The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1905-02-23
WASHINGTON.
from our Regular Correspondent.

Washington. Feb. 20, zoos
The most important event of the
present session of Congress in the
opinion of many prominent Demo.
crats-the most important incident
i'll the present administration, was
the amendment by the Senate of
the seven arbitration treaties which
were ratified last Saturday. The
significance of the amendment lies
in the fact that it was an assertion
by the Senate of its constitutional
right to pass upon all agreements
entered into by the United States
with a foreign nation. The Presi-
dent and his Secretary of Stateshave
taken the ground that the
Senate could approve a general
arbitration treaty comforting power
on the Executive to conclude spe-
cial agreements or treaties, defining
the terms OIL which the arbitration
of a specific case could be conducted.
The Senate holds, on the contrary,
that the constitution explicitly pro-
vides that all treaties Cor agree.
ments) with foreign power shall
be made with the advice and con-
sent of the Senate" and that it is
not within the power of the upper
house TO delegate to the Executive
powers not conferred by the consti-
tuition. This is the principle which
was enunciated by vote of so to Q
when the Senate amended the
treaties now resting in the State
Department.
#*#
The President, possessed though
he is of many admirable qualities,
is inclined to be precipitate and
somewhat headstrong and is little
inclined to brook interference with
his plans or opinions by the Senate
or by anyone else. The result is
that he has denounced the Senate
and lectured individual Senators
until, under other circumstances
there would have been a decided
break. That there is not one now
is due to the attitude OF the Senate
leaders toward Theodore Roosevelt.
Most of the leaders are men who
have closely approached the pro-
verbal three-score-and-ten. Mr..
Roosevelt is only forty seven and to
many Of the white haired veterans
of the upper house seems little more
than a boy. He has just won
remarkable victory for the Republi-
can Party, he is fearlessly and mill
tantly honest and he obviously in
tends to perform his duty to the
letter. Under these circumstances
gray-haired Senators look wise and
say, Theodore is a little head
strong, but he is a square man,
we'll meaning boy, and it would be
foolish for us to cherish any resent
ment against him." That is the
situation just now and if the Presi-
dent does not lecture the Senate
too severely the present friction will
pass away. If he is injudicious it
may assume proportions which will
mar his entire second administra-
ton.
XIX
Leading Democrats regard the
checking of the Presidents inclina-
tion to conduct foreign affairs with
a high hand as a most salutary
occurrence. They declare that had
there not come just such check in
the beginning of his administration
he would i'll all probability, have
gone so far eventually as to involve
himself in some serious trouble
which might even have occasioned
talk of impeachment. It is singu-
larly unfortunate for Mr.. Roosevelt
that he has lest Attorney General
Knox and Secretary Root from his
Cabinet. Both were strong men of
calm judgment and fearless de-
meanor. Both were respected by
the President and both exerted
powerful influence over him. Close
observers of public events in Wash
ington can clearly distinguish the
instances when their restraining in
fiuence and wise counsel would
have saved the President from mis-
takes of one character and another.
XXX
The San DOMINICAN incident af-
fords an example of the danger in