The National tribune., 1906-10-18
VIEW FROM THE CAPITAL.
tcontinuedlfr froth page !.

Every politician ofh importance who
! comes to town tosseesthe President has
| his views. mir,
| Senator Spooner,. of Wisconsin,
brought the first prominent suggestion
! a few days ago, when he was here by
invitation of thei President, to discuss
Cuba and other current topics of in
| terest to the President. He sounded
an alarm about the currency. and de-
clarad that reform legislation at the
coming session was imperative to ward
| off the danger of serious financial pan
i ic. Mr.. Spooners Word goes a long
way. because of Ills high standing in
Congress and his influential position IN
! the Finance Committee, which deals
with that kind of bills. The President
viii recommend such legislation in his
| annual Message, according to the re-
ports. aud Controller of the Currency
Ridgeley has gone to st. Louis to at
tend the Bankers Convention and also
to arouse some sentiment in that body
for the desired enactment.
The objection that looms up against
ell propositions for general legislation
at the forthcoming session Is its brew
ity. Congress meets early in Decem-
Der. but it rarely accomDliShes much
prior to the holidays. When the holi
DAYS are over there remain but two
months of the life of the Congress-
Practically all that time is required to
PISS appropriation bills. The session
VIII be one of much agitation On pro-
posed measures. judging from present
appearances. Probably currency re-
form and plans for more elastic cur
rency will be widely discussed. The
President can be counted upon 10 pro-
pose number OF matters in his annual
Message that will lead to debate. Few
bills of National interest pass the two
Houses until there has been Il session
.Nr- fyy-n of n D,,Ii 10 tir,,s. mt
must crystalline before Congress viii
heed demands for law. the underlying
principle being th"t there is no reason
to blaze out new legislative trails till
the public wants ther.
A day or two after Senator Spooner
came to town Speaker Cannon ran
in for Sunday of rest from the
tedium of his travel by private car,
and promptly vetoed any project fer
tinkering with the currcnCv at the cons
ing session or at any scGSinn in tn"
near future. "Oh, We can't indulge in
any child's play" said the ruler Of the
House "Our Der capita circulation Is
very large. The people al seem to
have bank accounts and to be blessed
with an abundance Of money. I hear
the bankers occasionally quarrelny
about asset currency. hut no two Of
them are in agreement about Whist
should he done. no" he added. W.tA
that characteristic ouaver of his voice.
currency reform is not 2n issue in
this campaign. and We stall have
plenty to do in Congress this winter
without bothering our heads over
that"
These divergent views of mcn power
ful in their respective legislative
branches viii not cl)sc TIE c0ntro-
versy. but are indicative cf tii" fate Of
the legislation. The Interstate Com
rnerce Commission would like 10 have
the railroad-ratc bin Gone over. \
number of amendments are desired 20
correct the mere or 1ss hasty work #
the last session.,i Rural editors the
country over are. de9Hniiag chang"
in the law, 50 that they can pay for
As it is now a Iotdof those editors can
not get out IF t!ss towns whore they
live. But Congre3f ,Till be afr'il 70
tackle rate legiSIat!o1 again right
away Somc one sFnfgsit engineer q few
iokers into the Ianv. o Interests would
clash and longR c9nt"H"ersy be -
81 ogTGa orIh The isaaeTE ,ho T2st ,ye %arE
they are OF trvinsIt ~ fi,a the tariff
Again. Secretnry hVifson wants Coz
law. Hc has found aiefects in it dur
ing the Summer put he, too. will
probably have tos7Ect along with tho
meat-inSpectlon llWs as II IS
The Standard OIL Octopus.
The Administration has bee9-a little
fiurred during the past week at finding
that the Sta1dard Oil octopus Is an
English species. By virtue of tho fact
that the holding company, the Manhat
tan Oil Company is an English con-
cern. The best lawyers of the Depart
ment Of Justice began to search the
law books when the news of that 6e-
yelopment was had from the trial at
Findlay. o. They say now there is lit
tie to fear in this. as there ere deci-
sions of the Supreme Court which meet
the situation adequately.
However, this adds a new compl:ca-
ton to the difficulties If busting trusts.
and particularly of busting the Stand
ard OH This is proving the most trou-
blcsome of all the octopi to handle. The
company or trust has been built up on
the best legal advice that money could
buy, which fact Acknowledgement!
Mo ody and all his Assistant Attorneys
General realize the more they dclvc
into the subject. Again and again the
President has called the big lawyers
Of his Cabinet-Root Taft. Moody and
PonaDarte-in consultation on the new
questions growing out of the effort to
bring suit against the Standard for 30
Iation of the Sherman antitrust law
Oyster Pay numerous big documents of
evidence and digeSts of the same. all
bearing on the proceedings contemplate
ed. We're awaiting consideration. Spe-
cial Attorneys Kellogg and Morrison,
who have. been assigned to this w ork
came on to Washington for consuita-
ton. and it was stated that the suit or
suits could be made ready and entered
within couple of weeks.
There was no intention then of has
tening the filing of these suits. but
when the evidence was submitted to
the scrutiny of the lawyer members Df
the Cabinet many suggestions were
made for strengthening the Govern
mcnt's case. Some think, however. and
possibly not without reason. that Con-
gress will have to enact new legislation
before the Government can proceed
successfully aganst>the Standard.
If this proves to be true, it will be
a serious disappointment to the Admin
istration. Its beef trust suits have
failed, and only few days ago it was
announced there was no intention of
proceeding against the beef trust as
corporation. The decision of Judge
j. o. Humphrey some months ago in
favor of the individual owners of the
trust has effectually stopped those pro-
ceedings. Some day. perhaps. another
suit can be brought against the beef
trust with more success, because Con-
gress has enacted laws since then that
put the Government on a better foun-
dation as "A prosecutor But it is a lona
and laborious process to fight n big
trust. If the STANDARD Oil suits fail it
will mean that the DIM in iSt tion will