The Lamar register. [volume] (Lamar, Colo.) 1889-1952, 1909-03-03
COLUMBUS FAME GONE.
Discovery of New World Accident,
Say Senators, Vino Make OCT.
IL Holiday, but Don't Know
What Anniversary
1t Is.

Springfield, Ill, Feb. 25.-Cnristo-
pher Columbus has been knoeKeu oil
MS pedestal. The aiscoverer OIL lue
new world was an 'accme.ll No
mariner he with a soul agiow wiz.
.ile idea OF proving tnae the worlu
Is round, not flat. Not he. mat
a schooiDoOk myth. Chris was mere
~ sailor OF fortune, as 1t were. HIS
voyages were made in the interests
OF trade tor une Snyiocks oil lne olu
world. He was mercenary III uIe
employ OF the original captains OF
industry. As for Isabella, she pawn
cd her jewels because she needeu
the money and believed that the sail
or III the cOllarless snirt was on the
track OF fine commercial idea.
1t was In the senate this morning
that Columbus was laid low. CHEZ
among the iconoclasts was Senator
john c. Mckenzie OF 10 Daviess
County. Chief among the sailors de-
leaders was Senator Charles b. Cruik
shank.
The battle of the senate's giants
was caused by senate bill No. ., the
child Of Senator w. o. Potter, max
ing Oct. IL legal holiday. The bill
was passed, but not until after the
senate had split on the question OF
whether Oct. IL, 1892, was the day
on which Columbus was born or the
day on which Columbus bumped the
prows OF the Nina, the Pinta and the
Salvador.
Il am against this BILL" declared
Senator Mckenzie. taking up his
hammer soon after the battle started
I'VE have too many holidays as it is.
The poor man wants no more hOli-
days. It means less money in his
pay envelope. Columbus wasn't look
ing for the new world. Columbus,
as discoverer, was an accident. He
was merely looking for a passage
through which the shylocks of the
old world might get easier access
to the trade of the Orient.
columbus represents the CONNER
cial idea That is all. He was work
ing I'm the interests of the merchants
and Shylocks of the old world. He
sailed out Of port and the winds Of
destiny drove him to a new land.
He was looking for short cut to
hn
stumbled across a new world. Ac-
cident, Accident, Pure Accident. Why
should We honor any man In this
way, simply because he met with an
accidentf II we must have more hol-
idays let's honor our country's pat
riota.s
II can see no excuse for observ-
ing tho birth OF Columbus" said Sen
ator Billings. the scholar Of the Sen
ate. There Is no more reason for
making Oct. IL a legal holiday than
for establishing March L or July IA
a. legal holidays to commemorate
ground hog day and the fall of the
bastile.''
the date of the discovery of America
a legal holiday said Senator Nieis
JUL, who Is a Dane, ION condition
that everybody votes for a bill ex-
pect to introduce making the birth
day Of Lief Erickson, the real dis
coverer of America, legal holiday"
What happened Oct. IL. 1892.
anyhow?" inquired some one from
the rear chairs.
Birthday of Columbus shouted
q score Of senators in unison. Dis
covery of America" cried a dozen
others.
While . clerk was dispatched in
mad haste to the library to clear up
this question, Senator Cruikshank
took the floor and flooded it with
Tatory.
1.-THE man to whom all Americans
owe their greatest debt of gratitude"
he apostrophized. "The intrepid mar
iner who first found the shores Of
the new world. All. The voyage OF
the little fleet. What an inspiration
to conjMe up the spectacle Of their
white wings sailing forth into un-
known, coursing seas till then unsail-
ed, Drawing awesome terrors of I'M
chartered oceans"
The bill was at once placed on
passage and received the necessary
twenty-six votes.