The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-04-01
SOME ADVERTISING RATES.
FRON OTHER PENS
DOCKING THEIR PAY

According TO the Washington Star,
Speaker Cannon thinks of adopting a
docking system" to insure full and
faithful attendance of the members OF
congress upon the proceedings of the
house, and the idea appears to be a
very good one. But it many be said,
what is the use of representatives at
tending the sessions of the house when
all the business is done by Mr.. Cannon
and his committee on rules, and why
should Mr.. Cannon, of all men, think
it necessary to have any of the mem
bers of congress present while he Is
is Mr.. Cannon, anyhow, except the
presiding officer of the house of repre-
sentatives, and merely a tenant at
will? His tenure of office, as we I'M
derstand does not extend from one
session to another, but only from day
to day as the house may permit, and
the old man will only be riding to his
fall if he shall seriously attempt to
compel the attendance Of the members
by withholding their pay. This, at
the members will take an intelligent
interest.-Charleston News and Cou-
rier. s1sn
d
TWENTY YEARS BEHIND TIMES.
The proposal of the trainers Of the
new tariff bill to remove the duty from
works Of art 20 years old is good as
/
enough. Why should the American
picture loving public be 20 years behind
the times in learning what Is thought
and felt and taught by European art
lists? American needs free art in the
interest of education. and in the inter-
est of Industrial development. She also
needs it in the interest of culture. 1t
will add to the joy of life.
Rich men would stock public art gal
leries in every great city in America
cd IN a
heavy duty in addition to the original
cost of pictures and sculptures which
they buy abroad. The taste for art
would grow to an extent that would
benefit the American artist by creating
"a larger demand for his works.
The source of the opposition to free
art is not found among friends of art
or of American artists. 1t is not among
advocates of increased revenue, because
the revenue from the art schedule OF
the tariff is too small to weigh against
the practical benefit of a wider dis
semination of art education. The tariff
on art fosters middlemen. Free art
would tend to bring the American pur-
chaser of paintings into direct contact
with the foreign painter. who is now
exploited by dealers. 1t is the mid
dlemen who gain by the maintenance
of duties on paintings and sculptures,
and they gain at the expense of Gull
ture in Observation-Disclosures Sentinel
WITH UNFAIR WEAPONS.
The star of woman suffrage moves
steadily on, or, at least. so they tell
US. Certain 1t is that never was the
cause so much in the public eye as al
present. 1t may even be that, to adopt
the brutal phrase of a mere man, the
dear ladies have their cowardly oppon-
ents, who have for all these years been
denying to them their rights ION the
run" Some indications seem to war
rant that opinion.
Here, for instance. is Oklahoma
where the sexes are made equal in
voting rights when the state was
founded. Oklahoma. bound to be as
fresh in reform as it is new in foun-
dation, has fastened to adopt an up
| to-date primary election law. And in
the woodpile of this new law appears
at the start the colored gentleman who
is apparently destined to raise ructions
with equal rights for women in Ok
lahoma. For that primary law doth
alas, provide that as a condition pre-
cedent to voting every woman must de-
clare under oath her true age, the color
of her eyes and of her hair.-New Ha-
ven Register.