V -. V
The Commoner.
VOLUME 9, NUMBER
t
w:
lb
tJala to make reports direct to congress, assert
ing that It Is the president's privilege to say
whether or not congressional requests for such
reports should bo complied with. Senator
Bailey hud introduced a resolution criticising
Mr. Roosevelt for his alleged interference and
assorting the right of congress to make such a
demand. On the closing day of the session
Senator Bailey's resolution came up fpr consld
Dration. Senator Cummins of Iowa, republican,
offered a1 substitute Tho Cummins substitute
though less emphatic in terms, likewise resisted
tho contention of tho president that cabinet
officers are subject to his direction instead of to
congress. During tho discussion Senator Bail..
agreed to accept tho Cummins substitute if the
Bonato would pass it, but after a heated dis
cussion both resolutions were referred to tho
Judiciary committee.
Sonator Cummins' substitute for the Bailey
resolution declared that
"Whereas, Certain heads of departments use
language which may imply they respond only
under the direction of the president; it is
"Resolved, That the senate declares it to be
a well established and continuously exercised
right to direct the heads of departments to fur
nish tho senate papers, documents and informa
tion in all cases wherein it has jurisdiction and
control, and such heads of departments are
bound to furnish tho same without the interfer
ence of any othor authority whatsoever."
TUB OREGON VliANIN NEBRASKA
Tho Nebraska legislature has passed and Gov
ernor Shallonberger has signed the bill provid
ing for the adoption of the Oregon plan of elect
ing Unitod States sonators in Nebraska. This
was house roll number one and was Introduced
by Hon. Fred Humphrey of Lincoln. This bill
has been printed several times in The Com
moner. Tho Oregon statute will give to the people
of Nebraska the advantage enjoyed by the peo
ple of Oregon, namely, the advantage of elect
ing their senators by direct vote. Under the
fedoral constitution, United States senators are
elected by tho legislators of tho various states,
and it is impossible to change this provision
without constitutional amendment. Oregon,
howover, has by a practical method reached sub
stantially tho same end by a law which pro
vides for tho submission of a pledge to candi
dates for tho legislature. The candidate, of
course, has the privilege of signing the pledge
or of refusing to sign it, but his refusal to sign
It, being a declaration against the election of
United States senators by the people, would put
him at a disadvantage, and his opponent would
gain the advantage that naturally comes from a
recognition of the right of the people to rule.
Other Btates ought to take advantage of this
plan.
IS THIS REFORM?
Does the president's cabinet strike you as a
reform cabinet?
Secretary of State Knox! Ex-attorney of the
steel trust; after conference with Mr. Friclc
lie as attorney general, advised the killing of
tho only anti-trust bill passed by the house in
recent years. Is he likely to encourage the
president to attack: the, trusts?
Secretary of War Dickinson, attorney for the
Illinois Central railroad an oxTdomocrat, drawn
away from his party by his corporate con
nections. Secretary of the Treasury MacVeagh, ex-demo-Kn
Wall SrX " "" Separat"'
ussfSLSsssr Labor Nasei' at-
Attorney General Wickersham, not known for
any activity in connection with tho regulation of
railroads or the prosecution of monopolies of a
national character.
When has a chief executive selected a more
conservative cabinet? The-e are no reformers
in it; the progressive element of the republican
, party is as completely ignored as was the pro
gressive element by Mr. Cleveland during his
Bam?? admlnistration- Will tho result be the
NEBRASKA DEMOCRATS BANQUET
A "Bryan birthday banquet" will be given at
Lincoln March 19 under the auspices of tho
Bryan Volunteers of Nebraska Mr Brvan
rltntion is extended. faeneim in-
THE SOFT-PEDAL TRIPLETS
ROOT, KNOX, CRANE-APOSTLES OF PEACE AND PROSPERITY
SAMUEL G. BLYTHE, IN THE SAT
URDAY EVENING POST
When the Taft administration starts, moves
and seems to feel a thrill of life along its keel
it can be put down for a fact that, if a certain
three big men in Washington have anything to
do with it and they think they will we are
in for four peaceful, calm and non-strenuous
years. Wo are going to be safe and sane to a
fare-you-well. This is to be a regime of recon
struction instead of destruction. To hear them
tell it privately, it is now time for the business
interests to get up and give three ringing cheers,
for business is the watchword, and we are no
longer going sky-hooting around, prosecuting
everywhere, but intend to let everybody have a
rest.
The soft-pedal triplets are Elihu Root, Sena
tor Crane and Philander C. Knox. They .are
the three statesmen who have taken the job of
putting on the brakes. They are the three
patriots who have contracted to felt Mr. Taft,
to felt him until he is as noiseless as a rubber
tired wagon on an asphalt street. Moreover,
they are likely to make a good fist at it, for,
as matters now stand, they are the three who
will be closest to the throne and most in
fluential. It is a good combination, Root, Knox and
Crane a good, handy, working alliance, made
up of good, handy workmen, who know the
game and their game, and who have various
reforms they desire to have Instituted, the prin
cipal one being in the nature of less noise and
more conservatism in the White House. Mr.
Roosevelt has recently said he feared Mr. Taft
was veering toward the reactionaries, and the
suspicion appears to be reasonably justified by
the facts; not that Mr. Taft has in any way
tried to discourage or retard any of Mr. Roose
velt's policies, but that Mr. Taft has allied with
him these three amiable gentlemen, the soft
pedal triplets, and they are not looking for
action. There has been too much of that, from
their viewpoint, and what they need now is re
action, rest, calm a period of contemplation
and self-examination.
.The Three Doves of Peace
Root and Knox and Crane. There are
three gentlemen who have been skating around
the edges of this period of hullabaloo; we have
had them cutting curlicues and doing figure
eights, from time to time, but not getting in
so far that they could not back out on occa
sion. Root and Knox were both in the Roosevelt
cabinet, and both great friends of tho president.
Now, Knox will go into the Taft cabinet as
premier, and Root will take the place of Thomas
C. Piatt as senator from New York. It would
be both ungraceful and untrue to charge that
either of these men was ever disloyal to Mr
Roosevelt, for neither has been, although it is
likely that Mr. Roosevelt did many things that
S?irS nx0t aPProved y either Root or Knox.
While they had service with Mr. Roosevelt they
were in that service, but neither their tendencies
nor their -practices made them think all that was
done was what should be done.
Root and Knox aTe great lawyers, great cor-
man. Root and Knox have been careful enough
to keep to themselves what they thought of
mary,Q0f Jri Rosevelt'B Policies, but soon they
will be out in the open and at work, laying the
foundations for an era of conservatism. So ion
as they have the Taft ear they will keep dinning
into it the story that the business interests of
the country deserve a rest, and, from the Lv
nature of the man, they are likely t"find are
sponsiye listener in Mr. Taft. He is not streim
mis. He is calm and judicial. He has Stv
of nerve, but he goes ahead slowlv not !K
hop-skip-and-jump. wowiy, not with a
Take Root. He is remits t
the finest legal minds in tte country an drnn
likes to be a part of thin, 'i, the power
and that hi Vicing for hf u' ? n her.
tt. capital to greater XZoZZ
have to get money or to be the leader of tho
bar in New York or elsewhere. That is why h0
consented to become secretary of war under
McKinley, and that is why, after he resigned and
went back to New York to take up the law
again, he responded eagerly to Mr. Roosevelt's
call to come back to "Washington and take the
chair the death of John Hay vacated. Soon he
will be in the senate, and for the very same
thing. He wants to round out his career in
public life.
Root is naturally a conservative. He was the
president's adviser in almost everything when
be was in the Roosevelt cabinet, and while he
may not have approved nor have been able to
stop many things that he, congenitally, was op
posed to, nobody will ever know how many
things he did stop of which the public heard
nothing. He was a balance-wheel for Mr. Roose
velt, not always - working, of course, but work
ing whenever ho could and getting" results that
those who were close to the inside know about.
At that, there are some of the Roosevelt pro
jects that he approved heartily, projects it would
be hard to make his former legal and business
associates think he could be brought to favor
with a yoke of oxen.
Taft's Right-Hand Man
Taft likes Root, respects, him and depends
on him. Himself a lawyer and a judge, Taft
knows the tremendous legal ability of Root and
appreciates it at its true worth in his adminis
tration. Thus, with Root in the senate, and al
ways available for advice, Taft will consult with
him as freely as if he were in the cabinet. The
conservative leaders in the senate hail Root's
advent with great joy. He will be a tower of
strength to the old and tottering oligarchy, head
ed by Aldrich and Hale, that has ruled for so
many years. Root has already aligned himself
with this wing of the senate. He has fallen into
step, naturally, with the column to' ' which all
his tendencies, convictions and associations
direct him. He is no more of a radical than
Senator George Peabody Wetmore, of Rhode
Island, who lives in Newport and has every sym
pathy which that residence implies.
Aldrich and Hale have grabbed Root and
taken him in. Instead of serving for a few
years on probation, as does nearly every other
new senator, Root has landed on the top first
off. They know him in the senate, know his
predilections and his temperament. They need
him in their business. Thus, without the obliga
tion of loyalty to a chief who is ultra-radical,
responsible to nobody but himself for they had
to take him in New York whether they wanted
him or not Root will be just the kind of a
senator he might be expected to be. Thus, too,
Root will exert his influence on Taft to the
end that there may be quiet and peace and a
cessation of crusading that is so distasteful to
Hoots friends and to his new associates in the
Benate.
It is the same, with Knox. He was a corpora--5
law7,wnen he came to be attorney general
under McKinley. Nor can it be said of him that
when he remained in Mr. Roosevelt's cabinet he
ra?n?i loya1' Hewas- He obeyed orders, but,
iif if 2le ia1seJwitn Rot he had much influence
with President Roosevelt, and there is nobody
wno can tell how many things Knox Btopped
Z efwas attorney general. He was an
other adviser who had conservative leanings. So
long as he was in 'the Roosevelt cabinet he was
there with no other idea than to serve his chief
and the people, for Jie is not the kind of a man
who would accept a position of that kind with
any other purpose in view. However, he threw
his influence and his counsel always on the side
of conservatism, as was natural. He was trained
that way brought up that way, and he had tho
habit and practice of a lifetime back of him.
e leftthe attorney general's office to
fi? aii h. senate he, too, aligned himself with
nil wrldl"Hal? oligarchy. His tendencies were
all that way. Like Root, he is a great lawyer,
ana, miQ Root, he had served clients always
who were opposed to many of the policies of
Mr Roosevelt. Knox never went so far as pub
n i PPseimany of his former chief's plans
nni ?Se Was iri the senate- bu his sympathies
i !? l?nce wo,re alwayB wlth the Aldrich-Hale
iTr fri?11,4 n nd gainst further disturbance.
?f I ms?If te made a candidate for presi
dent, not in the hope that ho would be nominal
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