The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-12-29
Administration is PTepar-
 ing For the Fray.
At the Same Time, the Railroads are Not Sleeping, AS Is Evidenced by the Appearance of the First
 Symptoms of . Literary
 Bureau in washington.


 1 Washington. Dec. 2s.--(special.)-- Uppermost in the minds of everybody who speculates about the big problems for Congress in the near future none i transcends in importance the impend- ing struggle over the railway rate | question. The administration 10 undoubtedly preparing for the fray. and the big railway systems. presumably conducted by the country's shrewdest executive and , financial minds, are not behind In mak- 1 ing ready for every conceivable issue | that may be presented.
 It is a singular thing that notwith- standing President Roosevelt put Sec | retary Morton. a railway rIan, into his l cabinet, and has asked kim to remain. | the latter Is understood in no other l way than as taking the side of the railroads against Congressional inter- | ference with rate regulation. Attor- | nev General Moody has been hard at | work on the legal aspects of the casa l and has been consulting freely with | Secretary Morton and Senator Elkins. 1 who has probably more than any oth- | CT Senator, devoted attention to the | subject. +s
 An evidence of the interest of the railroads in the emergency is the fact that already the first symptoms of a | literary bureau have become manifest here and intimation Is received from them that interesting and valuable in- | formation can be had to show the railroad side of the Approaohing con- | troversy.
 | Certain influential Congressmen are said already to have felt the railway pulse and have sympathetically plan ned to defer attempting legislation un- til a Congressional Commission shall have reported to both houses after careful investigation.
 l President Roosevelt and Secretary Moody have invited and invoked the counsel of railway managers in the treatment of the complex questions iu- | volved. and already several have re- sponded and given their views to the administration. With all this. 1t is plain that President Roosevelt Is de- termined that something shall be done. and that without dallying with what he regards, and has said to Congress in his recent message, was an affair of immediate moment.
 Opposition is Formidable.
 The opposition looks formidable to the administration just now, and there are signs that the antagonfsm will be much sharper when the battle Is joined Congressmen are agreed that if Mir. Roosevelt persists with charac- teristic tenacity in his view. as an- nounced in his message, which at first undoubtedly dazed and upon further study astonished the railroad men. Congress will witness the greatest and most far-reaching fight ever seen in a legislative forum in this country.
 It will be railroad Senators and Rep resentatives against the administra- ton Senators and Representatives. In the Senate are so many corporation Senators that 1t Is altogether unlikely that they will permit. armed as they are with the powerful weapon of un- limited debate and with the reserve ammunition of using unanimous con sent privileges, the passage of such bill as it is understood the administra- tion contemplates.
 The attitude of the Democrats. as such, is a question to be determined en- tirely by future developments. So far they have said not word as party men about the railroad question. NO Democrat on the floor of either House made a political speech in. which ne touched upon this question, nor has any said anything for print indicating his views as a partisan. Nevertheless 1t Is not uncommon to hear Democrats in conversation avow their willingness | to relieve the people from exorbitant and inequitable freight rates as against defiance of the public by the railroads and their terrorism over the legisla- tive and other branches of the govern ment to the extent of rendering the Interstate Commerce Commission a thing of expensive uselessness
 MT ROOsevelt's Popularity.
 President Roosevelt is going to be | Dam0Crafa among Republicans .or, conversely he | is going to be just as unpopular among Republicans as among Democrats
 That was the curious remark made to this correspondent today by lifelong Republican He based this conclusion upon what he said was his careful oo- | servation of expressions he had heard from numerous Republicans in puohc life covering the period MT. Roosevelt has been President. They did not like him, to begin with, said this Republi- can student of the President, and he did not captivate them as his admin istration proceeded. He had wielded by the natural growth of the govern ment and the steady increase of patron age opportunities an immense and unprec edented power, always In view to the politician in office. either as an alluring hope of favor or reward or as a ruthless Democletian sword or punishment ready to fall upon fel- lows neck any old moment.
 Just wait" said the same man. "un- til along about next March and soon thereafter. That is the time when the terms of nearly all of the uarshals and district attorneys of the United States will expire. Until that time you will notice that the politicians in Congress will be quiescent and to all intents entirely tractable to the ad- ministration but when the most of the offices are filled, if present indications are reliable, there will be different mould of temper toward Mir. Roosevelt |, developed among Republican Congress | men as a rule
 Already he is evincing an unmis- takable disposition to hew to his own line and let the chips smite what Re publican boss they will. He has just - - l Eky&JNMWT0IY@Mk kH kKAA lIbwMLN