Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-08-04
EVENTS OF A WEEK

moro than a month. It was the hope Of the president
that the bill would be ready for signature by July 1.
With more than a month spent in attempts to load the
Dill up with a lot OF miscellaneous matter that did not
belong to 1t, the prospect is that the president will at
last be given a bill substantially like the one which was
understood to have his approval in the first place.
While many amendments were proposed the discus
sion centered chiefly around three features. These were
the handling of the liquor question, the creation of a
congressional committee on war expenditures, and the
creation of a board of food administrators to consist of
three members instead Of one. Two of these were en-
trely foreign to the purpose Of the bill. and the logical
way to dispose of them, If they were 10 be considered,
was to deal with them in separate measures. In this
way they could be disposed Of on their own merits, with
out complaining or tteing complicated by anything else.
But oven the pressure Of a great war emergency could
not break up the old and vicious custom of attaching
riders to bills relating to other subjects.
.
On the liquor question the senate took less radical
ground than the house. AS the food bill came from the
house it contained stringent provisions against the man
ufaoture of intoxicants Of all kinds. The senate lifted
the ban on malt and vinous beverages, and the confer
ence committee accepted that arrangement. The fight
over the committee on expenditures was a bitter one,
but the committee agreed to the removal of the amend
ment. 1t is expected that this subject will be taken
up in a separate bill. There will be one food admins
traitor instead Of three, and without question that ad-
ministrator will be Herbert c. Hoover.
The war tax bill has undergone some changes, the
chief OF which Is the addition of some three hundred
millions to the tax list. This brings the revenues under
the bill up to about two billions, rs per cent Of which
is assessed against excess profits, incomes and inner
itances, together with additional taxes on liquors and to-
bacco.
The national prohibition question has been disposed
OF in congress for the summer by the action Of the house
The senate, by a vote Of IS to 20, adopted the resolution
for the submission of a prohibition amendment to the
constitution. The house, under the rule to take I'D MOTH
ing except war business, declined to take action on the
resolution, which will accordingly go over until the reg
ular session next winter. Two features in connection
with this subject are to be noted. In both houses were
members who have not been in sympathy with the move
ment for a prohibition amendment to the constitution
who have nevertheless favored the adoption Of this res
olution on the ground that thereby the subject would
be got out Of congress and the agitation could be trans
ferred to the states. On the other hand, it is said that
several 'dry" house members favored the postponennent
Of action on the resolution on the ground that the keep
ing of the subject before congress would promote the
cause OF prohibition throughout the country.
The formal drawing of men to report for army serv-
Ice Is over, and the work Of the exemption boards has
begun. The first procedure is the physical examination
Of the men. SO far as this has proceeded it appears that
the rejections on the ground of physical disability runs
about 25 per cent, which is approximately the same as
the proportion Of reflections under examination for reg
ular army enlistnaents. The work of the boards will be
difficult when the consideration Of claims for exemption
on other grounds is reached. Generally. those with per-
sons dependent on them are exempt, but the question of
what constitutes dependency must be determined in the
light of the facts in each case.
The disturbances in connection with the activities
OF the I. W. w. came to a head at Butte when Frank
Little, an agitator and organizer, was taken from his
boarding place in the night by unknown men and hanged
to a tresue near the outskirts Of the city. Little had been
active in fomenting labor troubles, and is said to have
spoken contemptuously of the United States government
and its armies. All efforts to identity the men who COM
mitted this deed have been fruitlesss thus far. Sullivan,
an /. w. w. attorney, after declaring that he knew who
the lynchers were, was taken before the authorities and
asked to name the men, but this he was unable to do.
s=s = . . .
A particularly aggravated act of sedition was COM
mitted during the week by "Bil' Haywood, secretary
OF the l. w. W., who wired the president that unless the
deported members of the society were returned to their
homes at Bisbee, Arizona, a general strike of all mem
bers of the society in the central states would be DE-
clared, and that this would bring about the closing of
the mines, and the ruin of the crops in the great agi-
cultural states. Thus far the federal authorities appear
to have taken no notice of this piece of impudent eff
'frontery.
The week has witnessed another great drive by the
British in Flanders. In the northern part of the Ypres
sector preparation for an advance has been under way