Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1911-02-01

tray the Republicans, Senator Abra-
ham, Of Douglas county, yesterday
afternoon led the opposition to the
resolution in a fiery speech which
aroused the ire Of several of the
advocates of the resolutions, and bid
fair to plunge the senate into a hope
less and endless discussion, and
which brought down on his head a
sharp rebuke from President Sell
ing.
Oliver Starts Ball Rolling
Several weeks ago a similar reso-
luton was introduced by Senator
Kellaher, and went down to defeat.
Senator Albee and several other SEN
ators took objections to it, because it
declared the states system of gofern-
ment the best in the world, and it
was to place the issue squarely be-
fore the senate that Senator Albee
conceived the idea of eliminating
these words in the resolution which
he introduced.
The committee on resolutions sub
mltted two reports-the majority ad-
verse to the passage of the resolu-
tions and the minority favorlng it,,
and 1t was when it was moved to sub
stitute the latter for the former that
the debate commenced. Senator
oliver, of La Grande, started the ball
rolling by declaring that the senate
would make a grave mistake If it did
not pass the resolution. Statement
Number One was the only thing
unique about the states government,
he maintained, and that had elm
mated corruption and the system
should be endorsed. In addition to
the reason of 1t being a good system,
he cited the further reason that
there were now pending before. the
United States supreme court several
cases involving taxation and in which
the referendum and initiative were
intolved that the attorney-general
was preparing briefs in them now
and that the endorsement of these
laws might assist him in winning the
nncao hpfnrn fbat trthnAnI a
Abraham on Warpath.
Senator Abraham had Just had a
resolution of his own turned down.
1t directed Senators Bourne and
Chamberlain to work for an amend
ment to the United States constitu-
tion providing for the election OF
United States senators by a direct
vote of the people; censurlng them
for not being present when a vote
was taken upon such matter last
year, and instructing them to be
present when the subject was again
voted upon, and when it was turned
down he was on the warpath. He
saw politics in every sentence which
entered into the composition of Al
bees resolution, and in every word
he saw the face of Senator Bourne.
and he launched out on an attack on
him, and on the system in general.
Just Politics.
II am opposed to this resolution, "
The began, in slow and deliberate
way, because It is simply playing a
game of politics, and those who stand
for the measure are doing so for po-
litical seasons, do not criticize the
laws, but the system, which obnox-
ious to the majority party, and
which had been used by politicians to
further their interests"
Here the senator paused long
enough to read a few passages from
a speech delivered by Bourne In
this city October, 1905 and in which
he eulogi2ed the Republican party,
and then proceeded to charge him
with playing hand in hand with the
Democrats and betraying the Repub-
licans.
Abraham and Selling Mix.
While making his attack on
Bourne, he was interrupted by Presi-
dent Selling, who asked him to con-
fine himself to the subject under dis