The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1905-05-19
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT AND
THE RAILROADS.

II
Rnt one topic has been dis
cussed in Washington this week and
that is Theodore Roosevelt. His bold
stand regarding the necessity of federal
control of the ironed highways OF the
country, his declaration that the federal
government must exercise a supervisory
and regulatory function over the great
highways of the country" made to the
Chamber of::Commerce at Denver, reviv-
ed the hopes of those Democrats who
have rejoiced at seeing the day when a
Republican President should espouse
policy so essentially Democratic, hopes
that had become faint from the constant
ly repeated, although unwarranted, re-
ports that the President would content
himself with only such railway rate leg
islation as would prove acceptable to the
railway managers.
Then came the news of the unbounded
enthusla SIN with which the President had
been received at the Iriquois Club OF
Chicago, that strong hold of the western
Democracy, the oldest Democratic Club
in illinois, where Mayor Dunno and the
staunchest Democrats in the organization
cheered to the echo the words, not of 3
Republican President, but of the Presi
dent of the United States. And at that
BANQUET the President assured the Demo-
cratic Mayor that in his efforts to pre-
serve order and enforce the law he should
have the hearty support of the President.
Earlier in the day, speaking to delega-
ton of strikers which called on him, the
President had said: I'm every effort of
Mayor Dunno to prevent violence by
mobs or individuals, to see that the laws
are obeyed and that order is preserved,
he has the hearty support of the President
of the United States, and in my judgment
he should have that Of every good citizen
of the United States" Speaking at the
Club, and to Mayor Dunno, he said, that
in all contests with mob violence, 'if ever
the need arises. back of the city state and
hack of the State stands the Nation"
When the President made this declara-
ton the enthusiasm knew no bounds. 1t
had the ring of pure Americanism and
his Democratic auditors recognized that
ring as quickly, perhaps more so, than
would have gathering of the Presidents
own party,
Naturally the question arises il the
minds of Democratic politicians, What
will be the outcome of this enthusiasm for
a Republican President? Of course, opin
ions differ on that point but many OF the
Democrats in Washington, and among
them SEINE of the. keenests observers OF
public affairs, declare that the immediate
result will be the reversal of the present
majority in the House of Representatives.
And they reason in this way: "The Presi-
dent has won the confidence of the entire
people He is urging, and next fall will
urge in stronger terms than ever, that
legislation shall be enacted which shall SO
control the railroads of the country as to
make them serve first the interests of the
people by whose authority they exist.
But this was hardly an issue when the
present house was elected, especially
when it was nominated. 1t was not an
issue when most of the present Senators
were elected. Therefore, the men who now
sit in the national Congress do not realize
the grasp which this issue has taken upon
the public mind, as they are, in many in
stances, beholden to the railroads for their
elections, or at least for the campaign
funds with which they were elected, they
will not, dare not, vote against their pa
trcns. The President will be defeated in
his every effort to secure efficient railway
legislation in the next Congress, and then
will come the cyclone which will send
into oblivion those statesmen who have
so long blocked the wheels of progress
in Congress and their places will be taken
by newer and younger generation. The
still fighting for mastery, will
nominate the Republican candidates and
the people. aroused to an appreciation of
their responsibilities by Republican
President, will send to Washington a
Democratic majority which will be pledg-
ed to carry into effect the railway recon-
mendations of Theodore Roosevelt" 1t
is even predicted that the very railway
men who this year are fighting with all
their energy the legislation advocated by
President Roosevelt will, two years hence,
be begging Congress to enact this legisla-
ton, rather than the more radical laws
which the people will by that time de-
mand.
One prominent eastern railroad man
one who is now President Of an eastern
road after long service as high official
of a road in the northwest, admitted to
your correspondent this week that he re-
garded the legislation advocated by the
President as inevitable. ut has got to
he said, ''and we might as well
face the inevitable gracefully" Unfor-
however, the railroads seem
about to repeat the mistake they made
with regard to organized labor. They
fought labor organizations to the death,
their own death. Now they admit that
the labor organizations are easier to deal
with than were the disorganized elements
which they formerly employed. But by
their protracted fight they en- Uttered the