The Washington herald., 1907-12-26
BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN

and cigarette papers. He proposes to
prohibit absolutely the transmission Of
these two commodities into any state
where their sale is prohibited by law
Senator Penrose has scruples about send
ing money orders on Sunday, and has
introduced a bin prohibiting their sale
or the registry OF a letter on that day.
Representative Birdsaii wants railway
cars automatically ventilated. and has
introduced bill 10 that end. Represent
atlve Dalzeil wants 10 get after the fel-
low who starts a run on a national bank.
He has introduced a bill making ii a
mlsdemeanOr for any one 10 make al
untrue statement about a national bank,
and makes the penalty a fine OF not more
than 500. and Imprisonment at hard
labor for not more than i've years.
Representative Sheppard. Of Texas, has
introduced a bill providing for a contest
open 70 the whole world 70 determine the
best safety appliances for railroad trains
He proposes that large prizes shall be
given so as TO attract the inventive genius
Of the whole world. His intention is TO
find the best appliances there are, and
then require interstate roads 10 equip
their trains with them. Representative
Fulton has been as busy in the proposing
Of new laws as he has been in offering
amendments TO the Constitution he has
introduced a bin 10 allow citizens TO ex-
press Jhei- views on matters of public
policy by ballot. voting for or against
propositions at the same time they vote
for Presidential candidates. Another bill
by him proposes 10 stop the circulation
Of market quotations OF the kind used IN
stock gambling.
Perhaps the most remarkable bill ever
introduced in Congress was one by
Robert Baker. the pioneer -anti-pass
Representative" from Brooklyn. II was
So remarkable that even Mr.. Baker felt
constrained 10 indO-se il by request"
20 show that he was not responsible for
il. The man who drew il was James
Seldom Cowden. who had run for Congress
in FIVE districts, who wanted 10 make a
canal out Of the Mississippi River. and
who wanted a commission from the
government 10 drain all the waste lands
Of the Mississippi Valley. This bill which
he drew provided for a reorganizs ton OF
the government There were 10 be thirty
two departments under his plan, incluc-
ing the department OF public laUndries.
the department OF public baths, the de-
partment Of public restaurants. Each de-
partment was 70 be headed by a cabinet
officer, with a salary Of $500 a year.
The currency was 10 be changed into
a receivable issue instead OF a redeemabIe
one. His plan was for all men 10 try 70
get poor instead CT rich. He had visited
the land Of the kOsekins that exists
somewhere beyond the ends Of the earth.
where opsy-turvydom reigns, and since
then he was sent 10 the Government Hos
pital for the Insane. where he gets plenty
Of assistance in drawing his new laws
His bin covered some twenty pages.
and there had 10 be four hundred copies
OF il printed. Yet Il was but one Of about
5000 introduced during the Fifty-ninth
Congress that had no better chance OF
being enacted into laws That Congress
outdid every one preceding IL IN the num-
Der Of bills introduced, there having been
nearly $500. OF these. about 5000 had
their origin in the House. No one has
ever had the hardihood TO try TO foot Up
accurately the total appropriations asked
for in these bills. but II is more than
probable that every member Of the Sen
ate and House asked for ten times as
much as he got. and some OF them a
hundred times as much
Il Is very probable that II the total ap-
propriations and authorized expenditures
carried by the bills introduced in the
Fifty-ninth Congress had become law
they would have caused Uncle Sam 10
pay ont ten billion dollars. Representa-
tive BrOwnlow is the champion bill in
troducer Of Congress. The two years for
which a Congress lives are lost time with
him IL he does not get five hundred bills
20 his credit Wyatt Aiken. Of South
Carolina, holds the record for bills which
became laws N the Fifty-ninth Congress.
there being twenty-nine 70 his credit. 70
say nothing Of two public buildings which
went in al his instance. Several OF them
were bills for building dams on navigable
streams IN his district One night he
had Senator Frye put five Of these
through in a single hour The Senate
heard its grave member from Maine an
nounce that he had five dam bills he
wanted 10 get through. Everybody looked
I'D in astonishment to hear. as they
thought. an oath in the Senate chamber
from the lips Of so dignified a man as the
senior Senator from Maine. But when he
completed his statement they found that
he had simply peTpetrated one Of the best
puns Of the session
TO-mOrrOw-The American Sweet