Congressional Record-Senate. 2441
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f 1916. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 2441 .Also, petitions· of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Will H. J. Res. 98. Joint resolution making part of the appropria mer, Minn., and the Christian Endeavor Society of the First tion, "Construction and machinery, increase of the Navy," in Presbyterian Church of Litchfield, Minn., for national prohibi the naval act approved March 3, 1915, available for the extension tion constitutional amendment; to the Committee on the Judi- of building ways and equipment at the navy yards at New ~~ . York and Mare Island, CaL Also, protest against extensive preparedness; to the Commit THREAT OF ARMOR-PLATE MANUFACTURERS. tee on Military Affairs. .Also, protest against continental army and conscription; to Mr. Tl.LLMAN. Mr. President, on Thursday last there ap the Committee on Military Affairs. peared in the New York World an editorial so illuminating Also, protest against military preparedness; ta the Committee and instructive that I laid it aside to have it read here, but the on Military Affairs. executive session kept me from doing so. I ask that it be read By Mr. YOUNG of North Dakota: Petition of J. M. White now for the information of the Senate. and others, of Valley City, N. Dak., protesting against the Mr. SMOOT. I will ask the Senator what is the particular passage of the Rainey bill to repeal the mixed-flour-law; to the subject? Committee on Agriculture. Mr. TILLMAN. It is on the threat of the armor-plate manu facturers to charge the Government $200 a ton more for armor plate in the event the Government dares build its own plant. SENATE. The VICE PRESIDENT. Is there objection? The Chair hears none. SATURDAY, February 1~, 1916. The Secretary read as follows : The Chaplain. Rev. Forrest J. Prettyman, D. D., offered the [From the New York World, Feb. 10, 1916.] ARMOR PLATE'S DEFIANCE. following prayer : Something more than momentary indignation should follow the . Almighty God, we thank Thee for the mighty men of valor threat of the armor-plate makers that they will not tolerate competition Thou hast raised up among us. In every crisis of our national by the United States Government. We have national shipbuilding plants as a check upon private enterprise, too often found in combina history Thou hast laid Thy hand upon some great heart and tion. The need of national armor-plate plants, obvious for the same given to him divine commission. Thou hast given power where reason, becomes imperative when private enterprise openly threatens power was needed. Thou hast added grace to sanctify the extortion and revenge. Monopolistic arrogance has never gone further than in this instance. power. Our armor-plate makers are the chief beneficiaries ·of the traffic in We hold in sacred memory to-day the name of Lincoln. We munitions of war. At the expense of many friendships, the Government thank Thee for the life he lived among us and for the larger has supported them in their legal rights, but there is no denial of the fact that they are coining money out of blood and hatred. The hands life we live because of him. We thank Thee for the place he that they now raise menacingly against a Nation by whose- neutrality holds in our national history and for the larger place that he they have profited ar£> filled with the gains of a business that ignores lives in the sacred memory of the heart of our great Nation. the moralities and ls content to stand upon the strict letter of the law. We pray that Thou wilt enable all men in leadership to emulate These are the men who have complicated the question of national defense by their gluttonous attempt to bend the whole movement in his virtues. · their own selfish interest. With pockets stuffed as a result of the We pray Thee to lay Thy .Q,and upon mighty men of valor in agony of Europe, they have sought to make of the necessity for rea sonable df'fense at home an opportunity to- oppress a people at peace. our day that they may lead us forward in the achievement of Tbey want Government to protect them, their property, and their yet greater victories in our m·oral and spiritual life as a people, trade. 'l'hey even expect Government to go to war in their behalf. and that all our life work may lead to honor and justice and Yet a suggestion of independence on the part of that Government is truth. May this Nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to met by the terrorism of monopolistic prices to-day and of dismantled plants to-morrow. the proposition that all men are born equal, not cease its glorious What is new in all this is not the contemplated robbery of the mission until all men gain that higher freedom wherewith Thy people. For many years that was a matter of course, and it may be so now. The investigation of 1896 showed that whereas the United States Son shall make us free. We ask these things for Christ's sake. had been chargP.d $540 a ton for armor plate, the product was regu Amen. · larly sold to foreign Governments for $249 a ton. At that time pres The Journal of the proceedings of the legislative day of sure was exerted chiefly upon the Republican Party, whose campaign Wednesday, February 9, 1916, was read and approved. chests were regularly enriched. ~ow, with a dltrerent r~gime in power, it manifests itself in coercion and defiance. MESSAGE FROM THE HOUSE. Tbese e.re the men, or the successors of the men, also, who in 1894 on the testimony of naval experts. were fined. $140,484.94 by President A message from the House of Representative, by J. C. South, Cleveland for delivering to the Government armor plate that was its Chief Clerk, announced that the House had passed the fol notoriously defective, full of blowholes, cracked and resurfaced, never lowing bills, in which it requested the concurrence of the Senate: honestly tested, and far short of specifications in other respects. Some of this armor was intended for the ships that won the Spanish War. H. R. 11078. An act granting pensions and increase of pen If tt had not been detected, it might even now be the weak defense upon sions to certain soldiers and sailors of the Civil War and cer which in a great emergency American life, honor, and property would tain widows and dependent children of soldiers and sailors of depend. Congress can not afford to ignore the spirit exhibited by this com ~dwar;and · bination. The first step toward preparedness in this direction mud be H. R. 11240. An act granting pensions and increase of pensions an assertion of national sovereignty that will not be forgotten by in to certain soldiers and sailors of the Regular Army and Navy corporated greed and incorDorated disloyalty. and certain soldiers and sailors of wars other than the Civil PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS. War and to widows of such soldiers and sailors. ' The VICE PRESIDENT presented a telegram in the nature The message also announced that the House had agreed to a of a petition from the Los Angeles (Cal.) Branch of the Ameri concurrent resolution authorizing a certain change to be made can Independence Union, praying for the placing of an embargo in the text of the paragraph in the urgent deficiency appropria on munitions of war, which was referred to the Committee on tion bill for payment of judgments in Indian depredation Foreign Relations. claims, etc., in which it requested the concurrence of the Semite. Mr. GALLINGER presented the petition of Rev. George G. The message further announced that the House had passed Williams, of Tilton, N. H., and a petition of the George H. the bill ( S. 3518) granting pensions and increase of pensions Bartlett Bible Class for Men, of Sunapee, N. H., praying for pro to certain soldiers and sailors of the Civil War and certain hibition in the District of Columbia, which were ordered to lie widows and dependent relatives of such soldiers and sailors, on the table. with amendments, in which it requested the concurrence of the He also presented a petition of Lakeside Council, No. 6, Sons Senate. and Daughters of Liberty, of LaL-eport, N. H., praying for the ENROLLED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS SIGNED. inclusion of the literacy test in proposed immigration legisla· The message also announced that the Speaker of the House tion, which was referred to the Committee on Immigration. had signed the following enrolled· bills and joint resolutions, He also presented tht- petition of Samuel C. Eastman, of . and they were thereupon signed by the Vice President : Concord, N. H., praying for the enactment of legislation to pro S. 900. An net amending sections 476, 477, and 440 of the hibit interstate commerce in the :vroducts of child labor, which Revised Statutes of the United States; was referred to the Committee on Interstate Commerce. H. R. 8233. An act granting the consent of Congress to the He also presented a petition of the Weekly Publishers' Asso Republic Iron & Steel Co. to construct a bridge across the Ma ciation, of Rochester, N. H., praying for the enactment of legis honing River, in the State of Ohio; lation to permit the exehange of advertising space for trans H. R. 9224. An act providing for an increase in number of portation, whi~ was referred to the Committee on Interstate midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy. Commerce. H. J. Res. 95. Joint resolution authorizing the Secretary of He also presented a memorial of Local Branch, Granite Cut the Navy to receive for iilstruction at the United States Naval ters' International Association, of Ooncord, N.