Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 38, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 October 1905 — MAY CHANGE THE DAY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

MAY CHANGE THE DAY

PEOPLE WANT NEW INAUGAAA. TION DATE. • i Joint Resolution Will Be Introduced in Congress—Sentiment in Favor of AbanJoning March 4 Is Growing—‘ Life Saving the Motive. Washington correspondence:

<| MMEDIATELT after II the assembling of the Fifty-ninth Congress a joint resolution will be introduced in House and Senate Wk providing for the submission to the iSaa peo pl e of an amendment to the TRsiP Constitution which will fix a later day than March, 4 for h e inauguration of the President of p • the United States.

Inauguration day almost invariably is cold or stormy, or both, and the list of deaths due to colds contracted on that day is. nothing short of appalling. As a rule the public hears only of the deaths of prominent men, but the records show that many people in the bumbler walks die as the result of exposure March 4. There is a national movement for the change in the day when the President takes office. It has been gathering momentum for months, and Nov. 8 a committee of prominent men will meet in Washington to give the movement life and prepare the form of the joint resolution on the matter to be submitted to Congress at the opening of the session. The chairman of the committee is

Henry B. F. McFarland of the District of Columbia, and there are fifteen other members who make their homes in Washington, Including former Secretary of State John W. Foster, Admiral Dewey and Justice Harlan. The governors of thirty-nine States also have membership in the committee.

Preservation of health and life is virtually the only reason assigned for the proposed change. President Roosevelt was inducted into oflice on one of the fairest days ever granted for the ceremony, but the deaths of Senator Bate of Tennessee. Senor Don Aspiroz, ambassador from Mexico, and Judge Weldon of the Court of Claims were traced directly to exposure during the outdoor ceremonies on that day. The almost inseparable connection between the inauguration and the close of Congress creates the most perplexing obstacle to the proposed change m the date of the ceremony. It is said bv some persons claiming authority that the two events need not necessarily be simultaneous. Others say that the date of the ending of a Congress must be changed to coincide with any new inauguration date which may be •ot.

There Is a divergence of opinion about the matter of the new date to be ■elected if one is to be fixed by legislation. Th last day of April Is favored by some members of the committee, while others wish it to be the last Thursday in April, so that Inauguration day never will fall on Sunday. April Is a showery month in Washington nnd the members of the committee who wish fair weather to be assured desire that the date be set forward well into the month of May. Nearly every governor in the countiy bns written a letter to Committee Chairman McFarland expressing sympathy with the movement for a change.

Chorus of Spectators—“l wonder what he's going to say about us?”— Chicago Tribune.