The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1908-03-26
WASHINGTON
From our Regular Correspondent.

Washington, H. ~, MarCn 20, 1908.
Two extraordinary speeches were
delivered in the Senate during last
week, one by Senator Tillman and
the other by Senator La Toilette.
The speech of the South Caroliuian
was, as usual, picturesque, being a
wholesale denunciation of the Pres
ident of whom he said, 'He is now
planning a truce with rich malefac-
tors and is ready to grant amnesty
to all past offenders. The price of
negro delegates in the South rises
each day through improper use of
federal patronage. The most flag
rant OF all the Executive neglects
to enforce the law, a running sore,
a cancer on the body polite, hated
of all good citizens and denounced
even by the President himself, who
mathematical it in bitter language,
but who takes no steps to apply the
remedy, is the failure to enforce the
plain letter of the law relating to
the national banks. The lavish
use of bank resources and credit for
years has borne fruit by enabling
Napoleons of finance through the
medium ofthe New York Exchange
to mar ct billions of dollars of al
most worthless ftocks and to place
these in the hands of helpless in
vestors who have exchanged hard
earned money for them which has
thus been diverted from the chan
nels of legitimate business" Mr..
Tillman was greeted with the usual
crowded galleries and at times his
remarkable statements and unique
delivery elected applause, until f.
nally the Vice President was obliged
to threaten to clear the galleries
unless it ceased.
*4*
Senator La Toilette denounced in
unmeasured terms and tones the
Aldrich bill, which he declared was
being enacted in the interest of the
railways, the Standard Oil Compa-
ny and J. Pieipont Morgan. He
charged that the recent panic and
the entire financial stringercy had
been produced by Morgan, Rocke-
felle ct al, for the sole purpose of
adding to their pecuniary profit.
Mr.. La Toilette always eXcites a
certain amount of interest not only
by what he says but by the extra
ordinary manner in which he says
1t. He alternately shouts and whis-
pers, crouches, throws up his arms,
bends double and pounds his desk
or stamps his foot. At times his
voice rises to a perfect scream and
listener who could not see him
might imagine murder were being
done. He is a star actor in the
Senate.
*.*
The present indications are that
before my next letter is written the
Aldrich bill will have been passed
by the Senate with every Republi-
can vote, save La Follette's, and
about eight Democratic votes. The
Senate committee on Finance has
stricken out the railway bond pro-
vision of the bill, had done so in
fact before Mr.. La Toilette made
his speech, and this. it is believed,
will serve to disarm most of the op-
position in the House, while the
President is seeking to secure its
passage and urging members of
both houses who call upon him to
vote for it.
***
The President has recently shock
ed agreat many people in Washing
ton by urging the District Attorney
to demand a Jail sentence for the
President of the American National
Bank and the Washington Chamber
of Commerce. This man, who is
wealty and influential, has been
making and selling, as a side issue,
a headache remedy and a "brain
food" both of which he guaranteed
free from injurious drugs" An
alysis has shown, however, that
both contain injurious drugs which
will almost certainly affect the
heart and which are likely to result
In drug habits. This is the first
conviction under the Pure Food and
Drug act and the President takes
the ground that if a wealthy bank
president is made to serve a Jail