Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1920-02-04
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER

OUR WASH1Nl
WASHINGTON, D. C.-Appointment
of E. T. Meredith of Des Moines
Iowa, as secretary Of agriculture is un.
derstood here as an attempt to remove
farmer hostility stirred up by Houston
Houston becomes secretary of the
treasury. The Democrats may also
hope to carry Iowa by reason of this
recognition of that state in the cabinet
AS for the differences between the
tow men, farmers will probably find
in Meredith a man of greater ability
in outgeneraling them. He is as no.
toriously tied up with special privilege
as Houston is, being a director of the
United States Chamber of Commerce,
the organization which has been lead.
ing the public fight for the packing
trust and other trusts, and director
OF the Chicago Federal Reserve bank
The latter position means that he is
satisfactory to the big banking inter.
ests of Iowa and Illinois.
Meredith has long been Democrat.
ic machine politician with the federal
patronage of Iowa at his disposal, has
run for governor and United States
senator, and in 1916 was a delegate
to the Democratic national convention
His chief connection with the farmer
except through. the chamber of com.
merce route, is that he owns a so.
called farm paper known as Success
full Farming.
SEDITIoN BILLS LOSE
Three days of hearings by the house
rules committee this week upon the
Sterling and Graham peace-time sedi
tion bills has left those bills as dead
clusion of Chairman Phil Campbell
and of Representative Schall of Mime
sofa and Representative Rodenberg OF
Illinois, members of the committee
Chairman Volstead of the house judi
ciary committee, who represents a
rural district of Minnesota, attended
the hearings on the first day and after
listening to Sampel Gompers of the
labor forces, John D. Moore of the
Irish, and spokesman of the Quakers
the New York Bar association, the
American Newspaper Publishers as
ISOLATION and many others who pro
tested against sedition legislation as
being progressive, irritating, futile
and foolish,"' Volstead agreed that he
and his committee had made big
mistake in approving the bills
AS the rules committee had been
asked for a special rule to bring the
Graham sedition bill up for immediate
passage, and as the rules committee
is evidently opposed to the bill. Vol
ure go back to his committee fol-
further consideration. Then it will be
pigeonholed. In it's place an amend
ment to the criminal code will prob
ably be offered, making it crime tc
propose or advocate" the violent
overthrow of the government. The
criminal statute now forbids ''inciting'
such violent overthrow, but the law
yers in congress disagree as to wheth
er that is broad enough to cover one
man attempts to start riot.
Those hearings have served to show
that Attorney General Palmer was
frightened at the resistance to his
plans for sedition legislation to the
extent that he hastily abandoned his
intention of coming before the com
mittee to argue for the Graham bill.
4 Il
FARMERS SEE CONGRESSMAN
Congressman Stevenson, Davis
knutson, Ellsworth, Schall, Keller and
Carss were the first of the Minnesota
delegation interviewed here by a spe
cial delegation of the farmer-labor
forces of the Gopher state on the rail
road and sedition issues. President
A. G. WEIGH of the Minnesota branch
of the American Society of Equity
George Griffith of the Minnesota
branch of the National Nonpartisar
league, and E. G. Hall, president o.
the Minnesota State Federation Of
Labor, made up the interviewing par
ty.
AA1~NAA oAO VI CAOOO NOA5l Cool10u,
said Mr.. WEIGH, "assured us in definite
| and positive terms that he would
oppose the conference report on thu
| Esch -Cummins railroad bill, and would
vote for holding the railroads in gov
| eminent hands for two more years
Each of them, alsO assured us posi-
lively that he would oppose any sedi
ton legislation. Those pledges wer'
given us when we told them that w
were opposed to these bills and wer'
in favor of the two-year extension o
the period of public operation of tn,
roads.
eve will interview Congressme1
Anderson and Volstead before we g
back; we shall also interview Senator
Kellogg and Nelson"
| Similar labor-farmer delegation
from a number of states in the Yves
have been here recently to urge tn
two-year extension of government
operation of the railroads and to or
pose all anti-labor measures such a
the sedition bills are known to be.
MORE TRUST STRATEGY
Packer legislation is about to be re
ported to the senate from the commit
tee on agriculture, of which Senate
Gronna is chairman. It is propose
by Senator Kenyon and Senator Keno
rick that authority to watch over tn
conduct of the packers, to see tina
they do not violate the antitrust law
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