Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-12-07
Dental Corps For Fighters.

"
to matters Of this kind.
Dental Corps For Fighters.
A bill left over from the long session
which is Of unique interest is the one
designed to create dental corps for
the army and navy. 1t is proposed by
Uncle Sam that the teeth Of our sol
diers and seamen shall be preserved
officially. Just what effect this meas
ure, If passed. will have OH the plug
tobacco industry or the toothbrush
trnde is not capable of definite analysis.
"Our outlying possessions" some
times called our colonial dependencies,
have furnished much ground for 'legis-
lation and still more for peppery de-
bate since we got the Philippines and
Porto Rico, not to speak of Guam. Two
important bills respecting our island
friends are to be taken up again In this
session, One of these is the Philippine
tariff. Secretary Taft, it is understood.
Is prepared to force the administration
measure for reduction on Philippine
goods. The president is said to favor
even free trade for the Philippines.
The other measure mentioned Is the
bill to make the Inhabitants Of Porto
Rico American citizens. President
Roosevelt is heartily In favor Of this
measure. On his recent visit to Porto
Rico he assured the admiring populace
that he would do all in his power to
make them citizens Of the United
States.
The supreme court Of the United
States decided on Dec 2. 1901, that the
Porto Ricans We're not ipso facto clti-
zens. This government established
about thousand schools In the island,
where six years ago only about II per
cent of the people could read or write.
1t Is understood that the illiteracy has
been greatly decreased The popula-
ton Of the island in 1899 was 953, 343.
OF these 5S9,426 were whites. 304, 1852
mulattoes, $1,000 full blooded negroes
and 70 Chinese Many Of the whites
are high class Spaniards, educated in
Spain or the United States. Porto Rico
is about thousand miles from the
United States mainland. II congress
makes United States citizens out of the
island people, as indicated at present,
the next step must be to create the ter
ritory Of Porto Rico, with delegate in
congress. Then we shall have regu
larly constituted island territory, with
possibility of future statehood, on each
side of the main country, Hawaii being
the western representative Of our oce-f
anic twins.
Swamp Reclamation.
One Of the bills left over from the
long session which is Of great impor-
lance to the people of many sections Is
the proposition ; to reclaim swamp
lands. For this purpose 1t Is proposed
to appropriate funds somewhat after
the manner Of the appropriations for
Irrigation purposes. By that act. passed
q few years ago, millions of acres Of
semiarid land in the great west are
being made into fertile farms. Money
obtained from the sale of public lands
goes into the irrigation fund. There
are immense areas Of swamp or semi
swamp land in the United States. This
land requires only a proper system OF
drainage to make it the most fertile
agricultural soil in America. It is
argued by the advocates Of the swamp
reclamation bill that IL Uncle Sam can
afford to pour water on the desert he
can afford to drain water out of the
swamps, the end In view being identi
cal in each case.
AS to new legislation, there seems to
be some prospect Of the Introduction
Of an income tax measure. The pres
ident, it is known, favors both an In
come tax and an Inheritance tax. Ten
years ago the income tax plank in the
Democratic platform and the accom-
panying remarks concerning the defeat
Of the income tax law by majority
Of one against its constitutionality In
the supreme court became something
Of an issue. Now the administration
appears to stand for the enactment of
an income tax law, and some legisla-
ton along that line may be expected.
It is probable also that at this SEES
sion the advocates of federal statute
regulating marriage and divorce may
succeed In placing this question before
congress. Though there is wide d.
vergence Of opinion regarding the
stringency or laxity Of divorce laws,
there seems to be unanimity In favor
of a uniform law for all the states and
territories. This problem, being very
delicate one, is not to be settled for
once and all in three months ses-