The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-10-21
RAILROADS WILL NOT FAVE
ENOUGH VOTES IN NEXT
CONGRESSIONAL SESSION.
They Can Figure On the Support OF
Several of Most Influential Men,
: bers of the Senate.

The fact that part1SanSmp Is now
at low ebb may Or may not aid the
president in securing legislation at the
coming session Of congress which will
actually cure the railroad evil. In
times like these when the two leading
parties are not arrayed against each
other on clearly defined issues, it is
Impossible to predict what congress
will do with prominent issues which
are nom partisan in character, and on
which the members of both parties are
divided, says a report from Washing
ton.
The railroad rate question is not yet
q partisan question; it probably can
not be made a partisan issue. There
are democrats as we'll as republicans
who believe with President Roosevelt
that the powers of the interstate COM
merce commission should be extended;
there are republicans as well as demo-
Gratis who will oppose the president
and will stand for only such legisla-
ton as will be acceptable to the rail-
roads.
Railroad senator's as they are
known, are not all republicans. There
are democrats in the senate who owe
their political success to the rail-
..o.a. ;,,e+ &C +boro ORC rapuh1icanS in
the same predicament, and senators
who were elected through railroad in
fluence. be they democratic or republi-
cans, are not to be expected to vote for
legislation that is decidedly distasteful
to the interests which elected them.
That is not the record of railroad SEN
ators."
No canvas of the senate on the rate
question has ever been made unless by
some of the senators themselves, and
no one knows how that body will stand
on a rate bill such as that advocated
by the president. 1t is hardly prob
able that the railroads can control a
Majority of the senate but the rail-
roads can number as their staunch
friends some of the most influential
senators, men who do a great deal to-
wards ping the work of the senate,
and this is worth more to them than
mere numbers. Fortunately for them,
they can count as their friends some
of the biggest democrats in the senate,
as we'll as the powerful leaders of the
majority party.
1t would appear, from this distance,
as if the fight for bona fide rate bill
in the next senate would be f1gnt or
numbers against skill. The anti-ad-
fight will be led by the
most adroit politicians; the fight for
the cause championed by the president
must be taken in hand by men less
skilled in parliamentary tactics, less
influential in the senate, and men who
in many ways are not the equals of
the experienced legislators who will
array themselves against the president. |
There is a strong probability that if
the rate bill favored by the president
could get squarely before the senate
for a final vote without any of the nu-
merous forms of interference that are
sure % be brought forward by the !
clever tacticians of the opposition, it
would pass by a good margin. In all
likelihood a majority Of the senate
stands with the president on this ques-
ton. But in these days it is very diff
ficult to get any question like this be-
fore the senate purely on it's merits; |
there are So many opportunities for !
injecting side issues; for amending a |
bill to change its purport and effect, |
and to absolutely rob it of it's effect |
iveness, that it much to be doubted |
if the majority (provded it stands with i
the presidenO can pass the kind of a
bill the president wants. And in this !
instance majority means majority in
a majority not drawn on par
tisan lines.