The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-06-24

is an interesting fact that these long
sessions. entailing hard work for near
ly everybody connected with Congress,
could be avoided If certain men would
refrain from talking. Talk to explain
measures is absolutely necessary, but
talk simply to hear the sound OF ones
voice means an inf1iction. 1t often
happens that In case a man cannot get
what he wants he Will fllibuster and
cause q great deal of Inconvenience
to a majority of members by keeping
them until late hour. And yet tho
man who does this knows that In the
end the majority will have Its way,
But there arc men who Insist upon
talking simply because they want to
circulate their speeches at home for
political effect. This sort of talk kills
time and delays legislation. Then
there are other men who talk simply
because they can't help It, Debate In
both houses Is ostensibly for the pur-
pose Of convincing men, of reasoning
with them and trying to change their
minds. But the great mass of lam
guage that fills the halls OF Congress
day after day is not Intended for, any
such purpose and is put forth to graft
fy the personal vanity Of the wordy
man or for political effect.
What Counts?
And that leads up to another thing.
In this day and generation, with news
papers, with the very best methods OF
disseminating intelligence, is 1t possible
that voters arc influenced by reading
the speeches made by members OF
Congress in Washington? For Nm
stance. are men going to vote one way
or another because they have read
speech on the tariff Tons Of these
speeches are sent out in every cam
paign. every committee headquarters
Is stacked up with them and they are
scattered broadcast among the people.
but how much real effect do they
have? The wise Congressman. the
real politician, knows that a judi
cious distribution Of seeds. the careful
attention TO pension claims and In
religiously performing all the crrands
about the departments counts much
more than the circulated Congressional
speech Thus you viii 1lnd tho wise
Congressman attending TO the wants
Of his constituents rather than In max
Ing or listening to the speeches In tho
House. Speechmaking ability is n
necessary qualification for a man In
Congress who cannot. when an occa-
sion arises, explain bill or an amend
ment that he wants TO pass or defeat
Such a man is worth dozen OF the
kind that can only speak after writing
out or committing his remarks and
awaiting a favorable opportunity TO
unload them. when nothing Is pend
ing to which they apply. But this
does not mean that n man must talk
often and simply for the purpose of
making speech,
District Prohibition.
When Congress gets squarely up
against a proposition relating to the
liquor traffic the prohibition or re-
strictiye element always wins When
the proposition to prevent the sale OF
liquor on military reservations was
first attempted people laughed at the
absurdity of II. especially the aboli-
ton Of post exchanges better known as
"canteens" But II passed. BY shrewd
construction OF the law 1t was ignored
for two or three years. Then strong
er and more drastic provision was
drawn and in such terms that 1t could
not be avoided and II went into effect
The law not only stopped the sale OF
liouor In canteens, but II also affected
| the officers clubs and these had TO
| abandon liquors of all kinds. The time
was when all kinds Of liquors were
sold In the Senate and House res
| taurants Senator Quay secured the
| passage of resolution stopping such
| sale In the Senate wing Of the Capitol
| and Representative Charles b. Lands
| of Indiana had a provision inserted In
| an appropriation bill which stopped
! the sale of liquor In the Capitol and
all other public buildings Recently
! the House has abolished the canteens
! In National soldiers homes and no
! more liquor is to be sold TO the old
! soldiers.
Representative Weber the Prohib.
! ton Republican from Ohio. has beeI
scheduled to secure a law prohibitlns
the sale of liquor In the District OF
| Columbia. No doubt he could secure
votes enough to pass such a measure
! II he could ever get 1t before Congress
! The difficulty Is to get a bill of this
| kind before the members so they have
| to vote yes or no on the question.
Then there is the Hepburn Dolliver
| bill. which proposes to mako liquor
shipped by Interstate commerce from
one State to another subject to the laws
OF the State where It is shipped This
! is intended to meet the original pack
| age decision" which allows liquor
| shipped in original packages to be de-
| liyered in a State even II 1t Is prohi-
| bition State. This bill is not brought
/ before Congress for a vote II 1t should
! be 1t would pass so quickly that 1t
would shock the liquor interests.
Another Plnn.
Another bill which would pass II a
vote could be had upon 1t is that which
prohibits the granting of Government
J internal revenue licenses in States and