The Washington times., 1912-08-19
Claim for $1,000 Paid
Shoshone Dam Workmen
Is Swept Aside.
BY THEODORE TILLER.

Inc DanK said 1t would wait until
the woman came back, until it learn
ed whether the Government would
protect the claims of those who put
labor and material in the big Sho-
shone irrigation project
A night or two ago the House
voted on motion to override the
veto of the President of the United
States on a certain bill The Re-
publican Senate had overridden the
Veto The woman had beaten the
President there.
Woman Leaves In Tears.
Nobody seemed to pay much attention
to the measure in the House. Less
than two-score members were present
during the eight minutes of debate, and
when a demand for a quorum was
made, and the roll was called on the
veto message. few knew about the
woman in the gallery, and her story
Nor did the members know why a wo-
man sobbed aloud when the vote was
announced, nor why she went out into
the corridors, weeping hysterioally.
The woman was Mrs Katherine Mac
donald-Hho thought she could trust
the Government for $1,000, but who
knows now the bitterness that may
come through the technicalities of tre
law. Others out in the Far Northwest
know 1t. too, for the announcement of
the vote in the House dissipated the
hOTpa WI hn
trusting the United States.
The womans story and that of the
Others who could not sit in the gallery
but whose welfare depended on that vote
is now told here. 1t is pathetic, dra-
matte tale. The result in the House
might have been different If all The
members had known. If only a half
dozen who voted nay" or a few of
the lS3 who were absent" had known
Her Plight Unheeded.
What are We voting on?" more than
six members asked as they hurried into
the chamber as the roll was beius-
called.
oh, another veto message from the
President. Something about an irriga-
tion project out in Wyoming
And 80 they voted, while the heart
at every aye" and throbbed depress-
ingly when some one answered nay"
1t seemed ages while the clerk tabu-
lated the vote and made the calcula-
ton to ascertain If two-thrds had vot-
ed to override the Presidents veto. The
woman leaned. over the railing, her
hands clcnched nerVously, her face
white. her breath coming in short
gaSps
"On this vote" said Speaker Clark
at last, the yeas are 13S, the nays II,
and present u. Two-thirds having
failed to vote aftirmatively, the House
refuses on reconsideration to pass the
bill over the Presidents veto"
Mrs. Macdonald left the gallery She
leaned against marble pillar In the
corridor and sobbed until the eyes OF
every doorkeeper were fastened upon
her. Congressman Monden of Wyo-
ming, Republican, who aided in the
fight to override the veto of his party's
President, went to the weeping woman.
He was Joined by the wife of Congress
man stephens of Texas and Miss
Frances Wilson, the daughter of the
Congressman from Pennsylvania.
She Tells Her Story.
They led her to the rest room"
There, when she had partially re-
gained self-control, she told her story.
In the latter part of 1905, the Gov
ernment let a contract for the digging
Of the Corbett tunnels of the Shoshone
irrigation project. 1t was an immense
project Shoshone dam is the highest
In the world; 1T is one of the wonder
spots of Wyoming-a land of scenic
grandeur and natures marvellous
handiwork.
Mrs. Macdonald and her husband
conducted a grocery store in Butte.
The husband is in i'll health, but the
woman had conquered Obstacles-until
she combated the technicalities of
the law and a Presidents veto.
Out in the arid West the time
checks" of construction companies en-
gagged on Government projects are ac-
cepted as cash, and are redeemed
monthly. bi-monthly, or as the case
may be. The Macdonalds had handled
thousands of them.
Many of the laborers who crossed
the State line to work on "the high
est dam in the world" were regular
sent the time checks" home to their
families and they were used as cash
in exchange for groceries and the
necessaries ct iife.
fine Government contract had been
sublet to the Western Construction
Company. The bid was low in the
first instance,
Had Faith In Nation.
The contractor failed: the subcon-
tractor failed. The Macdonalds held
about 81, 900 in time checks" Others who
had supplied labor and material for the
big tunnel and dam held claims for ap-
proximatelv $31 900 additional. But they
didn't worry much. They believed they
had a lien on the irrigation project
that a powerful and rich Government
stood behind an undertaking which
would let the waters In to thousands of
acres of lands below.
Under the old law the claimants pos
sessed such a right of lien. The law has
been changed. The Interior Department
and the President says 1t would estab-