The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-02
AT ODDS WITH ROOSEVELT.
.REPUBLICAN SENATOR'S RESENT
RATE BILL DECISION.
Object TO white House Conference which
Agreed TO Limited Court Review Only
Radical supporters Of the Hepburn
Bill Were CRiled Into Consultation.


Radical Supporters of the Hepburn
Bill Were CRiled Into consultation
WASHINGTON, April Leading Repub-
lean Senators who, while generally friendly,
TO the President, have been in favor of
a liberal court review provision in the rail-
way regulation bill, are plainly provoked
to put it mildly, over the decision reached
at yesterdays White House conference
to have the authority to be conferred on the
Federal judiciary in rate fixing cases APP
pealed from the Interstate Commerce
Commission limited to reviewing these
cases only when it Is commended that the
comm!ssi on exceeded its legal powers or
interfered with the constitutional rights
Of the applicant. There was a disposition
shown to-day among these Senators to
criticise the programme arranged at the
White House; and the prediction was made
that the progress toward an amicable agree
ment on the court review provision had
been retarded and the prospects increased
Of long delay In ~enacting rate legislation,
Those who were called into conference
yesterday by the President were all advo-
Gates Of his rate regulation policy. The
Senators with whom he consulted, with the
possible exception Of Mr.. Allison. are the
most radical supporters Of the Hepburn
bill, which the House passed, and were
opposed to any liberal court review provi-
sion, and some Of them until very recently
to any such provision at all, None Of
the. Republican Senators who have been
striving to effect a compromise between
the radicals and the conservatives was
present. OF the others who we're there
Atto~rpey-General Moody Is the only mem
Der OF the Cabinet who has apparently
been hostile to amending the judicial ex-
animation features of the Hepburn bill,
and Commissioners Knapp and Prouty
Of the Interstate Commerce Commission
are the most earnest advocates Of Federal
supervision over railway rates in the body
of which they ara members. What was
done at yesterdays conference was the
work Of men who are in opposition to the
majority Of Republican Senators and, in
fact, a majority Of the entire Senate,
Some of these Republican Senators who
are in sympathy with the Presidents effort
to secure the enactment OF rate legislation.
but are Of the opinion that provision should
be made for liberal judicial review, are
greatly concerned over the outcome OF the
conference between Mr.. Roosevelt n those
who were called to the White House yester-
day. They did not display any feeling
over the fact that the President consulted
only with the radical rate regulation leaders
to the exclusion Of other friends and adj
visers, but hold that he has laid himself
open to criticism by seeking to dictate a
programme for Congress to follow. They
believe that there should not have been any
conference, not even a conference in which
all shades of Republican thought and opin-
ion on the rate question were represented.
They say that it was understood that the
President was not to interfere in any way
with rate legislation, but to let the Senate
work out the problem in its own way.
1t is feared by the men who hold this
view that the bitter controversy imminent
at one time among Republican Senators
over the judicial review question. but re-
Gently allayed, will be certain to occur.
There is little likelihood, however, in the
opinion Of those who have been working to
bring harmony into the Republican ranks
that any such amendment to the Hepburn
bill as that agreed upon at the White House
yesterday will be adopted by the Senate,
where the sentiment in favor of a liberal
measure of court review Is understood to
be exceedingly strong.
A leading lawyer in the Senate said this
evening that the amendment reported as
having beer agreed upon at the White
House conference yesterday would make
very good law except that it practically
repealed a part Of the second section Of the
third article Of the Constitution. This
section declares that the judicial power
shall extend to all cases in law and equity
arising under the law Of the United States.
The Senator added that the amendment
proposed at the White House was evidently
framed with the object Of allowing the
judicial power guaranteed by the Constitu-
ton to extend to the Interstate Commerce
Commission, but not to the railroads.
1T is a case, said he, "of heads the COM
mission wins and tails the railroads
lose"
ID IrITnnNr cEEKC WA