THE RECORD OF CONGRESS 127 No, the fighting, the bleeding France of today is the France of all time, that of yesterday and that of to-morrow; that of Joan of Arc, of Bayard, Turenne, Hoche, Lafayette, the same as that of Joffre. Some have wondered that the French, pretty well known for their dash, could show such endurance, but this was to forget that France fought a hundred years' war and won it. Never in my country will the American volunteers of the great war be forgotten. There is not one form of suffering among the innumerable kinds of calamities caused by a merciless enemy that some American work has not tried to assuage in the hospitals, in the schools for the maimed and blind, on the battlefields, in the trenches, nay, in the air, with your plucky aviators. The American name is blessed in the trenches, where those kits named after the hero of to-day, Lafayette, have brought comfort to so many soldiers. Serving in the ambulances, serving in the Legion, serving in the air, serving liberty, obeying the same impulses as those which brought Lafayette to these shores, many young Americans, leaving family and home, have offered to France their lives. Those lives many have lost, and never was there shown such abnegation and generosity as that of men who, like Victor Chapman, died to rescue their American and French co-aviators. THE RECORD OF CONGRESS The first session of the Sixty-fourth Congress has just adjourned; it convened at Washington December 6, 1915. It is proper, therefore, to review what the nine months' session did. The Sixty-fourth Congress is, of course, still in existence, and is Democratic in both branches. The members of the House and some members of the Senate were elected in 1914, the Representatives elected for a term of two years, while the Senators are chosen for terms of six years. The House has 435 members, the Senate 96. The ratio of representation in the House is one member to every 212,407 of the people; in the Senate there are two Senators from each State. the free list or should be put back on the dutiable list. Then there was the demand of farmers that the Administration finally redeem its promise as to rural credits legislation. There was also the demand by shipowners to obtain a modification of the Seaman's Law, and there was much talk about what Congress should do regarding the proposed amendment to the Constitution granting the vote to women. WHAT DID CONGRESS DO? We separate the accomplishments of Congress into Good, Bad, and Mixed Good and Bad. Its inaction regarding certain things expected was in some cases welcome and in others unwelcome. I-GOOD ACTS The Child Labor Law, forbidding interState commerce in the products of mills or factories in which children under fourteen years of age have been employed, and in the products of mines or quarries in which children under sixteen have been employed. The Federal Workmen's Compensation Law, providing thirty-five per cent of her husband's wages during widowhood to the widow of any workman employed by the Government and killed in the discharge of duty, and granting to a workman during total disability a monthly two-thirds of his wages and a less amount in the case of partial disability. The Postal Savings Bank Amendment to the Law of 1910. An amendment increasing the amount which individuals may deposit in the Postal Savings Banks from $500 to $1,000 with interest, and an additional $1,000 without interest. The Federal Farm Loan Law. A step in the direction of rural land banks the precedent for which has been set by Germany, France, and Denmark. Doubtless experience will suggest amendments, but it is action in the right direction. The Railway Regulation Resolution, providing for an investigation of the efficiency of the present system of control, and also of conditions which would attend Government ownership of all public utilities-railways, telegraphs, telephones, express companies. The Good Roads Law, appropriating $80,000,000 during the next five years to be spent in making good roads, if the State involved puts up a dollar for every dollar given to it from the Federal fund. But the administration of this law must be scientific and efficient to save it from the dangers of the "pork barrel." The Sugar Repeal Law, repealing the free sugar clause of the Underwood Tariff Bill, thereby continuing the receipt of some $40,000,000 in customs revenue by the Treasury. The Military and Naval Academies Law, increasing the corps of cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point, and of midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, an increase of vital importance to the plans that have been since adopted in enlarging the army and navy. The Fortifications Appropriation Bill, ap propriating some $25,000,000 for fortifications and other works of defense and for their armament. The Army Appropriation Bill, with its liberal appropriations for the maintenance of the reorganized army and militia and for sup plies and equipment. The bill also establishes an embryonic Council of National Defense. This is a commendable step in the right direction, even if it does not altogether satisfy the demand for the complete co-ordination of all our resources. The Ratification of the Nicaraguan Treaty, providing for the right to construct a canal, if ever desirable, across Nicaragua, and for a naval base in the Bay of Fonseca, the consideration being $3,000,000. The Ratification of the Haitian Treaty, establishing a financial guardianship similar to ours in the Dominican Republic and creating a Haitian constabulary, to be officered by Americans until the natives are fitted to take over the command. The Ratification of the Danish Treaty, paying $25,000,000 for the three Danish West Indian Islands. Though the price is five times as much as was offered in 1902, it is justifiable in view of the extinction of a possible source of foreign complications which might lead to a war involving us, under the Monroe Doctrine. The Ratification of the Migratory Bird Treaty between the United States and Canada, providing that no bird important to agriculture because it is an insect destroyer shall be shot at any time, and that the open season for game birds may be restricted to three months and a half. The Widows' Pension Bill, passed at the last moment of the session for patent political reasons, and unwarrantably increasing both claims to pensions and the amount of pensions. The Ship Purchase Law, committing the Government to $50,000,000 of absurd expenditure on the pretext of a Governmental purchase of merchant vessels to aid trade and to act as naval auxiliaries. The Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Law. According to Senator Kenyon, of Iowa, "half of its $42,000,000 is to be poured into waterless streams and dry rivers." Certainly the greater part is to be spent on projects of purely local interest, from which no permanent National benefit can result. Mr. (Continued on page following illustrations) |