Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1905-05-18

Washington this week, and that is Theo-
dore Roosevelt His bold stand regarding
the necessity OF federal control of the
ironed highways Of the country, his declar-
alton that the federal government must
exercise Supervisory and regulatory
function over the great highways of the
country, made to the Chamber of Com
merce at Denver, revived the hopes Of
those Democrats who have rejoiced at see
ing the day when Republican President
should espouse policy so essentially DEM
ocratic, hopes that had become faint from
the constantly repeated, although unwar-
ranted, reports that the President would
content himself with only such railway
rate legislation as would prove acceptable
to the railway managers.
Then came the news of the unbounded
enthusiasm with which the President had
been received at the Ifoquois 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 a
Republican President, but Of the President
Of the United States. And at the banquet
the President assured the Democratic
Mayor that in his efforts to preserve order
and enforce the law he should have the
hearty support of the President. Earlier
in the day, speaking to delegation of
strikers which called on him, the President
had said: In every effort Of Mayor Dunno
to prevent violence by mobs or lndiyid
uals, 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 eyer the need
arises, back of the city stands the State,
and back of the State stands the Nation.
When the President made this declaration
the enthusiasm knew no bounds. It had
the ring of pure Americanism, and his
Democratic auditors recognized that ring as
quickly, perhaps more so, that would have
a gathering of the Presidents own party.
Naturally the question arises in the
minds of Democratic politicians, what will
be the outcome of this enthusiasm for a Re
publican President? OF course, opinions
differ on that point, but many of the Dem
ocrats in Washington, and among them
some of the keenest 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: 1.-THE President
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 nomin-
ated. 1t was not an issue when most Of
che present Senators were elected. There
fore, 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 instances, beholden to
the railroads for their election, or at least
for the campaign funds with which they
were elected, they will not, dare not, vote
against their patrons 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 states
men who have so long blocked the wheels
of progress in Congress, and their places
willsbe taken by newer and younger
generation. The railroads, 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 Wash
ingten Democratic majority which will be
pledged to carry into effect the railway
recommendations 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 Iegisla-
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 a high official of
road in the northwest, admitted to your
correspondent this week that he regarded
the legislation advocated by the President
as inevitable. 1T has got to come, . he
said ''and we might as well face the ineyi-
table gracefully" Unfortunately, however,
the railroads seem about to repeat the mis-
take 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