The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-07-29
SATURDAY. JULY ss. 1905.
ME WILL FAIL.

We wonder what the President hopes or expects to accomplish by calling an extra session of Congress to meet on the lith day of November. The regu- lar session assemblies on the 4th of De- cember, so that there twill be but lit- tie over two weeks of working time between the two sessions, even if the special session could be held together up to the minute that the regular session assemblies. which is not at all likely. The members are not apt to forget how the Presidents constructive recess was knocked higheg than a kite. and how they lost their mileage in conse- quence.
 But the. to us. singular feature of the business is that Roosevelt expects to accomplish in less than twenty days two objects that are almost sure to cause more debate and opposition than any that are likely to come be- fore Congress. either in extra or reg ular session. He expects. we are in- formed. that Congress will give him more power at Panama. including the
 
 level canal. and he also expects to get through a rebate bill of his own.
 Now, Roosevelt ought not to be blind to the fact that the Panama ca nal is an exceedingly live wire, and has been all the time. He should re- quired to get any canal bill through Congress. and since that was done there have been developments which are certain to strngthn the opposi- tion and intensity the bitterness that has all along existed against the Panama selection. He should also remember that he has given Congress and the country good reason to doubt the soundness of his judgment or the proprietys of placing more power in his hands. And yet, in the face of all this. he expects to drive through Con- gress in a little more than two weeks legislation that will make him virtual dictator over the canal work and all connected with 1t. Tn our Judgment he will have a hard job if he can get such legislation through during full session. He will hardly get such "a bill reported. much less debated and passed in the little time that the extra session will last.
 The rebate bill that he proposes will share the same fate, if we may judge the future by the past. The legisla- ton that he favors and proposes on the subject of railroad rates will be almost revolutionary in its nature and effects, and he may expect it to be fought from the start and at every step of its progress. He knows, or ought to know, that there will be de- termined and powerful opposition to the kind of legislation he wants. and he ought to know that he cannot rush such important matters through Con- gress at his own will. We very se- .riously doubt If the Congress at any session can be driven by him to enact laws that so many of the members will feel bound to fight at every step.
 Tho President has learned nothing from experience. He should remember how some of his efforts to dominate Congress have failed. He seems to be impressed with the conviction that all he has to do is to cali Congress to- gether. inform 1t what he wants done and have 1t done without further question. It is safe to predict that when the extra session closes he will have accomplished nothing except to strengthen the opposition 10 his meth nda