Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1910-06-03

rapher. He was not placed upon the
stand. Massey, however, 1t is under
stood. was put through the third de.
gree" in the department, and the fall
ure to call him may be due to the fact
that he could not remember the de-
tails of the preparation Of the Lawler
memorandum to be different from
those presented by Mr.. Kerby.
Vertrees Afraid of testimony
Don M Carr, Mr.. Ballinger's private
secretary, played conspicuous part
in the preparation of the memorandum
and had an intimate knowledge of
Secretary Ballinger's correspondence.
but Mr.. Vertrees did not believe it
prudent to put him on the stand.
Mr.. Ballinger has not come forward
with any explanation of the correspond
ence he had with George M. Perkins.
of j. Pierpont Morgan & Co., relative
to the purpose of the latter to lex
plot Alaska" The large financial in
terests of the Morgan-Guggenheim
syndicate as testified to by their own
engineers make the confidential rela-
tionship between the secretary Of the
interior and the manager of that syn
dictate a matter of grave public con-
Germ. To close the testimony without
any effort at explanation is accepted
in the capital as an admission that no
explanation that would be plausible
can be furnished, or of fear lest
further cross-questioning would de-
velop the existence Of evidence even
more damaging than that which has
been brought to light.
From the viewpoint Of Mr.. Ballinger
it may have been desirable not to elu-
cidate the Perkins correspondence, or
to take any chances in again sub
jecting employees of the interior de-
partment or the secretary himself, to
the cross-examinatiOn of Mr.. Brandeis
The committee, however, was appoint
ed for the purpose of arriving at the
truth without references to the wishes
of the secretary of the interior or any
one. This is theoretically the situa-
ton, and if the committee does not
upon it's own initiative place these
witnesses and Mr. Perkins upon the
stand and question them In regard to
the developments which came from
the Kerby testimony, there Is sure to
be some hard criticism of the COM
mittee on the floors of congress, not
only for the manner in which wit
nesses were examined during the ia
king of the testimony, but because Of
failure to pursue the inquiry along the
lines which the testimony indicated
would develop material of vital pub
lie interest.
AIdrich Proposal Rejected.
Senator Cummins' amendment to
the rate bill by which no increases
in rates are to become effective I'M
til the Interstate Commerce commits
sion determines the proposed in.
creases to be reasonable, was an
other rock upon which the AL
drich machine went to pieces for the
time being in the senate. While the
amendment was pending Senator AL
drich made a desperate effort to ar
11NS al dA d6l Win I1O ~OiAA-
ocrats in regard to fixing a time for
a vote.
A written memorandum was pre-
pared for the Democratic members to
sign. Under the agreement the Dem
ocrats were promised that statehood
bill such as they favor would be
passed by the senate. This was a
strong inducement to the Democrats.
Statehood for New Mexico and Ari-
IONA in all probability means the ad
dition of four Democrats to the United
States senate Some of the Democrats
argued that they would he justified
in doing anything in order to get this
measure, but wiser counsels prevailed
The agreement also included not
only the fixing of date upon the bill
but that no amendment should be &C
copied other than those which were
proposed by the committee and that
all the pending amendments of other
senators should be voted down. II
was also provided that Sections 13
! II and Is, the capitalization sections
Of the bill, which are particularly OBJ
jectionable to the Democrats, should
be eliminated. There were some Dem
ocratic senators who were perfectly
willing to agree to the terms.
Progressive Tactics Succeeded.
The success Of the continued at
tacks of the Progressives is due to the
fact that they have not permitted any
part of the bill to be accepted without
! full discussion as to it's effect. They
have not secured all that they want In
the bill, and they have not succeeded
in making sufficient changes thus fa1
so that they can say with absolute
certainty that 1t will be in such form
as to permit of their voting for it, but
they have improved it and they have
! improved it in the face of the stub
! born opposition Of Aldrich and his
| friends. The tory organization of the
senate was compelled to give way up
on the merger section, upon the traffic
agreement section, and upon the long
and short haul section. They were
| compelled to make concessions upor
the question of the right of the ship
per to appearance in court in proceed