The Lamar register. [volume] (Lamar, Colo.) 1889-1952, 1917-05-02
WHAT'S DOING IN WASHINGTON
Would standardize Measures

Washington, May Z.NoPeSiai wa
respondence)-A bill devised to reg
ulate and control the manufacture and
use of weights and measures has been
drafted by Congressman John z. Ill
son of Connecticut. The measure pro-
hibits the sale or use of any weight
or measure after one year from the
passage of the act of type that has
not been approved by the federal bu-
reau of standards. Penalties are pro-
yided for violation of the law, and
the bureau is authorized to formulate
regulations for its administration. In
addition to his interest in the work
of the bureau of standards Mr.. Tilson
is an expert on military matters, and
friends of the army will be pleased
to know that he retains his place on
the military committee. Mr.. Tilson
served throughout the Spanish war,
and commanded a Connecticut regi-
emnt on the Mexican border last year.
More Midshipmen Needed
Representative George E. Foss of
Illinois urges that the proposal to in
crease the number of midshipmen at
the naval academy shall be made per
manent, and not to be a temporary
expedient of only 10 months duration.
He calls attention to the fact that
testimony before the naval committee
before we went to war developed the
fact that the navy was about 80 per
cent short of the number of officers
required to maintain the ships on even
a peace basis. In addition to that
Mr.. Foss points out that when our
enlarged building program, recently
authorized, is completed in 1921 we
will need over 300 more officers, ac-
cording to expert computation, than
will then be in the service, unless some
permanent cSeage is made in the num-
bers to be appointed to the academy.
Eighty Bills in One Day
A democratic senator from Colo
RADIO outdid himself recently by intro
ducing in one day eighty bills propos-
ing payments of bounty, increased
rank Of officers on the retired list,
and pensions and increases of pension
in cases which had no lawful standing
at the pension bureau. Each one of
the bills will, if enacted into law,
make separate drain on the treasury
to distribute government funds to
private individuals, which could not
be obtained if the letter and intent of
the law in each case were adhered TO.
Such is the democratic conception of
Stand by the President" in his APP
peals to the country to mobilize our
resources and practice economies.
Guardsmen Who Don't Guard
The recent "jimmying" of the door
of the room of the senate committee
on naval affairs is a sad commentary
on the mongrel lot Of southern demo-
cratic political henchmen who mas
querade about the Capitol in police
mems uniforms ostensibly to guard
the building from intruders. The
broken door above mentioned is not
more than a hundred feet in a direct
line from a desk at the senate en-
LEdHCe " lIle Cdpllol al WHICH u po-
iceman is supposed to be permanently
stationed, who could, if he were awake
easily hear any disturbance at that
distance. 1t is altogether too much
to expect that such appointees will
rouse themselves sufficiently to make
regular rounds of the building during
the night, but in these perilous times
it would seem to be the part of wis
dom to provide for inspections al
stated intervals.
The suggestion that Col. Roosevelt
could duplicate in this country what
Lord Derby did for England in filling
up the ranks of the army is one worth
considering and applying. Roosevelt
as chief recruiting officer would put
pep into the whole situation.
Marquette (Mich.) Chronicle-The
United States is not going into this
war for glory. We are going in to
help get the Kaiser's goat"