Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1907-02-19
ONO SENATOR PRESENT WHILE
OVER EIGHT HUNDRED PEN
SION sfLLs ARE PASSED.
RAILROADS beaten
ccmpanies Would Not Give Rates
% Troops and uneie Sam Will
Transport Them on ttomeseeke. .
Excursion.

Washington. Feb. l3--As predict.
si. the president nsda. sen, in 70
-ongress message upon the Ques.
I'm Of leasing the public lands Of
she COUNTRY. In this message b..
~Dyers much more than the mer-.
leasing Of the grazing lands. for be
"slo advocates the leasing OF the
mineral lands. The coal. stone and
iron lands should in his opinion be
aept In the hands of th" govern.
slent ana worked en- some sort Of a
system of royalty or ra:al
The senate committee also report.
~i In the agricultural appropriation
aill which contains the leasing
law recommended BY the special
committee Of stOckmen.
They reported 1t favorahly. but T.
- generally believed that II cannot
glss the senate. Under th.. senate
~lles. any senator can object 10 =,
nd II must be- stricken out without
~~ebate or discussion. senator Car
tsr. 0f Montana. is against II. a. also
several OF the southern senators.
Money of Mississippi. for instance.
~ho sees In IL further extension of
she power OF the central govern
ment. Nevertheless It. IL conceded
shat on a square vote. 1t would pass
de senate By a safe majority.
As an evidence of the way they do
things here, want 10 cite the
night cession of the senate yester,
~ay. II sat for one hour and ten
minutes. During that time So pri
vate pension bills were passed and
became laws.
The vice president and all the en-
p1bScAS WIZ hEs tuSCGtAI%tI5+
and vast army Of aids to senatorial
legislation were there-quite a
crowd was In the galleries and there
vas Just one single senator on tho
floor of the senate during all this
time That one was Senator Nc
tomber. Bill after bill was read by
the clerks, down came the gavcl Of
the presiding officer as each one
vas ratified off and Senator McCom-
her sat there in that huge room SOL
itary and alone and as | understand
1t as long as no one raised the ques-
ton of mo quorum the whole
yas legal. But II
struck me as funny way to do
things.
Everyone is laughing over the wat
the government met the refusal of
the railroads to carry troops gon%
TO the Philippines for less than the
regular fares The roads plead the
Hepburn bill forbade them to grant
any favors to any one even Uncle
Sam. So what does Uncle Sam do
but put off the movement Of the
troops until next month. wnen the
western roads have advertised low
rate to all western
points good for only a few days.
Imagine the government handling
the movement of troops so as to
take advantage of tourist" rates.
The oldest part of 1t all is that the
tourist or homeseekers' rate is mucn
lower than the government has ever
received. even when they advertised
for bids, so that was what Uncle
Sam gains, and was the railroads
loss, and they would better have put
In bids for the business. as the gov
ernment asked, and got 1t at bet
ter rate than they will now receive
Washington Is the Mecca Of the
sightseeer To-day there is one ey-
cursion party of 1875 young men and
women from the State Normal
school at Westchester, Pa. They all
took tour OF the city in those huge
autos that carry forty
people. and are about the size of
one of the Santa Fe 900 engines.
Tonight the vice president and his