Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1910-03-07

ate alignment on that bill may fairly
be taken as an indication Of what tht
alignment will be when the railroad
bill comes UP. This win be the next biz
fight. It will be a greater one than the
one which ended Saturday with tn.
passage OF the postal savings bank bill
and It will last for q much longer time
but the progressives are unanimous IL
the opinion that they will win tina
fight just as they won the fight Sat.
urday, and that the railroad bill viii
not contain any items Of consequence
to which they object.
In response to a request for a state
lnent regarding the postal savings bill
as 1t has gone thru the senate, Senator
Clapp. one Of the leading progressives
said Saturday night to The Journal:
"The postal savings bank bill, as We
now have 1t, is, think. free from al
objections, excepting possibly that OBJ
lection which always obtains in case
OF new and untried measure. In the
adoption Of the Borah amendment, pro-
hibiting the purchase Of government
2 per cent bonds, which certain
parties insisted strongly should be q
feature of the new law, we have a
guarantee that the money Of the peo-
pie, deposited in postal banks, can only
be used by the government in case OF
war or other great exigencies.
Nothing will go farther toward
sustaining public confidence and avert
ing panics, than to take the money
which today is invested in postoffice
money orders, hidden away, or in the
~ <5e 49, oil mo he
government to receive it, and then put
it in the banks with proper safeguards,
with the government as the depositors.' u
Z Might Prevent War.
The progressives also hold that the
Borah amendment will act as deter
rent with foreign nations which may
in the future think of seeking a quar-
rel with the United States. The fact
that there Is an imemnse fund on de-
post which the government may use In
case of war; will, 1t Is argued, cause
foreign powers to be careful.
The struggle in the senate this week.
the progressives say, shows where they
stand as to legislation at this time and
also proves that they are not obstruc-
tionists, but are anxious to have neces-
sary legislation enacted. But they
are opposed to legislation which they
think Is fundamentally wrong, and
claim the right to make fight to per-
feet such legislation before permitting
it to reach vote on final passage.
These progressives have stood solidly
against the proposition to invest the
savings to be deposited in the postal
banks in the outstanding 2 per cent
Panama bonds, which they point out
were sold to the banks, chiefly those
in the east, at discount representing
q profit Of $12,O0O,0O0. The adoption
OF the Root amendment, they point out,
would permit the banks to redeem
those bonds at par with the postal saw
ings money, making this $12,0O0,000
profit, and this, they allege, would be
wrong In principle.
This was the nub Of the fight, and
On this point the progressives won a
victory when the Borah amendment
was adopted. There is, OF course, "a
possibility that the conferees, after the
bill has gone thru the house of rep
resentatives, will drop the Borah
amendment, but If this should prove
to be the case the forces in the senate
which put that amendment into the bill
announce with emphasis that they will
fight 70 the last ditch in opposition to
the acceptance of such a.conference re-
port.
Money Naturally Distributed.
N is thus certain that the fight OF
last week win be all gone over again
In the senate, in case the conferees
should undertake to eliminate the
Borah amendment The strength OF
thesBoeah ect, its friends say, Will lie
= - - =.