River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1914-05-14
WASHINGTON LETTER
FROM JAMES A. FREAH, MEMBER OF
CONGRESS, 10th DISTRICT

Washington, May 12.-Nearly a
thousand excursionists bound for
Norway to attend the Eidsvold
Centennial, stopped over between
trains n day last week. 1t took
three trains to carry the party
and they landed here somewhat
tired, but happy in meeting old
time friends, on the trip. From
the depot the excursionists were
escorted to the capitol where they
we're photographed on the Senate
steps. AfterWard they divided up
in groups, and Congressman from
the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa, Wis
consin and other states helped to
give the visitors a good time here.
A party Of Badgers headed by
Louis Blegen and family Of Sc.
Croix county, during the after
noon, visited the Capitol. White
House, Treasury and other points
Of interest. At the White House,
decorators were preparing for the
McAdoo wedding which occurred
on the following day,but the Wis
consin party managed to get a
glimpse Of the East Room and the
Blue Room where the ceremony
was to be performed. More in
teresting, they saw the President
and Mrs. Wilson as they left for a
IL -, FL White IJnr7ca n11fnoan-
bile. The President tipped his cap
and smiled pleasantly to the party
standing on the White House porch
waiting his departure.
Those who knew president Will
sons anxiety over the Mexican
situation, complicated as it is by
legislative matters requiring con-
ferences both day and night, would
expect to see him careworn and
too tired to notice any of the
thousands of strangers who daily
visit the White House grounds. On
the contrary, the President looked
we'll and happy, and the mar pos
sessed Of the greatest power Of
any one man in the world, road
away dressed in a plain business
suit and a dollar cap that would
not have distinguished him from
other men on the street. On the
day before he visited the circus,
fed the elephants and had a good
time generally, and on the follow
ing day he married off his second
daughter to Secretary of the
Treasury McAdoo, a member Of the
official family.
Who will say that between the
elephants, bull moose, weddings,
wal and Congress, the President is
not a busy man? Imet John Roe
mer of the Wisconsin Railway Com
mission on the street here the
other day and he said the Presi-
dent was the easiest man in the
world to see and confer with. Just
how to manage it all in a day Of
"a hours, only the President knows.
Senator McCumber's bill for Fed
eral inspection of grain failed to
get through the Senate. He made
a heroic fight for weeks over the
measure and although the bill was
not satisfactory in every detail,
it would have secured Federal in
spectiOn and thereafter could have
been perfected by necessary a
-z-1z1zk AT-G,-.I0.. 49,, 49,
ed over the defeat Of his bill.
For days he had kept it before
the Senate and tried to hold a
quorum of Senators. present. Pur-
suant to his threat, McCumber is
holding a Senatorial kindergarten
Of instruction on the grain question
and keeps a quorum in attendance
whenever he has anything to pre-
sent on the subject.
A strong arrangement of influ-
ences brought to bear upon the
Interstate Commerce Commission
was offered by Senator LaFollette
last week. He presented hundreds
of letters that had been referred
to the Commission by the Presi-
dent and various other officials to
whom appeals were made for a 5
per cent increase in freight rates.
The position made clear by LaFol-
lette's speech is that the Inter
state Commerce Commission sits as
a court to determine the adequacy
of freight rates, and that all in
fluences brought to bear should
be open and above board.
Thomas Helm, a representative
from Alabama, has introduced a
resolution, which has passed both
houses, asking that May End of
each year be designated as Moth
er's Day, and that flags be kept
flying on all Government build
ings on that day. Helm is the
anti-suffragist who is known by
reputation for his criticisms OF the