The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1917-03-09

ship purchase bill. the Atkinson eight
hour rnIlroad law, u ci.i.G labor law. a
measure Ia forbid the immigration of
iliiterate ali<lS. a rura, credits bill. a
, vocational educational bin ,\n,i an act
recrganiZing the government of Porto
Rico and extending citizenship to the
islanders.
The ship purchase bill established
4 government shipping board to SUI
pervise shipping matters generally. IT
appropriated $4,000. 900 to be OBJ
tanned from the sale Of Panama canal
bonds for the purchase or construction
OF ships to be leased to private indi-
vidualS in an effort to restore the
American merchant marine.
The Adamson eight-hour railroad
law was enacted on the eve of adj
.iournment of the first session of the
last congress. The enactment Of
the measure prevented Il nation
wide railroad strike. 1t, however,
has never become effective. Be
tween the time of its enactment and
the time for the commencement of its
operation. January l last. the conStitu-
tionality of the measure was chat
lenged by the railroads, and the whole
matter is now pending in the Supreme
court.
supplemental railroad legislation.
proposed by President Wilson in his
annual message last December, failed
Of enactment. This legislation would
have provided for the prevention of
strikes by compulsory legislation. II
Was heartily opposed by all Of the
bodies of organized labor which had
previously sought the eight-hour rail
road law.
Child Labor and immigration.
The child labor law barred from in
terStatr mmerce all products OF chill
dren under sixteen years Of age in
mines OF Of children under fourteen in
factories.
The passage of the immigration bill
With its literacy test was accomplished
owe President Wilson's second veto.
The literacy feature had been a
subject of controversy between the eN-
S'iiIN Iii y ~ '''
government for the past twenty years.
Presidents Taft and Cleveland both We
toed immigration measures because
they carried the l~iteracy feature,
which AL three presidents thought was
not q proper measure of the fitness OF
aliens for admission to the United
States.
The federal farm-loan act. commonly
called the rural-crcditS bill. created
l. federal land banks with S15O,oOO
capital each. The bill provides Il sys-
TEN whereby loans may be made to
farmers for productive purposes
through national farln-loan %associa-
tons. 1t will meet more particularly
the needs Of agriculturists in the West
and South.
Under the vocational educational act
the federal government on a gradually
increasing scale covers every state APP
preparation dollar for dollar for secon-
Diary school instruction in agriculture
and the mechanical and industrial arts.
On the eve of Adjournment congress
passed the p~ost-offiee Appropriation
bill. with an amendment making bone
dry" AL states having prohibitory laws.
This measure was introduced IN the
senate by Senator Reed Of Missouri.
Its unexpected enactment haze the eff
fec of absolutely prohibiting the ship
ment in Interstate commerce Of intoNl-
cantS into states or territories which
forbid the manufacture or sale OF
liquor.
II also closes the mails to all liquor
advertising, including newspaper ad-
yerti>ing. Neither can letters solicit
ine liquor orders be carried in the
mails.
Sixteen Senator'S Retire.
Sixteen senator's have now discarded
their togas and preiiSed their lilies
with EEK" This disturbance Of per
sonnet reduces but does not upset the
Democratic control of the upper house.
The Democratic majority Of Is Is cut
10 70, leaving out Of consideration such
senators and senators-elect as La Fol
lette. Hiram Johnson. PoindeNter and
Norris, officially classed as Republic
ans but not always voting according to
classification
Among the nationally known sena-
tors now retired to private life are
Clarence y. Clark Of Wyoming. who
has served In the senate continuously
since January 23. 1885, Moses T.. Clapp
of Minnesota, one of the original Pro
.ressiyes: Luke Lea of Tennessee. now
only thirty-seven years old, known as
the BABY SENATOR James f. MARITIME
of New Jersey, who acquired fame
early in his senatorial career by his
stanch defense Of a%pplejack as a bev-