Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1907-01-14
NOT SLAP AT GENERAL WOOD
Reasons Assigned for Cutting of Rank
Of Lieutenant General.
DAWSON TO RESCUE OF PEARL BUTTON
Iowa COngressman Trying 60 Find n
Way 20 Increase the Production
of the Fresh water Clam
or Mussel.
(From a Stan Correspondent

record in opposition to the grade of lieu
tenant general While the army appropria-
! tion bill was under consideration this week
in the lower branch of congress- Repre-
sentative Dalzell of Pennsylvania, in re-
porting rule permitting the house to vote
on the question whether the grade should
close with the present holder Of the dis
| tinguished rank, General Arthur MacAr-
thur, said:
Il believe that there is an opinion pre-
vailing that 1t was a mistake to create
the office Of lieutenant general for any
officer after the death of General Sheri-
! dan; that the distinction should have been
confined to Generals Grant, Sherman and
| Sheridan. But as often as one officer after
another of the civil war attained to the
position where he would be entitled to this
place, If it was to be created, congress felt
! 1t would be unfair to deprive him of what
! his predecessors had had. The reason that
/ existed for giving this distinction to these
officers has now ceased to exist. All the
officers of the civil war who would be
entitled by reason of their seniority to
become lieutenant generals have been pro-
vided for, and If the office is to continue
1t will be conferred hereafter upon those
who have no connection with the civil
war.
Il want to say here 1t is great mis-
take to assume, as l have heard 1t as
| sumed on the outside, that this measure
Is aimed at the interest of some any
army officer. The measure is intended.
l think, by the house to be passed as a
measure of justice because the reason
existing for the creation of the office
has ceased, and the Office should likewise
cease with the reason. The legislation has
no particular party or parties in view"
! 1t is generally understood that Mr.. Dal-
zell was referring to General Leonard
Wood, now in the Philippines, but shortly
/ to assume control of the Atlantic division
when he disclaimed that the legislation was
aimed 'at the interest of some or any
army officer"
The grade of lieutenant general has had
| series of ups and downs since the be-
ginning of the government. Washington
was the first lieutenant general and died
with that rank, although in 1899 the grade
| of general of the armies was created
\ by congress, but the act did not take eff
feet so far Washington was concerned,
because he died few months after the
| creation of the title and before the law
became effective.
Scott was made a lieutenant general by
| brevet in 1856 The grade was revived in
1864 with Grant. who became general of
lieutenant general in 1869 and Sheridan In
1888, on whose death both grades. gen.
eral and lieutenant general, became ex-
! tinct. Scoheld was appointed lieutenant
| general in 1885. In 1900 congress enacted
! that the senior major general should have
| the rank of lieutenant general, which is
now the law. The action of the house,
however abolishes the rank of lieutenant
general, the grade ceasing with the retire
| ment of the present holder of that rank
| Arthur Macarthur. who retires in 1909
The legislation in nowise affects those on
the retired list holding the grade.
Dawson Promises Well.
Albert f. Dawson of the Second Iowa
! district bids fair to become one of the
| strong men of the house of representatives.
| II there is anything in training Albert
| Dawson has every reason to expect a use
full and maybe distinguished career in the
| lower branch of congress. For several
years he was the confidential secretary of
| William b. Allison one OF the great lead
ers of the republican party in the United
| States senate. Dawson took the nomina-
| tion for congress in the Second Iowa dis
trict which has been looked upon as
safely democratic, but in the Roosevelt
landslide of 1904 he beat Judge Wade by
Iowa delegation. Mr. Dawson was renom-
mated for the sixtieth congress and con-
siderably increased his majority During
the first session of the Fifty-ninth congress
the young congressman from the Second
| Iowa district made his speech on the
| American Hen" which attracted nation
wide attention, and now he is directing
| all his energies toward the perpetuation
of the pearl button industry, which thrives
| in his district.
The pearl button industry, coupled with
! the manufacture Of pearl button machinery
amounts to about $40, ,OOO 900 a year, 81. .5OOO 900
| of which is contributed to the mussel
| fishermen in the Second Iowa district II
is we'll known that pearl buttons are made
| from fresh water mussels taken from the
Mississippi, Missouri and Arkansas rivers
So large has the industry become that the
mussel beds in these rivers are becoming
| exhausted just as the oyster beds along
the Chesapeake and rivers emptying into
that bay are becoming depleted, requiring
state legislation to protect the beds from
oyster pirates.
Mr.. Dawson, with an eye TO continue the
pearl button industry in his district, be-
lieves that the raw material can be per
petuated. and has taken up with the sci
entists connected with the Shell Fish com
mission in Maryland and one of the most
] famous biologists in the United States
/ Prof. Gilman A. Drew OF the University
of Maine who, by the way, is an Iowa
| boy, the habits Of the musseI with a view
OF ascertaining II the seed cannot be propa-
gated Do you know anything about the
! life history of a mussel? 1t is extremely
interesting. The mussel lays its eggs in
an egg pouch in the fall OF the year. In
the spring those eggs, being released, float
around In the water, and the only ones
which survive attach themselves TO the
side OF fish, as a parasite. They remain
there and grow until they obtain an adult
structure, when they fall of and go TO the
bottom Of the river TO make the fresh
water mussel from which the pearl button
of commerce is made. II is the purpose
OF Mr.. Dawson to have a scientific investi-
cation made as TO what kind Of fish the
seed mussel attaches itself, together with
the habits and life history OF the biyalve
Tho Mississippi valley, according 10 the
scientists connected with the bureau of
fisheries in Washington. is the most favored
place for the growing OF fresh water mus
sells in the world.
Increased Cost of Building.