The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-01-19

do good to politics. In view of the in
difference to woman suffrage that now
prevails. there does not seem tofbe much
for the association to do.
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Government by the Senate.
Is this country to be governed here
after by the senate?
Is 1t the desire of the people OF this
country that the executive as we'll as
the legislative authority shall be vested
in the hands Of an oligarchy?
When our government was organ
lied the founders endeavored to make
each department independent of the
and the discharge of It's Responsible
ties. There are points of contact, of
course, and necessarily, but in the
main the distinctions were clearly de-
fined between the executive, the legis-
lative and the Judiciary.
Just now we are forced to contem-
plate a threatened usurpation of all
the power Of the executive and legis-
lative departments by the senate. That
this usurpation has not proceeded fur
Their is due to the fact that there is
presiding over the house OF @represer-
tatives a man who is jealous of the
rights and powers of that division of
the legislative department which is
most representative Of and most close
ly related to the people, and who is
resolved that its powers and inde-
pendence shall not be destroyed; and
to the further fact that there presides
in the White House man of sufficient
courage and self-assertiveness to
compel recognition. of the indepen-
dence Of the executive by the legisla-
tive department.
Nevertheless the growing power Of
the senate has assumed proportions
which may well give the republic con-
Germ. The Journals. Washing
ton correspondence to-day contains
one of the most interesting and impor-
tant chapters in the political history
Of the times. It relates to the growing
domination Of the national nominating
conventions by the senate. The facts
therein set forth suggest very forcibly
the method by which the senate as
pires to control both the executive
and legislative branches of the govern
ment, and the complete subserviency
of the executive as natural result
Of further pursuit of this policy. The
domination of the national nominating
conventions by the senate, as existed
in the case Of the Philadelphia con-
vention, where twenty-five members
of the upper house held every impor-
tant position and controlled the entire
deliberation and action Of that body,
shows how completely the executive
may be made subservient to the legis-
lative.
When the legislative makes the ex-
ecutive what other result could be
expected?
We do not think that we over-esti-
mate the gravity Of the situation when
we call attention to the deliberate
purpose Of the members Of the senate
to control the next convention. Mr..
Roosevelt is Enthusiastically the choice
of the rank and file Of his party. He
Is Enthusiastically not the choice of the
senate. He has not always consulted
the wishes and preferences of that
body. He has not allowed it to do his
work for him. And for that reason,
among the t1fty-seven members of the
republican side Of that body, there are
comparatively few who favor his re-
nomination.
In this respect, to take account of
no others-and there are others-the
senate is clearly out Of sympathy and
out Of touch with the prevailing SEN
timent of the republican masses. So
far is it out of harmony with republi-
can sentiment on the whole that there
is rational ground upon which to fear
a hostile movement against Roosevelt
in that convention If the opportunity
for success should present itself.
+ This question, Of course, touches
our own state, as we'll as others, and
our own senators. It has been taken
for granted that they would both be
delegates to the Chicago convention,
altho, as indicated in The Jour-
n a rs Washington dispatches to-day,
they are understood there not to be
insistent upon it. The only reason
why they wish to be chosen is, that
they would not like to seem to have
been turned down at home, when so
many other senators were being hon
ored by their states with delegate
ships. There is no danger Of that. If
they want to go, they no doubt can,
and there is the important considera-
ton mentioned in our Washington
story to-day that If they do not go.
the state is likely to cut much less
figure in the convention than if they
| were there. That is true, because the
convention is pretty certain to be in
the hands of members of the senate.
=. Furthermore. the Minnesota sena-
tors know the sentiment of the people
Of their state toward the president,
and would not dare to disregard it if
they were SO disposed, OF which we
have no evidence.
While Minnesota cannot reform the
evil of senatorial domination Of the
national nominating convention by
declining to send her senator's, the
danger from that direction is not