Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1918-04-17


busy" remarked Senator Norris OF
Nebraska, but as compared with the
burdens which have been placed by
law upon the shoulders of the secre-
tary of the treasury, the burdens Of
the secretary of state are infnitesi-
NAL"
Further along in the discussion Nor
ris remarked that the secretary of the
treasury was having bis own way and
motion to change a provision in a
pending bill could not prevail, 'be-
cause we have got into the habit of
doing things according to the rules
approved by the secretary of the treas
ury, and / suppose that we will con-
tinue along that line"
Congressman Webb of North Caro-
lima, chairman of the judiciary COM
mittee, became the sponsor of bill
which has appeared in many forms
during the last ten years, usually In
troduced ''by request" indicating that
the member introducing 1t did not care
to father 1t, and which shows the per-
sistence of one particular individual.
Many years ago. 1t may have been
quarter of a century, man began be-
sieging congress to secure the estab-
lishment of bureau for the study OF
criminal, pauper and defective classes.
In one form or another the bill has
been presented in every congress and
at times a considerable amount Of ar
gument has been printed in its favor.
It Is rather remarkable that this bu-
reau has not been created, for it seems
TO be about the easiest thing in the
world to create bureau with salary
list attached. The Webb bill provides
that the chief of the bureau shall re-
ceive a salary of only $4,000. and the
clerical force brings the total sum
UP to only $4,000. The man who has
been behind this scheme all these years
ought to know it would be difficult to
get bureau established with meas
" $4,000 If he had made it $4,000
or 100000 he might have had some
chance of getting it through congress.
Changed conditions in the Southern
states as regards agriculture came up
for comment during consideration OF
the agricultural appropriation bill, and
it was pointed out that the South was
now self-supporting in the way of rails
| ing foods, while only short time ago
it had to buy large quantity of its
foods from the North and West. The
time was in the South when they had
| three great staples cotton, cane ana
tobacco, and regarded other agricul-
tural products as rather incidental.
corn, potatoes, vegetables and fruits.
and, in the meat line, cattle, hogs and
chickens.
During the discussion Senator Will
liams Of Mississippi gave as one rea-
son for the change the offering Of
prizes at county fairs, and gave indi-
vidual instances of how corn clubs
had been organized and boys had been
engaged in intensive farming. While
that has helped some, the real reason
for the changed agricultural conditions
in the South, it was brought out, is
the failure of some crops, the POSSIBLE
ity of losses on staples, and the propa-
ganda which has been carried on by the
agricultural department for many
years pointing out the advantages of
diversified farming, and also. showing
Southern farmers that their soils were
good for something besides few
standard products.
Eulogies of dead members of con-
gress are a good deal of a farce. In
the house they are held on Sundays
with a few people in the galleries and
sometimes not more than half dozen
members of the house present. The
ceremonies are usually slurred over
and sometimes the members who ap-
pear to have addressed the house were
not even on the floor. And yet there
are occasions when those eulogies
bring out interesting facts. Such was
the case in regard to the late Eben-
ezer J. Hill of Connecticut Although
very few members eulogized him, the
character of the men who participated
showed that he had won a high place
in the house of representatives Speak
err Clark, Majority Leader Kitchin of
North Carolina, Minority Leader Mann
Of Illinois, and Congressman Fordney
of Michigan, the ranking Republican
member of the ways and means COM
mittee, were among the men who paid
their last tribute to Mr.. Hill.
Congressman Kitchin, in speaking of
Hill. said: eff we except the gentle
man from Illinois, Mr.. Mann, the In
comparable minority leader, l doubt
if any other man In the house In the
last fifteen years was as tireiess a
worker or as diligent student of legis-
lation as Mr.. Hill"