Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1919-03-05
Big RAID IEL
BY PR CR Is
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER

Great Efforts to Push Special Interest
Bill Through-Liberai May Be Able
to Delay Vote Until Adjournment
Gronna Makes Strong Piea for Poo
ple-Ihe LIne-Up on League Of Ma
tons verinan COMMITTEES on Al
roeity Witness Against Gov
lets Entertained BY New York Pin.
ANGLERS. T.. ~ <2z-55s
~ Washington. D. c.-With little more
than q week to run before the present
congress expires, there IL every pros
pect that the great Power Push" to
force the mineral lands sale and leasing
bill through the senate will fail. A
dozen hfgh-priced lawyers are rushing
about the capitol corridors, dashing In
and out Of senator's Offices, and sending
long kilograms to the oil and coal and
power magnates who stand to win
scores Of millions If the deal goes
through. But there are half 4 dozen
senator's watching the game, and every
time that Pittman Of Nevada tries to
slip the conference report through he
Kenyon. or some other enemy Of the
special interests IL on his feet, ready
to talk the bill to q standstin for that
A curious development Of this fight
ference measure. Smoot Is the arch
enemy of conservation He hates the
Ipof coa Of
power. For 10 years he has been
ec%ntfee aT 70 o tas Sa 1chas
the public domain for strictly private
benefit.. And although he was salts
fed With hart the , daks easnE clause in
has come out at the last moment and
refused to sign this conference report
ing clause that might possibly be put
into effect More than that, the sale
clause provides for bidding on the
value Of the coal or other minerals in
Tor who was sincerely anxious to givethe
public a square deal might charge some-
thing near q fair price for the land.
That, In Shoots view, is anarchy.
Progresstvss Stop Action.
La Toilette and Kenyon, however, did
not leave matters to Smoot. They know
him too WELL They stay on the door at
al times when 1t might be possible for
Rs noS s tsk Is qnss
as to Shoots real motive: It seems like
ly that he knows that the progressives
will not permit the measure to pass,
and he wants to take credit in the COM
ing congress for getting through a bill
friends in Wall street He win be chair
all the corporation lobbyists will have
to come and ask him for whatever they
want Smoot is fond of holding authori-
ty in his own hands.
But meantime the people Of this coun-
try are being saved, by q small group
of progressives in the senate, from the
n% T5f case Of
them since the days of the western rail-
road land grants-the days when mill
ions were spent in the national capitol
by Stanford. Croker ad Huntington and
This rotten bill was passed by the
house. after sharp debate, February
10, by vote Of 232 to 100. Scarcely
Republicans were divided. Among those oe
voting with tho Democrats on this issue
were Tess, Fordney. Foss, johnson of
Washington. Miller Of Washington, La
mia delegation. the Oregon delegation.
ing: and Republicans from Colorado and
the Negative Were Ba Sae and mdo Yo Ssee on
North Dakota, Miss Rankin of Montana,
Anderson. Lundeen ad Davis of Mime
dronna Speaks Against Bill.
When Pittman brought the measure
up in the senate for the second time,
Senator Gronna took the floor.
II am not in physical condition." he
in opposition to this measure. I simp-
1y wish to state briefly that I am very
much opposed to the adoption Of the
TIM. and Letter sss f s1;9 hs Mr
Clifford Pinchot.
mr.: President, we are now near the
end Of this session. We have before us
tot
possibly hope to pass at this session.
up the time Of the senate to discuss
warn you that the people Of the country
| are not asleep. There are millions Of
| people in the country who know what
this proposed legislation is, and they are
Then he had the clerk read tho letter
which Pinchot sent to tho members of
the house and senate, showing that the
ference commtttee,s report upon it. and
property Of the nation.
League Of Nations.
Borah's speech on the league Of ma
lions has won him a great deal of praise
from old-fashtoned Democrats, as well
as from the Ledge organization in his
wiped out by the issue of the league
aside by the issues Of war and the
draft. There are. however, some pretty
definite new lines of cleavage between
the foes and friends Of the covenant
| which was read in Paris by the chief
executive before he started home.
In the first place, there are the strict
partisan polttictans-Democrats who al
stration and Republicans who always
oppose it. For example, nobody would
need question the attitude Of most OF
the southern senator's. They will vote
to ratify the league constit 1tion. And
Just as surely, the Republican senators
from Indiana and Illinois and Massachu-
there are Democratic senators who arc
chiefly known for their corporation
1eanines, or their fear Of 1.-The mob
King OF Utah is q shining example
King Is opposed to the league. Finally
there are liberal Democrats who have
felt the displeasure Of the president and
| who believe he is getting this country
would crush out liberalism hY inferna.