Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-08-15
Chances Are That the Judiciary
Committee of House Will
Be Reorganized
LEnRooT MAY BE ELECTED
Defeat of a Wisconsin Senator May
Change the Complexion Of the Ju-
dietary Committee Where Many
Progressive Measures Have Been
Buried in tho Past.

Especial Washington Correspondence
Washington, Aug. 15.--Contident
prediction comes from the Eleventh
Wisconsin congress district that John
j. Jenkins, chairman of the house COM
mittee on judiciary, is going to be de-
feated for the republican nomination
and that he will be defeated because
of his record at the last two sessions
of congress.
Mr.. Jenkins is serving his seventh
term in the house. He has been one
of the pillars of the Cannon organiZa-
ton In that body; indeed, his commit
tee has been for three or four years
the center of attacks aimed by every
body who doesn't like the Cannon
management. 1t has been charged that
the judiciary committee is a sort Of
legislative catch-all, to which all sorts
of measures are sent, especially when
1t is desired that excuse he found for
killing them. For long time Chair
man Jenkins has been especially OPP
posed by organized labor, and Samuel
Gompers and the American Federation
have been hard at work for his undo
ing.
II jenkins goes down it will be to
make room for another republican His
district is overwhelmingly republican.
= Il ~
that party in all human probability.
Jenkins is opposed for the republican
nomination by Irvine l.. Lenroot, who
for two terms was speaker of the Wis
consin house of representatives, in the
times when La Toilette was governor
and was making his great fight for
specialization of his radical ideas into
laws. Lenroot is a seasoned politician,
and he has been thru about all the La
Toilette fights. Two years ago he was
the La Toilette candidate for the gub-
ernatorial nomination and was hope
lessly defeated by James o. Davidson,
now governor. Then he was a candf-
date for the senate in succession to
Spooner, and for weeks and weeks held
the plurality of votes in the daily ses-
sions. But at length Isaac Stephenson
was nominated and elected. Lenroot,
used to the fortunes of political war
fare, went back to the woods and the
mines and laid wires for the congress
sional nomination. The reports seem
in agreement that he will
win.
The Jenkins committee on judiciary
has been denominated for several ses-
ctn 1,n rrr, or1 Of 1n 11Ny M
it went legislation on labor topics
various bills to give the states police
authority over liquors shipped into
their borders in the processes of inter-
state commerce The labor people and
the anti-saloon people ara now out for
the political scalp-lock of Mr.. Jenk-
ms.
Speaker Cannon and his immediate
advisers being opposed to forest re-
serve legislation for tine establishment
of the Appalachian and White Noun
tain reserves, the measures on this
subject were sent to the judiciary
committee for expression as to the
constitutionality of such proposals.
The committee duly c.pined that there
was no constitutional way to do it. 4
Then there was the question of fed
eral supervision Of insurance. The
committee judicially opined that in
surance was not commerce, which
caused a good deal of wonderment by
incident to the circus business, or an
aspect of religion. Then the anti
Injunction bills went to this commit
tee, and there We're sent to SUBJ
committee which put them all calmly
and peacefully to sleep.
The result was that the American
Forestry association got on the trail
Of Jenkins; the American Federation
of Labor got its knife out; the church
people. the prohibitionists, the anti
saloonists, and various other organiza-
lions busted themselves; and now, re-
port comes, Jenkins is altogether like
ly to be swamped. ut is said that he
will lose his own town, his own coun-
ty, and is likely to lose every county
in the district. Ilenroot has been
studying the Congressional Record, and
challenged jenkins to joint debate.
Jenkins declined Then Lenroot went
on the stump, aired his opponents rec
ord in regular LaFollette fashion. and
wound up by presenting his opinions
on the tariff in contrast to those of
Jenkins.
Among other things Judge jenkins
assured an audience thaS there was no
tariff on petroleum impcg ted into this
country, and argued thence that the
Standard Oil, the greatest of trusts,
was in no wise tariff trust. Len
root replied that there was tariff on
petroleum, and was denounced as an
ignoramus. Lenroot then dug up the
provisions of the tariff law, under
which a countervailing duty is applied
to petroleum; that is. in case foreign
country imposes 9. duty on American
petroleum, an equal duty shall be I'M
posed, at American ports. on petroleum
coming from that country. There are
no imports of petroleum except from
Russia; and Russia having high tar
if on it, the concentrating duty
serves to put the only competing sup
ply of petroleum under a heavy duty.
Lenroot got away win the better of the
argument, and it injured jenkins SER
iously. The primaries will be held
early in September.
FIND a NEW WAY TO HEAVEN