Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1910-04-22
WASHINGTON LETTER.

April, will T. R. be the first April
phule?
WASHINGTON LETTER.
From Our Regular Corrsspondent.I
Washington, d. e., April 16.-An
episode of the week ofn0 very great inn
portance, but withal having some sig
nificance, was the address of the Presi-
dent to the leaders of the National Wo-
mans Suffrage Association in this city.
The President did not squarely take
issue with the propaganda, but express
ed some doubt as to the ultimate re-
suits of the Acknowledgement of the sex.
These doubts were perhaps justified
from his long study and observation of
male suffrage and from his knowledge
that the man best qualified to vote
most frequently had his vote cancelled
by the worst qualified voter. He
knows, as does every statesman, that
suffrage is at best makeshift and that
until a combined psychometer and
thermometer shall be invented which
will accurately take stock of the mind
and morals of the voter and law be
passed that will enable every mans
vote to weigh according to his stock OF
sense and soul, popular suffrage cannot
be more than q laundering, clumsy in
strument for the attainmentof wisdom
and purity in government. 1t is the
mistake of few hundred or perhaps
few thousand good women to imagine
that they have in suffrage panacea
for the cure of bad government. They
have not thought enough ..or gone deep
enough historically or philosophically
into the subject. Well, Mr.. Taft tried
to tell them something of this kind, al
though he would not have dared to
have spoken out as plainly as your
humble correspondent, and his gentle
advice was received with Misses and
cat calls, almost under the caves of the
White House, from the ladies in the
audience, who showed that they were
no more polite than men and even less
reverential. Whatever may be said
against the President, he Is man and
a gentleman. Ifthese ladies had called
on DR.. Samuel Johnson, they would
doubtless have been received with the
"Fiddle de de, my dears" in which he
replied to deputation of ladies who
congratulated him on the publication
of Rasselas. Today it is said the re-
sponsible members of the National
Woman's Suffrage League are trying
to throw the responsibility for the i'm
politeness upon unattached female
hoodlums in the audience.
| The work for the establishment of q
Washington memorial in the shape Of
a great forum or hall to be used by Wis
iting delegations and congresses from
all parts of the United States and thu
world is proceeding successfully. Tht
structure is to be known as the Georg'
Washington Memorial Building. Ten
tative plans for the building, which
! will contain an immense auditorium
seating not less than five thousand PEG
pie and a number or smaller halls t
be used by scientific and literary AM
patriotic societies, have been submitted
1t is also proposed that future inau
gural balls shall be held in this mem
orial building.
Indications point to the adoption b
Congress Of the two battleship pre-
, gram. Senator Hale of Maine, siren
uous opponent of blgiships, it is though
will not oppose them this year, and tn
sentiment for these colossal ships
strong in the House of Representative
There was much talk in the early pal
of the session about an empty treasur
and that it was needful to be econom
cal. There has recently been little tai
of this kind. The revenues of the go,
eminent are rapidly increasing unde
the present tariff
There was much talk in the earl
part of the session about an extensiv
waterways program. Senator RurtO
of Ohio, than whom no one better in
derstands the inland navigation situs
ton, has fled minority report on tn
Rivers and Harbors Bill. 1t will be re
membered that Senator Burton was fo
many years head of the Rivers AM
Harbors,C Committee of the lower House
He there acquired a more Thorough
knowledge at first hand of the river
and schemes in the United States thai
any other man. What he knows abou
waterways in this country and Europ
he has gained by profound investiga
ton or at first hand. In short, he is al
authority and probably better entities
to be heard than any man in the Uni
ted States. In his minority report h
denounces squarely what he calls
"dribbling policy" in appropriation
for harbor and river purposes. He i
opposed to the system making lot o
Ismall piece-meal appropriations insteat
of those sufficiently large for the com
pletion of the work. But the mos
notable feature of his minority repor
relates to the conflict between waite
and railroad transportation. For year
it has been the policy of the railroads
to reduce rates on certain classes o
freight for the purpose of driving rive
steamboat navigation out of business
Mr.. Burton desires to have the Inter