The Nebraska Independent
MAY 17, 190
held with many other senators to de
termine the phraseology and discuss
the effect of amendments proposed by
them. To all wnom I saw I stated
that the Hepburn bill was in its es
eence entirely satisfactory to me. The
Hepburn bill as it passed the house
simply recognized the right of re
view by the courts that is, the jur
isdiction of the . courts, but did not
attempt to define it, thus leaving the
courts to prescribe the limits of their
own jurisdiction.
"This was in accordance with the
ideas of the attorney general, his be
lief being that thereby we avoided all
danger of the bill being declared un
constitutional because of an attempt
to confer too much or too little jur
isdiction on the courts.
"I also repeatedly stated that while
it was entirely satisfactory to me sim
ply to leave the Hepburn bill In sub
stance as it was; that is, with the
recognition of the jurisdiction of the
courts, but without any attempt to
define that jurisdiction, yet that I
was entirely willing that there should
be a definition, provided that this
definition did not seek to grant a
broad- review, but explicitly narrowed
it to the two subjects, which, as a
matter of fact,-1 believed that., the
courts alone would consider in case
there was no attempt to define the
limits of their review; mat it would
limit it to the question as to whether
the commission had acted ultra vires,
and as to whether any man's right
had been impaired. I stated that if
the question of defining or limiting
the review was brought up at all I
personally felt that this was the way
in which it should be limited or de
fined. "At different times at least a score
of tentative amendments were either
prepared by the attorney general at
the request of senators or submitted
to me by senators. As to many of
those amendments (including among
others the substance of the so called
Long, Overman, Bacon and Spooner
amendments) I stated that I should
be entirely satisfied to have them in
me Din, as tu ulucib ou6&toi,
modifications which would make them
satisfactory.
"To none did I ever say, either to
Mr. Chandler or anyone else, that I
should insist upon having them in the
bill asa condition of my approving
it. On the contrary. I was always
most careful to state that I was not
trvinsr to dictate any particular pro
eram of action. In no case, either
in the case of Mr. Chandler or in the
case of anyone else, was there the
slightest opportunity for any honest
misconception of my attitude or any
belief that I had pledged myseii spe
rifiraliv to one and only one amend
ment or set of amendments, or that
I would not be satisfied with any
amendment which preserved the es
sential feature of the Hepburn bill
ns it name from the house You will
dmihtipss recall that in the course of
the. several visits that you personally
made me we discussed, a number of
these proposed amendments, trying to
find nnt for which one there could be
obtained a sufficient body of assent
to secure its passage, and the pass
age of the rate bill.
"To almost every amendment pro
posed by anyone I found that there
were other excellent men wno oujeci
ed or who at least wished to .change
it, and I .finally became convinced
that it was impossible for senators
with advantage to use me as the in
ermediarv in coming to an agreement
with their colleagues, especially when
they only communicated with me
through another intermediary, and I
oampstiv suggested to all to wnom
I spoke that they should communi
cate with you, whose purposes ana
mine were identical.
"About this time I was informed by
various democratic senators that they
could not come to an agreement on
any amendment and that the best
chance for success lay in passing the
Tienburn bill substantially uncnangea
I was informed and believe that this
was Senator Bailey's view, and a num
ber of the republican senators who
favored the bill expressed the same
opinion. '
"Shortly after this you, in company
with Senator Cullom, called upon me
with the amendment . which Is now
commonly known as the Allison
amendment. I told you that while I
should prefer the Long and Overman
amendments, yet that your amend
ment was entirely satisfactory. Your
amendment does not in the slightest
degree weaken or injure the Hep
bum bill. It merely expresses what
the friends of the bill have always as
serted was implied by the terms of
the bill. I may add that my own
opinion was that your amendment in
no way changed, whether by diminish
ing or enlarging, the scope of the
court review as provided in the orig
inal Henburn bill. It is also tne opin
ion of the attorney general, of Mr.
Root and of Mr. Taft. Their judg- j
ment is that the amendment merely
avoids the criticism that the Hepburn
bill would be constitutionally invalid
in not expressly providing the court
review, which its supporters nave ai
wavs contended was plainly implied
in the original language. The origi
nal Hepburn bill stated that the venue
A
for certaiu actions was In certain
courts; the amendment states that
these courts shall have jurisdiction
to consider such actions. To my mind
it seems difficult' to assert that this
works any change whatever in the
principle of the bill.
"Yours sincerely,
"THEODORE ROOSEVELT."
TILLMAN REPLIES TO PRESIDENT
Says Is is Question of Veracity Be
tween Roosevelt and Chandler
Washington, May 15. While the de
bate on the personel of the interstate
commerce commission was in progress
in the senate today Mr. Tillman took
the floor to make a statement on be
half of ex-Senator Chandler, which
had been momentarily expected since
Mr. Lodge's conveyance to the senate
of the president's emphatic denial of
some statements attrbuted to Mr.
Chandler by the South Carolina sen
ator. Mr. Tillman read the portion
of Mr. Chandler's memoranda of his
conferences with the president, which
has heretofore been given to the pub
lic, prefacing it with a brief state
ment of his own, saying that on Sat
urday the senate had been startled
and mortified to hear the utterances
of an ex-member denounced on behalf
of the president as "a deliberate and
unqualified falsehood," and as he had
been responsible for introducing the
subject-which had caused the attack
on Mr. Chandler he felt under obliga
tions to place him right on the record.
To that end he read the ex-senator's
statement.
The reading of that statement was
followed by the following from Mr.
Tillman: '
There are only two points in the
president's letter which I deem worthy
of notice. His attempted explanation
is ingenious, but not ingenuous. He
calls in question the integrity of pur
pose and utterance of Mr. Chandler by
declaring: ,
. "I was asked to see ex-Senator
Chandler as representing Mr. Tillman
who was in "charge of the bill. He
stated to me the views of Mr. Till
man with seeming authority."
Mr. Chandler has declared most
positively in a written statement that
the president sent for him for the pur
pose of getting into communication
with Senator Bailey and myself and
he has produced the letter of Mr.
Loeb. .
I now declare most emphatically
that to no human being have I ever
given authority or even expressed a
wish to have any conference with
Theodore Roosevelt in regard to the
bill now under consideration.
On the contrary, I have expressed
the opinion in more than one public
interview that he had nothing to do
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RUPTURI
with it and that It was the business
of the senate, and, while I did, at his
request, enter into negotiations with
the attorney general, it is well known
to every senator on this floor what my
attitude and feeling have been and
it is most remarkable while the presi
dent sent for democrat after demo
crat to confer with him about this
measure that he should undertake un
der the circumstances to assert that
I sent an agent to him to begin nego
tiations. The statement is absurd
on its face. -
The other point, to which I shall re
fer is the cavalier way in which Mr,
Moody discusses the idea of the pres
ident not "to be bound.
white contradicting in no instance,
however slight, my statement of what
occurred, the attorney general seems
to think that the code of honor among
gentlemen is not binding upon the ex
exutive and his cabinet.
The president asked him to see Mr.
Bailey and myself. We met by ap
pointment made by Senator Chandler
and talked over the vital question. He
wrote and sent to Mr. Bailey his un
derstanding of our views and when we
met subsequently we reached an ab
solute agreement both as to the form
and the substance of a proposed
amendment to which he said the pres
ident would assent and help get votes
for. ,
Of course the president ' was not
bound not to change, but he was
bound under such circumstances to
give notice and this was not done.
Even the attorney general himself was
not notified. The charge I made and
still make is that the president is
guilty of bad faith and that the rate
bill which will be, when enacted into
a law, a much better and stronger
measure than we had hoped to get,
has been emasculated, of one of Us
most valuable and essential features
by the president's action.
I am ready to leave the whole ques
tion to the thoughtful and honorable
men of the country.
BRYAN NOT A CANDIDATE
Time Can Determine if it Be Neces
sary for Him to Run Again
St. Louis, Mo. From Cairo, Egypt,
William Jennings Bryan, on April 16,
wrote , this letter to Col. M. C. Wet
more of St. Louis:
"My Dear Col. Wetmore: My
brother has forwarded me your let
ter. I am always glad to hear from
you, even if your flattering reports
do make me blush. I am satisfied that
the things I have been fighting for
are growing, but who will be most
available in 1908 cannot be answered
now. : " ' -
"I shall not do anything to secure
another nomination, and do not want
it unless circumstances seem to de
mand it. Time alone can determine
that;
"1 appreciate your deep interest in
the matter, and shall want to see you
as soon as I get home. You will
have to pay me that promised visit.
. "We are seeing lots, and I am glad
you are pleased with the letters. I
think you will enjoy the one on Eng
lish rule in India. -
ALDRICH OBJECTS
Washington The amendment to the
rate bill by LaFollette, prohibiting
federal judges owning railroad shocks
or bonds from sitting nder thisjact
and forbidding judges to accept fa
vors from railroads, 'was defeated' 40
to 27. - :