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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (March 25, 1910)
f TfWN u"fi MARCH 25, 1910 3 relt, no one has any. All that Is known by the administration is that Senator Root's letter should have reached Mr. Roosevelt today. "President Taft has not written to him. Tho president does not desire to place himself in tho position of one seeking Mr. Roosevelt's indorse ment and help. But the letter of Senator Root is the appeal not only of tho president, but of the senators and others who are supporting tho administration and using the administration to this one individual, who of all the men in tho world, can, in their opinion, make or mar tho Taft administration. "Among senators and others who know of the Root letter, the declaration is made that Roose velt will listen to Root. There is no doubt . about that. He has the very highest regard for , Mr. Root's ability. But 'when it is further sug gested that he will form, his conclusions by tho opinions expressed by Root, the suggestion is based upon mere conjecture and conjecture not warranted by past experiences." ILLINOIS EDITORS FOR TAFT AND CANNON Republican editors of Illinois met at Spring field. President Taft sent them the following letter: Washington, March 15. George Rankin, President Illinois Republican Editorial Associa tion, Springfield: Sincerely hope that you will have a full meeting, that there will be harmCmy and that the republican editors of Illinois will stand by the action of the republican congress and republican administration in reference to the tariff bill and other progressive legislation. The expression of a meeting like the one you have called, arising from a normal, sane and patriotic republican attitude, will have much in fluence for good in Illinois and the rest of the country. WILLIAM H. TAFT." Senator Cullom also made a speech for har mony and Speaker Cannon also sent a cheerful message. The editors adopted resolutions en dorsing tho Taft administration, declaring tho Aldrich-Payne tariff law to be, as President Taft pronounced it, the "best tariff law ever enacted" and endorsed the rules of the house and Speaker Cannon's method of enforcing them. George C. Fitch, editor of the Peoria Herald-Transcript, bolted the meeting. He said he discovered that the meeting was held for only one purpose and that was the endorsement of Cannon and Can nonism. He said, however, he approved of the other resolutions adopted. MR. CUMMINS' SPEECH Senator Cummins, in a speech in the senate which occupied' practically the entire day, made a vigorous attack upon Mr. Taft's railroad bill. He charged that the bill originated in the execu tive department rather than in congress. He inveighed against the proposed court of com merce as unnecessary and expensive. He assert ed that not to exceed seven or eight cases a year would come before the court and that the cost would not be much short of $100,000 per annum. He also argued that any court created for the trial of railroad cases alone would be unwise because of the influences that would surround the selection of the members of the court and because of "the tremendous power of the railroads." More serious and disastrous, he said, was the blow to shippers in taking the interstate com merce commission out of the defense of cases, making the United States the defendant and placing the cases entirely in the hands of the attorney general. Such a course, he contended, would have the effect of giving tho department of justice the power of secret review, from .which there could be no appeal or redress. This course, he thought, must necessarily destroy the effectiveness of the law. ' Mr. Cummins referred to a report that Mr. JTaft had stated that any senator that did not support the measure would be barred from the republican organization and said that this would not change his attitude. He asserted from the time the measure had been turned over to the president, to the time it had left him, nearly very railroad president in the country had vis ited Washington, and had been heard by the president and the attorney general, many of them twice. Substantially every change had been made to suit the railroads. The Commoner. Cannon Ousted from the Rules Committee Secretary of the Interior Ballinger addressed the Minnesota conservation convention. He boldly attacked the Pinchot conservation policy, referring to it as "hysteria" and "nebulous theories." In most of the presidential defenses of the tariff the public hide goes with the tale. But He Continues in the Speaker's Chair With the Aid of Republican Insurgent Votes Speaker Taunts the Insurgents With Cowardice On March 16 a fight in the house of ropre m sentatives was started on Speaker Cannon. Rep " resentative Crumpacker of Indiana called up a joint resolution. providing for the segregation of the Slavs in the forthcoming census enumera tion. Under the rules of the house only bills ! reported from committees and on tho calendar , cb.uld betaken up at that particular time. Rep resentative Mann of Chicago objected to tho Crumpacker request. Speaker Cannon ruled that tho resolution was in order, holding that while it was not in order under tho rules it was in order under the constitution. As soon as tho members recovered from their surprise at this ruling an appeal was taken from the speaker's decision. The appeal was sustained by a vote of 163 to 111, the insurgents and democrats voting together with tho few regular republi cans who refused to stand for this particular ruling by the speaker. Tho Washington corre spondent for tho Chicago Record-Herald, in re porting the proceedings of this particular day, says: "Four times since tho beginning of the pres ent congress Speaker Cannon has been 'turned down' by the house after years of sway without a setback at any point or upon any issue. Tho first 'humiliation' was at the opening of the special session a year ago yesterday, when, had it not been for the action of the 'Cannon demo crats' ho would have suffered tho complete loss of his rules. As it was, the insurgents forced some important amendments, one of which ho attempted, unsuccessfully, to overthrow today. The second repudiation, which was a crushing blow to the pride of tho speaker, was on January 7 last, when the house took the appointment of members of the Ballinger investigating com mittee out of his hands. Tho third episode came yesterday, the anniversary of the first humilia tion, when the house knocked out tho appropria tion for operating tho speaker's automobile. To day's affair may not be the climax by any means." TROUBLE BREAKS LOOSE AGAIN On the following day March 17 Speaker Cannon went up against the strongest fight that has yet been made against him. It began at four o'clock in the afternoon and was still on when at two o'clock in the morning "no quorum" was suggested and tho speaker and his forces were thus given a chance to seek a little rest. On this occasion Representative Norris, insur gent, of Nebraska, offered a resolution provid ing for a new committee on rules, making the speaker ineligible for membership in that com mittee. The Norris resolution was as follows: "Resolved, That the rules of the house be amended as follows: "The committee on rules shall consist of fif teen members, nine of whom shall be members of the majority party and six of whom shall be members of 'the minority party, to be selected aB follows: "Tho states of the union shall be divided by a committee of three, selected by the house for that purpose, Into nine groups, each group con taining as near as may be an equal number of members belonging to the majority party. The states of the union shall likewise be divided into Bix groups, each group containing as near aB may be, an equal number of members belonging to the minority party. "At 10:30 o'clock on the day following the adoption of the report of said committee each of said groups shall meet and select one of its number, a member of the committee on rules. The place of meeting for each of said groups shall be designated by the said committee of three in its report. Each of said groups shall report to the house the name of the member selected for membership on the committee on rules. "The committee on rules shall select its own chairman; the speaker shall not be eligible to membership on said committee. "All rules or parts thereof Inconsistent with the foregoing resolution are hereby repealed." Mr. Norris had carried this resolution since tho beginning of tho session and the rebuke ad ministered to tho speaker on tho preceding day encouraged him to offer it at this time. Tho Norris resolution was debated for several hours and tho wholo question of Cannon and Can non ism was fought out. Speaker Cannon him solf took tho floor and dofended himself. Mr. Underwood of Alabama and Champ Clark of Missouri rushed to Norris' assistance. A point of order was raised by Cannon's friends that tho resolution was not In order. Payne and other of Cannon's lieutenants pleaded with re publicans not to support tho resolution. They invoked the name of Taft, urging republicans to stand by him as though that had anything to do with making tho committee on rules a rcpresent- ativo rather than an autocratic body. Fassett, republiqan, of Now York, said that the adoption -of. the Norris resolution meant failure of tho Taft administration. Tawfncy of Minnesota, , speaking for the Cannon forces, moved to take a recess until tho following day but this motion was defeated by a vote of 143 yeas to 147 nays. Then Representative Roberts of Massachusetts, a Cannon man, mado tho point of no quorum. The count showed tho presence of a quorum. Tho democrats kept calling on tho speaker fo rule, but Mr. Cannon refused to do so. Ho was hoping for re-inforcoments from absent members and finally ho called Representative Olmstead of Pennsylvania to tho chair and left tho hall. Mr. Olmstead then continued fo refuse to rule on the point of order. In tho course of his re marks Representative Mann of Illinois said ho believed the democrats would soon have control of tho house. At two o'clock in tho morning another motion for a recess was defeated .by a majority of seven. A call of tho house was ordered. Cannon republicans hurried from tho hall in order by their absence to delay pro ceedings. The houso of representatives continued In ses sion until 5 o'clock in tho afternoonof Friday, March 18. Tho houso was held In a deadlock for the greater part of two days and ono night by .the arbitrary action of Speaker Cannon, who refused to rule upon tho point of order raised on tho preceding day. In tho meantime, all sorts of compromise were offered by the speaker and his lieutenants. Threo particular plans of compromise were proposed. By tho regulars: A committee of ten on rules, to be elected by tho house, without any schemo of geographical distribution, and with no prohibition of tho speaker sitting on tho committee. It would bo understood under this plan that the speaker, while eligible for a place on tho rules committee, would not bo presented for such a place; a "gentlemen's agreement" to tho effect that ho should be kept off, found to be underwritten by a largo and responsible force of regulars. By the thick-and-thln Insurgents: The rule must provide in terms that tho speaker shall not be eligible for membership on tho rules com mittee, and the Norris resolution must go through, with perhaps tho elimination of its scheme of geographical distribution. By the "near" insurgents: Practically to ac cept the plan of tho regulars with a stipulation that tho insurgents should have one or two mem bers of the new committee on rules, but agreeing that tho resolution should not, In terras, make the speaker ineligible to servo on the rules com mittee. Finally Gaines, of West Virginia, moved to take a recess until noon of Saturday the fol lowing day. Tho vote on this motion stood 164 yeas to 150 nays. Fourteen republican insur gents voted with tho Cannon men to adjourn. Those members who have been classed as in surgents, who at this crisis, deserted and pre vented the immediate consummation of their victory, were: Davidson of Wisconsin, Fish of New York, Gardner of Massachusetts, Good, Kendall, Pickett and Woods of Iowa, Hayes of California, HinsHaw and Kinkaid of Nebraska, Miller of Minnesota, Steenerson of Minnesota. Norris and other stalwart Insurgents voted with the democrats against adjourning. The democrats voted together, even Fitzgerald of New York remaining faithful. An Associated Press report of the house proceedings on Friday says: No such series of scenes has been witnessed In a congress In recent years. The performanco embraced every element from the serlo-traglc effort to wrest from the speaker tho chief source of his power, to the songs, jokes and jests that the members bandied during tho long hours of vigil. Always there was tho bone of contention between the two opposing sides over which they fought and wrangled fiercely, but for hours at a time the scene took on the aspect w li) , i ,.r t , irr, ji itJNi 1 1 1 J ifl i rp i iiTtmri-i ifci r i m i wiftn 1j fcdu - t ra?? n jUpt. . f -x- w. . '..-,. .&. M . W lu