Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1914-05-06
IN PROGRESS UN-
KNOWN TO WILSON AND
OTHER PARTY LEADERS.
SOUTHERN MEMBERS LINE
UP AGAINST MEASURE
States Rights Question Involved in
Proposed Revision Of Campaign Pub.
Iicity Laws-New codifcation Of
Judiciary Laws Begun in 1858 Not
Vet Concluded.
LSpec ial correspondence


Washington. May 6.-The house. al
most unbeknown to the country at
large including Washington. D. c., is
conducting flibuster. 1t is wasting
all the time it possibly can on every
calendar Wednesday on long, iln-
portant. but uninteresting bill which
the senate will probably not pass this
year, for the sole purpose Of avoiding
the necessity Of passing a revision Of
the campaign publicity laws. The rea-
son it does not want to pass the re-
vision of the campaign publicity laws
is That the south is in control III con-
gress and it is the traditional southern
prejudice cropping up that almost auto
matically aligns the controlling south
erners against a federal law which in
any degree or way seems TO govern
state elections
1T is an odd thing" said a western
democrat IN private conversation yes
terday. that no one has noticed this
tilibuster. Ii is one of the nose sense
less wastes Of time that We have en-
dured this session II will probably
continue six or eight weeks. unless the
YOU may find everything cleared up in
side Of five minutes and the revision
Of the campaign publicity laws jammed
hru in a hurry"
Work Begun in 1868.
The new Qualification of the laws re-
.ating 10 the judiciary is the subject or
the bill which is the subject of the fill
buster. The idea Of the bill is to re-
wise and codify the laws and bring
hem zip to date so as to make ref
erencc 10 them simple and easy. II
seems like joke, but it is fact that
the committee which reported this bill
began its work With is creation in 1858.
This committee saved wood until 1897
with varying degrees of industry when
il decided TO turn the matter over to
commissjon-a typically congressional
trick Three commissioners we're APP
pointed. and they revised the laws for
about nine years. at the end OF which
tine they banded their job back to
congress. Whereupon congress appoint
ed joint committee of the house ana
senate which revised the judiciary code
for a few years more until In 1910 the
democrats came into power and desir-
Ing to be economical, abolished the
Joint committee and handed the job
back TO the committee which began it
shortly after the civil war The clerk
Of this committee not the members
thereof completed the revision and it
is now before the house for long and
painful consideration. II is only fair
To the committee. me commission. the
joint committee. and the committee,
mentioning ca CHI in its historical order.
to say that some Of their work mas
actually bee ONE law in the course OF
the half century.
Election Too Near
This is brief statement Of the
measure which is now being used by
the southern machine in the house 10
prevent consideration on calendar
Wednesday of a bill reported last Sep
tember which codifies and revises the
three federal statutes requiring pub
Lefty OF campaign expenditures ana
contributions. II is interesting to- no.
tice tina. this filibuster is taking place
just before a congressional electlon
and also just before the first election
of United states senators by popular
vote II the flibuster is successful the
passage Of the bill is put off until the
next session Of congress much ad-
vantage will be gained by those candi-
dates for both branches who do not
want the complete kind Of publicity
which this measure would require. Mt
Watkins OF Louisiana. one OF the re"
members who knows anything about
the judiciary codifcation bill. told the
house that there was no politics IN IL
This is literally true. but it does not
interfere with the truth Of the equally
timely statement that there is good
, ! deal Of politics in the presentation OF
) the judiciary codifcation bill at this
; particular time.
, Brand New Idea.
One brand new idea has been en-
bodied in the campaign contributions
bill This Is the idea that politca
committee should not use or eXpend 1ol
campaign purposes in any given state
any more money than is contributed
by actual residents Of that state. This
does not mean that limitation !:
, placed upon the amount Of none!
:. which a state political committee ma!
use for such legitimate campaign ex
D penses as hiring speakers, printing ant
0 distributing literature. and placint
5 newspaper advertisements. NO at
tempt is here made. nor in any par
of this bill to limit the expenditure o.
] money used in an effort to reach thu
t Judgment of electors writes Mr.
Fucker Of Missouri in his report Il
0 the house. appeal to the minds ant
0 Judgment Of men by political partie:
0 and candidates for political office Il
) commendable" he goes on to say land \
5 encouraged by every section and pro
0 vision Of this bill. But the objection
,. able and vicious practice sometime
INDUCED in, Of collecting large cam
: lpaign funds in the great money cen
; tiers and carting them into othe
: states to denoraliZe, corrupt and de
; bauch the electorate and thereby de
etroy the safety and security OF tn
ballot box is crime against publ
n morals which cannot be too harshl
a denounced or too soon prohibited.
n States Rights Bill.
II the bill passes with this provision
intact, it Will be difficult for ma
ttfonal congressman committee to fur
i nish indecriminate aid from Wash
It ington or Chicago or wherever 1t
:, Headquarters may be without runnin
r a serious risk In critical campaig
4 there may we'll be half a dozen dis
:. tricts Of prime importance in which tn
defeat OF candidate Of a certain part
= might mean the defeat Of the entir
party. Under the new law. care mus
- 10 tokop lest cent beyond the amour