The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-04-11
His Autocracy Threatened by
the Railroad Kings.
{ FOR LEGISLATION
BUT HE SAYS NONE SHALL. BE
=
ENACTED THIS SESSION.
COMMITTEES NOT APPOINTED
Consequently the House Cannot 90 on
With Needed Business--lf He Re-
fuses He Will be Laying up Poll
ticaI Ills For Himself.
tRichmond Dispatch.)

ttLlcnUlOUu DlSpdtSh'
Washington, April 3.-For once III MS
life Speaker Reed is in quandary. lie
is debating whether, after all. he Will
not have to surrender his autocracy IN
the House of Representatives to the
railroad kings, the natural rulers of .
commercial n,tlon. A decision Of the
Supreme court has strangely enough
placed thcrl in the hitherto comfort
able pillow &c Reeds autocracy. Reed
was not thought of when the opinion
was delivered Possibly even the JUS
tees who are called supreme would have
hesitated if they had dreamed they would
cause Reed even a bad quarter of an
hour. They did not know that the rail-
road kings would at once appeal 70 Com
gress from the opinion of the court, and
demand q new enactment that will give
them the right to pool their issues when
ever they please. The demand has come,
and Reed is debating whether he will
surrender his position and permit the
railroads to dictate to the House for
little while.
When the new Congress convened
there was tremendous pressure for the
appointment Of all the committees that
the House might be prepared to plunge
into general legislation when the tariff
bill was put out of the way. Reed
loftily said that not one single stroke
OF legislation should be struck except
for the tariff bill. when that IS out
Of the House We'll loaf until the Senate
disposes of the tariff and then We'll go
home" said the mighty man from Maine.
1t is expected that the House will have
to stay here for three months at tre-
nnendous expense to the government, all
the hundreds of employees retained and
drawing their salaries, though they are
doing nothing, simply waiting for the
Senate to dispose of the tariff BILL There
is no reason in the world why some
thing should not be done in the way of
legislation which will otherwise be con-
sidered next winter. That is, there Is
no reason except Reed. A thousand ar
guments, and good ones, have been
brought to bear on the Speaker to In
duce him to appoint the committees and
let the House work while it is neces-
sarily here, but the big fellow was not
to be moved by any plea.
Now the railroads have come down
upon the Speaker in the persons of their
most powerful spellbinders. He is
pleaded with and threatened. The rail
road attorneys of the House and Senate
have been commanded to add their voices
to those Of the spellbinders. The rail
roads must have relief from the decision
of the Supreme court. OF course, the
pooling is going on just as before, though
it is called bureau, now instead OF
a pool, but the railroads do not want
to be continually running amuck with
the courts when a little bit Of a law by
a complacent Congress will relieve them
from the risk.
Everybody is asked to take hand for
the railroads. I have at my elbow
mass of literature that has been landed
ait the bureau of The Dispatch by the
latest mails, and all of it from the rail
roads, going to show the necessity OF
immediate legislation. Here are great
sheets, one of them headed in big black
type with representative Editorials on
the Recent Supreme court Decision Eff
fecting Railways" the misuse of the
word "effecting" instead Of affecting"
showing the haste with which the matter
was printed. Another sheet is headed,
'aThe Recent Supreme Court Decision
Effeotink Railways 'and 'The Necessity
for Remedial Legislation" ''The neces-
sity for remedial legislation" is the milk
in the cocoanut. Another pamphlet is
headed, "For the Use Of the Press" and
it is a reproduction Of a recent article,
or advertisement, which appeared in the
North American Review, from the pen Of
the brilliant editor, Mr.. or Hon. Lloyd
Bryce. This and a mass Of other mat
ter of q similar kind is all printed upon
but one side, that correspondents may
have as little trouble as possible clip
ping the matter and sending it to their
papers rs their own lucubrations.
This 10 cited merely to show the extent
Of the effort to effect immediate legisla-
ton. 1t has reached every avenue that
leads toward Congress, and is all intend
ed to concentrate at last upon the
Speaker, the court Of final resort. If
price were the question, Reed could have
his price, but as he ds an honest man
in such matters the influences must be
Of another kind. He must be cajoled and
threatened, and by all means that can
De imagined impressed with proper
conception of the Importance of legisla-
tion and the power OF the people who
want legislation.
Will Reed adhere to his apparently
unaMerable declaration that he will not
appoint committees, and that there shall
be no legislation except for the reven-
ues?
That is the question which is being
hotly debated to-day and the one which
is disturbing the mind Of Reed more than
anything that has occurred since he in
dulged for time the vain fancy that it
was possible for him to secure the nomin-
alton for the Presidency. If HE refuses
to accede to the request Of the railroad
kings and of a majority of the members
of the House he invites no one knows
what ills of political nature for him.
self in Che future Corporations are not
only soulless, but they have intermin
able memories, and they will not forget
Reed lie he stand in the way Of remedial