The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-09-18
RATE BILL FIGHT
WILL Be. BITTER
Railroads Scheming to Cloud the
Issue and President Framing
Strong Message.
New York Sun Special Service.

Nv" A0Ah SuA SpVCidI oOISAS0s i+..f
Washington, Sept. l8.-Altho Presi-
dent Roosevelt has decided not to call
an extra session of congress for the en-
actment of railroad rate legislation,
this is by no means an Indication he has
abandoned his intention to e1tdeavor
to. secure legislation which will give
relief to the shippers of the country.
On the contrary, he viii dahere more
strongly than ever to his determination
to bring about some legislation which
will str agthen the powers of the inter
state commerce commission in the regu-s
lation of rates. .S~S
=, With this end in view he has decided.
to devote the greater portion of his
next, message to congress to this sub
ject, and if action is delayed he will
send in a series Of special messages
urging the Importance Of doing some
thing. L =.
MI. Roosevelt will return to Wash
ington, Sept. 80, and he has invited sew
eral senators and representatives to
come here and confer with him on this
subject. ~. 80 !"
Is Trump Card Gomez
In deciding to refrain from calling
an extra session of congress for the
specific purpose of enacting railroad
rate legislation some of the leading
politicians think that the president has
thrown away his trump card. They
say that it an extra session had been
called the eyes of the country would
be focused on this question, and con-
gress would have been more likely to do
something than at the regular session.
BY waiting for the regular session
those members of the senate who are
representatives of the great railroad
systems will be enabled to engage in
log rolling and may sidetrack, with
rate bill. - < H0>
Already there are indications that
the railroad companies purpose to make
strong fight against charging the
powers of the interstate commerce com
Since the adjournment of the last
congress the railroads have maintained
literary bureaus and thru them have
This, campaign Of 'education'' is but
the beginning of what is to come, and
before the next session Of congress is
| t,wenty-four hours old the president will
discover, II he doesn \: realize now, that
the railroads are trying to divert the
| attention, of the, country from the rail
road l-rate7 question to the tariff issue.
| If they can precipitate a discussion of
this question, it will be an easy task
| for them to keep the discussion running
for months, during which time the rate
question will be obscured and the end
of the session will be nearer.
Roadway Of Tariff Discussion.
It is assumed that when once the
| tariff discussion is launched it will be
almost impossible to. stop it, as there
is .dlssesion in the republican party
and even the president own cabinet
is divided. Mr.. Roosevelt is earnestly
| and hnnoct1v fo,s tor NJ ioio
are such members of the cabinet as Sec
rotary Taft and Secretary Root. But
the secretary of the treasury does not
agree with his chief and there are other
members of the presidents official
household who do not. 4
During the present fiscal year the Gus
toms receipts haye Increased materially
they continue at their present rate the
treasury deficit will be wiped out in
a short time. When this is done he pre-
diets there will be a cessation Of the
demand for tariff legislation, as the
deficit has been the thing which has
alarmed many of the republican leaders.
-,- Fear Disturbed Business.
GreatSfear is expressed by those who
are opposed to reducing the tariff, espe-
cially on the products Of the trusts, that
the business situation would be dis
| turbed, and one OF the highest officials
Of, the administration declared today
that if the, president should recommend
tariff legislation in his next message
there would be a decrease of $50, 900
during the, next year in the revenues of
the governmen emit. Such a. recommends
tion Would |, he pred iets, cause almost a
complete cessation in importation, mills
in this country would close down and
many. mechanics and laborers would be
thrown out Of work. It is the typica
republican argument in favor Of high
protection. ..
The tariff and railroadrate questions
are closely interviewer, and the wise
acres are predicting that if the rail
!: roads carry out their well-maturei
plans Of precipitating a tariff discussion
the next session Of congress will b
brought to a close without any legis
lation on either Of these important ques
tons being enacted.