Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1905-10-09
FIGHT FOR SENATE CONTROL
President Said to Have Eye on Vacant
ohairmanshipL
THIRTY OR MORE TO Be HLLIr
Preliminary ManeuverinE for POSI-
tiOBs in Struggle over Railroad
Rate Regulation and
other Measures.
CFrom a stan Correspondent


WASHINGTON, oct. S.--(Specisl. )-Chsir-
panships Of at least thirty senate commit
tees regular and select, will be changed
when the Fifty-ninth congress meets IN
December. Already many Of the members
OF the upper branch OF congress have been
casting about to ascertain what other
members desire In the way of committee
chairmanships, so that they may take ad-
vantage Of the knowledge thus gained for
their own personal use These inquiries,
so far in advance of the meeting of con-
gress. have had a tendency to focus the
spotlight on the reorganization of the
senate committee. for It is generally con-
ceded that in the upper body will come
the supreme fight for many of the prin-
ciples for which the president lrrevocably
stands
AS to these inquiries regarding chair
manships, and chief committee places, the
president. 1t is understood, has had full
knowledge and appreciating that there is
a strong minority in the senate against
many of the questions he will discuss In
his forthcoming message, he has, as quietly
as the senator's been looking after chair
manships with a view to helping his side
when the battle royal is on. One thing
seems certain when the curtain rolls up
on the Fifty-ninth congress-. that President
Roosevelt will know where his friends are,
and by the same reasoning will know where
to put his finger on his opponents.
Chairmanships to BE FILLED.
The fact that the president has already
commenced to inquire from his senatorial
visitors as to the makeup OF committees
in the upper body has directed the atten-
ton to the large number of chairmanships
to be filled, larger than in any previous
congress since the last Cleveland admins
tration.
The committees that will have a new
head, from the most conservative estimate,
are Agricultural, audit and control of the
contingent expenses OF the senate, Canadian
relations, census, claims, coast and insular
survey, education aid labor, engrossed bills.
examine the several branches Of the OWL
service, fisheries, geological survey, Indian
affairs, Indian depredations, interoceanic
canals, irrigation and reclamation Of arid
lands, judiciary. military affairs, mines and
mining. Pacific railroads, patents, public
buildings and grounds. railroads, transpor-
tation routes to the seaboard, University
! of the United States. These are the stand
ing committees of the senate. Changes in
| the select committee. which were created
! to give every member of the majority q
chairmanship and to take care Of the lead
ers of the minority. will occur in the fol-
lowing committees: Examination and dis
position of documents, Industrial exposi-
tions, the Potomac river front at Washing
ton, investigate = EtrespaEses upon indian
lands and national banks.
| In these changes the president recognizes
| here and there a chance to help a friend
and strengthen himself when help is need
full to carry out the principles for which
he stands
Roosevelt Fears senate.
No man appreciates the divisional line
between the executive and legislative
branches OF the government better than
does President Roosevelt. He has made
politics the study of his life. He realizes
that to start out boldly to capture chair
manships in the conservative senate would
end in failure. and so he Is represented
by those who have discussed the matter
with him as being only anxious to have
workers at the head of committees and
not men who will take delight in never
holding committee meetings.
The president, It has been represented,
has no fear of the house He believes
that on rate legislation the lower body
will stand to his views as expressed in
his message. AS to the upper body, how
ever. there is a problem. and in order
therefore, to help the cause along It Is
quietly intimated the president is doing
what he can to strengthen the hands OF
his friends, realizing that while the coun-
try is behind him in his views, particu-
larly on railroad rate matters there is a
decided minority in the senate who do moi
agree with his position. To strengthen his
hands the president is represented as TAX.
ing this active interest in the reorganiza.
ton Of the senate committees possibly
upon the theory that the man who waits
is lost"