The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-03-03
Al MOST IN
OPEN WAR
President and Senate
Clash on Railroad
Rate Bill.
Mail Special to the Advertiser

| (Maii Special to the Advertiser.)
WASHINGTON, D. c., Feb. 19.-The
railroad rate regulation fight here dur
! ing the past week has been very acute
more acute than the general public
know Only a few of the officials, on
the inside, are aware how vigorously
the struggle has been conducted or how
angry the clashes have been between
President Roosevelt and a few Republi-
can Senators, who are leading the oppo-
sition to him. The President and At
torney General Moody are now prac-
tically standing alone in an effort to
prevent any important modification of
the Hepburn bill In the Senate. espe-
cially modification, which would al
| low a court review of an "unjust or
an unreasonable rate AS the Hep
burn bill was drawn the fixing of a
maximum rate was left lin the judg-
ment'' of the Interstate Commerce
Commission.
Republicans of the Senate Committee.
which is framing up the bill for report
to the Senate, want a provision allow
ing appeal to the courts in cases of all
rates. They gained some tactical adj
vantage over the President and Attor-
ney General Moody by proposing the
identical clause for court review which
the hast;ly-drawn and hastily-consid-
cred EschTownsend bin, passed by the
House last February, contained. But
since then Mr.. Moody has grown wiser
about the tricks of lawyers and he and
the President do not want that provi
sion in the law now.
Under the lead of Senator Aldrich,
the Republicans of the Senate Rate
committee, are threatening open war
fare, unless the President yields the
right for the railroads, as well as the
shippers to have their day in court.
The President has been wary of the
propositions advanced from such quar-
tiers, but Senator Knox, former artor-
ney general, and Secretaries Root and
Taft have advised it. The President
tentatively agreed to some arrange
ment, provided the language should
prove satisfactory and with that ten
tative agreement the Senate Committee
went ahead and fixed upon q time to
vote. All this time Mr. Moody had
been absent on the Chicago Beef Trust
eases. He returned here sooner than
expected and strongly advised the Pres
ident against accepting any such terms.
The President decided to refuse and
the result was an angry scene between
him and Senator Aldrich in the White
House offices.
There were several parleys between
him and Mr. Aldrich and other Repub-
lcan Senators,a as the outcome of which
the President was notified that if he
persisted in shutting the railroads out
of their day in court, there would be an
open clash and that there were Republi-
can Senators enough to prevent the
enactment of any administration meas
ures in Congress at this session.
Things had come to critical point,
when Senator Crane of Massachusetts,
a so-called conservative Republican
member of the Rate Committee. in
whom the President has great conf
dence, attempted to bring about a !
He succeeded to an ex-
tent Attorney General Moody resented
the attemps of other members of the
cabinet to dissuade the President from
accepting the legal advise given. Sena-
tor Crane acted as peacemaker there,
also, and brought Senator Knox and Mr.
Moody together for consultation on
some provision for more thorough
judicial review. They are working to-
gether on it this week and, perhaps,
will frame the clause that will bring
peace to the divided party. The Repub
licans in the Senate eand the President
have not been so near an open rupture
before, since the party took the reins of
government at the close of the last
Cleveland administration.
ERNEST G.. WALKER.