The independent. [volume] (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907, 1906-01-18
Sic Nebraska Independent

l.
made from Arizona and New Mexico
and one from Oklahoma and Indian
Territory. There is no pronounced OBJ
lection to admitting Oklahoma and
the Indian Territory as a state, ex
cept from men who have private in.
terests there which they want to hold
! as they now hold them. The oppo-
sition is to combining Arizona with
New Mexico.
The members who are In revolt as
sert that the proposed statehood leg
islation is committee legislation; that
they have had and will have no say
in it, and that they do not intend to
be bound by any such program.
Merely an Excuse
Still, statehood is merely an excuse.
Not many Of the insurgents have any
interests that will be affected one way
Or the other by the admission of
Arizona and New Mexico as a state
What they wanted was a chance to
get at Roosevelt, and they took the
statehood bill as the first opportunity.
Back of it all is the long record of
interference in legislative affairs by
the president, and the interference in
local affairs and with local appoint
ments.
Congress is spoils body. 1t is
made up of politicians who want pa
tronage for their districts. Secretly
not tenth of the members of either
house or senate believe in civil SER
vice reform, but not tenth of them
would dare vote against a civilser-|
vice reform proposition.
Has Ignored congressman
Then the president has gone into
district after district and ignored men
in congress- He appointed Stimson
United States district attorney in New
York over protest of Platt He has
snubbed Ayers in Michigan. He
has tangled Senator Warner and the
Missouri republicans so badly in their
state that they dare not go home
He has mixed in the postmastership
at Milwaukee, and put Representative
Often in a fighting mood. He is both
ering with Representative Mudd of
Maryland. He has MORALLY offended
Representative Overstreet in Indiana.
He has set Senators Foraker and
Dick, traditional enemies, on his trial
with sharpened knives, working to-
gether for the first time in years, be-
cause he arbitrarily removed an Ohio
man as consul at Glasgow and ap-
pointed another from another state.
He has prodded the Alabama repub-
lieans by some of his appointments
there, and while there are no Alabama
republicans in congress, the echoes
of that fight are heard here.
These are but a few of the many in
stances where congress says the presi-
dent has arbitrarily trampled on it's
rights Moreover with the vigor that
is characteristic the president has
sent for delegation after delegation
of representatives, stood them I'D in
line and told them what they must
and must not do.
Think He Is Usurper
In the senate the anger is just as
intense, but the expression is not
SO marked. The senate thinks the
president is usurping many of its
functions. That is the occasion for
all the smoke over Santo Domingo
That is why the senate set so glee-
fully about the investigation of all
Panama canal affairs, although the
president was smart enough to ask
for an investigation before the SEN
ates original plan to investigate had
been formulated and thus forestall it,.
That is why there has been so much
fuss about the Morocco incident. The
senate is sore. 1t is waiting for it's
chance.