Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-11-26
XII kLUkNlN
ISSUE HURLED
NTOC0NGREss
Solons Must Plan New
Means of Fighting
''Invisibles.'
BY JOHN MEviN
al ccrres,ondept Of Great Falls Tribune
wright. 1899. BY Great Falls Tribune

Washington, Nov. 25.-ThR ku kiax
Khan has been injected as a SERIOUS
issue into the session of congress con
reying a week from Monday. It mus
prove a troublesome problem right
from the start.
just what form the assaults upon
the invisible government" will take
is at present more or less indefinite
Resolutions designated TO force sweep
ing investigation are of course, al
ready in evidence.
They mean very little however.
Congress tried this at the last session
and failed TO get anywhere. The
problem of controlling a single secret
organization and allowing others TO
proceed as they will, proved too much
tor the inauiring committee. 1t finally
was decided that no available remedy
was in sight and there the matter
stands.
1t is, however, in connection with
pending legislation that the issue will
be raised next month. Certain meas
ures have been singled out for assault
because of the racial religious unity
of those who are sponsoring them. And
there is a whispering in political
circles of possible sensational deyei-
opments that can be looked for as q
result.
Rumors Circulate
Rumors. circulated by word or
mouth of acerdinaee to the principals
Of the Khan by men in the highest
official position in the present ad-
ministration. and especially in the last
,.o +hn aI,,f -o hana Thu
amount of truth placed in them is TN
usually dependent upon the hearer.
But no effort is being made to dis
cuss the fact that these reports will
become extremely important, so far
as congress is concerned when they
finally are openly debated as is now
absolutely certain. Names in use are
of men who have held. or hold, posi-
tons of the most vital Importance in
Washington.
Today the Ku Klux Khan is almost
pushed from the center of the spot
light, the prospective developments in
the so-called progressive conference
fathered by Senator Robert NJ. La
Toilette and his followers, which is to
be held here on December > and 3.
and at which there is planned to be
completed a program of action that
will prevent any action by the present
congress. to nuhify impending action
by the senator's and representatives
who We're elected on November Z, last.
Leadership
A great deal, however. hinges on the
ability of those who will participate
in this conference to work out q plan
Of action which will prevent the raising
Of the issue of actual leadership. In
asmuch as there viii be represented
here men both in and out of congress.
who are admittedly of radical tenden-
cies. the reconciliation of their ambi-
tons will be a mans job.
Take the upper house. for instance.
Senator IaFollette of Wisconsin is
sued the original cali. but he is simply
Il cog in the wheel of the great ma
per of Kansas. Norris of Nebraska.
Ladd of North Dakota and others are
a party. And elected on the seventh
of this month there are many addi-
fional men who can qualify for direc-
ton of any movement designed to carry
along the business Of the senate from
the radical viewpoint. And what is
true OF the senate is true on almost
as important a degree of the house.
Adoption Of any program by the con-
ference. which meets the latter part
of the coming week, upon which every
body can unite seems an almost i'm
possible task in the view of every man
who intends to participate. They will,
OF course. be able to agree on certain
fundamentals. Naturally this will al
low them to prevent action on certain
bills that are considered obnoxious.
. Public Building
THERE'S certain to be the suggestion
fafFsibe public. building measure. which
II Wass &dtpcated in the person of nearly
AgeCY4 Tep~resentative and senator who
MAJ &kEsaaIsxf at the last election. There
shfena public b~uilding-or as
VA astex kneWn pork barrel bill
IN on the floor since 1913. In
ssT1a6tzuaky az 1919 the committee had
asEJa3SWhich was designed to allow the
~AxNpenditure of S63,000,0N for this
nufTese. But it failed to get by the
aAeFriHg committee of the house, which
directed that it be sidetracked.
Now the clamor for such a bill is
Increasing and. incidentally certain
leaders of both the republican and DEM
~ocratic membership. are inclined to
favor it. There is. however. grave
doubt that any such proposition viii
receive the OK" of the present com
mittee. but if it should, there is little
doubt that the conference will be able
10 plan a way of killing it.
Another matter which will be de-
bated at the LaFollette conference will
be the question of the amendment or
repeal of the Escb- Cummins railway
law. The representatives of the rail
road brotherhoods insist that they will
not be satisfied with anything except
the complete repeal of this law. Sena-
tor Cummins is understood TO nave de-
cided that it must be changed in many
important particulars to the end that
the provisions included in it which
guarantee an actual return on the earn
ings should be carefully considered in
tie light Of the Developments of the
last few months.
1t is this section which has influenced
the interstate commission in
maintaining the existing passenger anc
freight rates which farmers orgaDiza
lions and business generally conside,
too high, Its repeal would allow the
commission to order sweeping reduc.
ton all along the line. Whether the
progressive conference can reach any
agreement on this subject is difficult
TO forecast at this time.
CHINESE PREMIER QUITS
Picking, Nov. 25.-(By The Asso.