Contests between the Pres
ident and one or the other or both
branches of Congress occurred during
the session. The House often found it
self arrayed against the Senate. Some
Of the members of the Presidents par
ty, with the hope of humiliating him
and of dlscrediting measure which he
championed early and enthusiastically,
placed it in charge of a Democrat who
was peculiarly Objectionable to the
President and to the majority of his
party. But all this strife, in its chang
ing phases and shifting groupings, was
quickly ended, and most of the meas
ures of vital concern to the country
were transmitted into laws.
The Santo Domingo and the Alge-
ciras treaties go over to next December,
in the short session. The Philippine
tariff bill was Enacted on in the Senate
and the shipping bill was not taken up
in the House, these measures, in each
case, having passed the other branch.
Federal regulation of insurance, which
the President urged, and for which a
bill was introduced in the Senate by
Mr.. Dryden, the head of a great insur-
ance company, was decided against in
committee in each branch of Congress-
The leading lawyers of Senate and
House declared that supervision on the
lines urged by the President by Sena-
tor Dryden and by many members of
each branch, would be contrary to the
constitution. That probably ends all
attempts to regulate insurance by fed
eral law and relegates the whole ques-
Guiding New York, have already en-
acted laws to deal with some of the
abuses in the insurance business which
have recently been developed. Proba-
bly, the Santo Domingo and Algeciras
treaties will be ratified by the Senate
in the coming session. Senator Lodge
and other friends of Philippine tariff
reduction believe that their chamber
will pass the House bill next winter.
Some of the shipping bills advocates
say that measure is sure TO receive the
sanction of the House in the coming
session. But, while regretting the fail
ure of some of these measures. the
country recognizes that Congress did
work notably great in its extent and
its value. In many measures issues not
previously touched upon by Congress
were dealt with. New paths had to be
blazed in several directions. GordiaD
knots, which were found to be too com
plicated to be united, were cut. Some
of the work which was done is, in some
degree, experimental. New departures
had to be made, and it is possible that,
In one or two instances, steps may have
to be retraceG or starts made in a little
different direction. This is a posi-
bility which always presents itself
when new paths are marked out. But
for any new contingency which may
present itself the country will be pre-
pared. The poise and the sanity which
have written themselves into the work
of the past few months will be able to
undo, to extend or to modify any part
of it if experience steps in to dictate a
change In the annals of the countrys
development III the opening years of
the century, the work of the first SEES
sion of the Fifty-ninth Congress will
hold conspicuous place.-St. Louis
Globe Democrat
The New State of Oklahoma.
No sooner had Congress passed the
enabling act, admitting Oklahoma and