Durango semi-weekly herald., 1903-03-05
ROOSEVELT
AS A
LOBBYIST

WASHINGTON. d. c., March A.
The president is a great lobbyist. He
gets what he wants from congress
No president was ever more success
full in securing Legislation. He has
had distinct program for the session
which was outlined in his annual mes,
sage, and has already had the graft.
iication of approving every important
measure he recommended except the
bill to reduce the duty on imports
from the Philippine islands to 25 per
cent OF the regular rates of the Ding
ley tariff act. Mckinley was quite
successful in securing legislation also,
because he had been member of the
house of representatives so long that
he knew how to do it, and had most
persuasive way with him, but his pre-
decessors, Harrison, Cleveland, Hays
and Arthur, way back to Grants time,
usually contented themselves with
making recommendations in the an
ity upon congress. President Roose-
welt looks at things differently, and
conceives it to be his duty to keep af-
ter congress personally as well as of
ficially, and privately as well as for
mally, until his recommendation are
adopted and framed into law He has
done an immense amount of effective
lobbying during the present session
Scarcely a week has passed without
one or more conferences at the White
House, usually around his dinner ta-
BILE, of the men whom he depends
upon to put bill through. and he
generally manages to infect them with
his own enthusiasm and determine
ton. Then, after getting the natural
tackles it's opponents. coaXing them to
the :, hite house and discussing the
objections they advance until he gets
next to them" as the boys say, and
reaches some common ground upon
which both sides can stand.
Roosevelt is personally responsible
for all the antitrust legislation that
hns boon oructed by the present con-
gress. But for his persistent, dogged
out the pledge made by the Republican
party in the last campaign nothing
whatever would have been done. AL
though every leader OF that party is
now claiming a share of the credit and
congratulating the country upon the
great things he himself has done, very
few of them were willing to submit
any definite proposition at the begin
ming of the session, and most of them
were determined to evade or postpone
the issue as long as possible. But the
president brought every one of them
around even Senator Aldrich, who has
been the most extreme, as he is the
ablest defender of the corporations
known as trusts.
The legislative trophies hanging at
the presidents belt are the three anti
trust propositions, the new department
of commerce and labor, the law for
the revision of the currency OF the
Philippine islands, the law to increase
the efficiency OF the army by the es-
tablishment of staff corps, the law
to reorganize the militia, the plan to
rebuild and extend the military acad-
emy at West Point on a 10000 900
basis, and the new Union station for
Washington In addition to these he
has been directly interested in get
ting the new law requiring the use of
safety appliances on railroad trains,
the reversion of the bankruptcy act.
the new agricultural department build
Ing and new buildings for the National
Museum, hall of records and the pas
sage of some kind of an act to relieve
the annual stringency in the currency.