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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 14, 1910)
"jpjsrwwr TT3f rprr- r"fW"- The Commoner. 3 JANUARY 14, 1910 -v V w o o h o it b" ' I - 'The. Old Ship is Leaking Now x 4n Upheaval at Washington Mr. Bryan In waging war upon tho republican yy niombors.of congress who passed the tariff bill and upon President Taft, who signed It, In that contest I know of but one way to troat them, and that is to fight them just as wo fight Mr, Bryan and his followers." The republican insurgents have received no tice from the Taft administration that if they are to obtain any office for their constituents they must abandon their principles. The story is told in Associated Press dispatches as follows: Washington, D. C, January 4. War without quarter will bo waged between the Taft admin istration and such republican insurgents in con gress as are now opposing and who opposo in the future the Taft legislative program. Tho battle Js not with those tariff insurgents who quietly sheathed their blades after defeat, but with those who have nursed disappointment and are whetting their knives publicly in anticipa tion of continued f conflict. Tho battle broke suddenly today. At first it was a" sfngje shot; then a scattered firing; swift ly the thing spread until tonight it has taken 'on the aspect of a general engagement, the con sequences' of which can not be foretold. Tho substance of it is that the senators and congress men who have taken a stand against the present administration, and who continue to align them selves with the opposition to the president's policies, are to receive no consideration in mat ters of patronage. Utterances such as that made by Senator Cum mins at a recent dinner in Des Moines, by Sen ator Bristow in previous speeches, and anti Taft articles in Senator LaFollette's magazine, and a recent interview by Senator Clapp on the price of foodstuffs, are said to have stirred tho president to action. It had been reported further that some of the republican insurgents in the house have tried to secure appointment under the administration of men more or less openly out of harmony with the Taft regime. Mr. Taf t's closest friends advised him that it would be impolitic for him to afford sinews of war to those whot they wajjped him, might even, co operate with the democrats in congress against the Taft legislative program, and in tho coun try at large by creating anti-Taft sentiment in advance of the 1912 convention. It is stated without reserve tonight that the' president has listened to such advice and has decided to follow it. In support of the position taken by certain leaders of the administration that the battle is not with the tariff, insurgents, it was pointed out tonight that Senators Nelson, Brown, Bur kett and Borah, all of whom voted against tho Payne-Aldrich tariff bill, appear to be persona grata at the White House, postofflce department, land office and internal revenue bureau, where federal "pie" is seryed. No politician who would discuss the situation at all tonight dared hazard the opinion as to the political outcome of tho contest. Some in sisted that it would arouse bitter opposition to President Taft, while others declared that the effect would be to make all republicans line up for or against the president and "smoke out" those who liave carefully kept a neutral position. Representative Miller, of the Eighth Minne sota district, was the man chiefly instrumental in "blowing the lid off" of the situation today. He did it by a statement to the effect that Post master General Hitchcock informed him yester day tha't his (Miller's) recommendations for presidential postinasterships were being held up because of his insurgent activities in the house. He quoted the postmaster general assaying in substance: "A great deal of pressure is being brought to bear upon me to withhold from the insurgent republican congressmen the patronage in their districts. I am very loath to do this, and tho matter is still under consideration." Mr. Miller said he told the postmaster general lie intended to carry the thing to the open floor of the house but that Mr. Hitchcock urged him to defer any such action until the subject could be further considered. Whereupon Mr. Miller agreed to await full developments before ..pre cipitating an open fight. As soon as the congressman's statement be came known the postmaster general called him on the telephone and took him to task for not having regarded the conversation as confidential, to which Mr. Miller replied .that he had not go understood it and felt that he had violated no confidence. , Representative Miller said to night that a month or more ago he complied with & request from the postofflce department to for ward his recommendations upon several presi dential postmasterships in Minnesota. After a wait of several weeks he called at the depart ment, he says, but could get no satisfactory in formation and was for a long time unable to see the postmaster general. He succeeded In gaining an audience yesterday afternoon, and it was during that conversation, according to Mr. Miller, that Mr. Hitchcock informed him of tho existence of a situation Which had made it im possible for him to act as yet. upon his recom mendations. Mr. Miller insists that ho had no idea that the interview waB to be considered private, as there were three other callers in Mr. Hitch cock's office. at the time who might have heard the conversation. Representative Humphrey, of Washington, was one of the three present and one or both of the others were congressmen. Before mak ing the matter public he had conferred with Senator Clapp, from his own state, also an In surgent. He did not desire, he said, to pre cipitate any final break, btit he had merely re peated the remarks which he considered were official and- authoritative. Postmaster General Hitchcock was silent on the whole subject tonight, nor would any other officials representing the administration say a word about it. Another feature of the attitude of the party leaders toward the Insurgent members of the house was hinted at in disclosures today. It was currently reported that the "rebellious" re publican members of congress were soon to feel the hand of the national party organization against them in their home districts. The plan, according to the statement of one of the insur gents, who also is to be marked ,as a victim, was for the organization at Washington to stim ulate opposition to renominatlon of these con gressmen by diverse local activities. Local republican aspirants for their places were to be encouraged and if the opposition was unsuccessful at the primaries, the fight was to be carried even to the polls. It was pointed out that in Congressman Coop er's district In Wisconsin already a rival re publican candidate was in the field, although the primaries there do not occur until September. Large sums of money are available for the pur pose, it is claimed by those who tell this story, and considerable has already been expended. In the district represented by Representative Norris of Nebraska, early republican opposition has de veloped. Representative Norris has said he well knew the fight was on against him at home. On the other hand, Inquiries among congress men, generally classed as Insurgents, failed to disclose any apparent active antagonism to them on the part of any one connected with the ad ministration. Representatives Murdock and Madison of Kansas, have not suffered from 'sus pended animation" in their patronage recom mendations. When Mr. Madison was Informed that the fight apparently had started, he said: "Good, I am glad of it. Nothing suits me better than ' to have a good square fight." Congressman Hayes, of California, who pro sided over the only meeting the house insur gents held this year, declared that he was "in tho fight to stay." "If no one will call a meet ing of the insurgents to mark out the plan of battle, I will do it," he said; "and if there are others who are backwards in this battle I will go it alone. I am an Insurgent until it is over." Speaker Cannon tonight remarked that if he were to express his own views on the situation they would sound "chestnutty." He denied knowledge of any specific determination to crush the insurgents. But he turned to a copy of a Bpeech which he delivered in Kansas City on December 7 and quoted from it the following paragraph as expressive of his opinion of the course that ought to be pursued against the in surgents. The paragraph read: "When Lincoln found an army marching on the national capital from the south and a body of sympathizers in the north encouraging that army he said It was difficult to determine which was the most threatening to the welfare of tho nation. History repeats itself, and when Sen--, ators Cummins, LaFolletto, Bristow and their" so-called 'progressive' following join hands with "ASTONISHED AND ANGERED" Washington, D. C, January 5. With amaze ment, .in some cases bordering on anger, tho in surgent republican members of tho house to day read tho published reports that they wero to be, singled out by tho administration for pun ishment for tholr "rebellious conduct," as mem bers, o tho majority party of the house. Several of them wero unsparing in their de nunciation of a policy which sought to punish a man. for Independence of thought and action, as they expressed it. Not a few wore loath to believe the. president would lend his aid to an effort to administer castlgatlon to them for sup porting tho very principles and policies for which they claimed tho party itself stood pledged. Representative Madison (Kan.) expressed a view of the matter to which several of his asso ciates subscribed. Ho said: "Wo insurgents, as wo are called, are not against Taft or his policies. We are unanimous ly, I believe, In favor of every leading reform to which the president and the republican party Is committed. For Instance, I am In favor of postal savings, conservation of national re sources, regulation of Injunction, reform of fed eral court procedure, government regulation and control of Industrial and carrying corporations, the publication of campaign funds and other reforms. Most of tho other insurgents are for these same things. "It is slanderous to say that we can bo swerved from the course of supporting these reforms by tho withholding of any official patronage by anybody or be Induced to support this or that proposition by tho offering of official sop of any kind. Wo are committed to tho principles which I have enumerated becauso wo believe they are right and not because the president or anybody else is for or against them. " "It is not the Insurgents of the house, but men like Aldrich and Cannon whom tho presi dent will have to induce to support his "poli cies." The Insurgents aro for them already and have been all the time. Representative Norris of Nebraska, added his approval of this declaration as did Representa tive Hayes of California, who said his fight was solely against the rules of the house and Its present organization. On the latter proposition", said Mr. Hayes, he was ready to fight to tho finish. The insurgents are discussing tho desirability of holding an early meeting and ascertaining from President Taft whore they stand. Tho calling of the meeting is in the hands of Repre sentative Hayes of California. There was no apparent sign of tho insurgent difficulty on the senate side of the capital further than the numerous conferences which insurgent republicans from the house side were holding with tho senators from their states regarding the policy which they were to pursue. Senator Cummins said he had experienced no difficulty with the postoffice department or any other government department in regard to his patronage. NORRIS OF NEBRASKA Representative Norris of Nebraska, republican, gave to the Associated Press the following inter view: "The insurgent republicans in the house are not intimidated by the action of the administra tion in withholding patronage from them and aro not scared into silence by any apparent com bination of President Taft and Speaker Cannon. "President Taft is making a grave mistake by aiding Cannon in this way, and I want to say so unhesitatingly. I do not object, nor do any of tho other insurgents object, as far as I know, to the withholding of patronage from us. But I denounce this singling out of the men who have opposed Cannon and the house organiza tion for an infliction of punishment. "How can the president say we are opposed to his policies and declare that we aro to bo punished for it when wo have not opposed his policies in any way? We do not, in fact, yet know what President Taft's policies are to be. We have not even received his messages on sev eral important subject. Still we have been punished. "Postmaster General Hitchcock has admitted that we are being discriminated against right yj w