The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-31

says that "the process of bringing the
Senate to a conclusion upon any matter
IL d gradual process" People thought
that Senator TILLMAN, Of whom Mr..
SPooNER has said that he would never
learn any law because he could not keep
still long enough, would hustle the rail-
road rate bill to passage in Jig time;
but that was to lose sight of the fact
that the Senate Is a deliberate as well
rs a deliberative body. In the matter
Of the rate bill it Is proceeding with a
caution born Of the realization that its
responsibility for a measure of legisla-
ton was never greater. Even Mr.. TILL
MAN has become a conservative in the
presence Of that responsibility. Does
the Senator" Mr.. SPooNER asked him
the other day, think for n moment
that we are not trying here to make a
good bill of this2" Mr.. TILLMAN's re-
Spouse was, Il have not said 80" which
he repeated when Mr.. SPooNEB put the
question In another form: Does the
Senator think that those OF US who as
lawyers have studied this bill are not
doing it as a matter Of public duty to
help the people in this legislation2'
This great question Of rate making
said Mr.. OvERMaN of North Carolina,
perhaps one of the greatest which has
ever come before the Congress to solve,
is soon to be settled Not yet, but soon.
In the vernacular Of the day. Like other
Democrats in the Senate, Mr.. OvERMAE
;peiota u ot Tho uanb,,rn Hill he onoandaJ
No two lawyers, Is he says, seem to
agree on all the legal points involved.
Il should greatly dislike, not simply for
myself, but for the body of whose just
fame / am as Jealous and proud as any
Senator can be-" said Mr.. SPooNRR in
the course of an argument upon the
judicial review feature of the bill, which
Mr.. OvERMAN pronounced a great speech,
that this measure when it shall have
passed the Senate should fail in the
courts for any want of constitutionality
which we can remedy Other great
speeches upon the imperfections Of the
Hepburn bill as an unconstitutional and
impraoticable measure have been made
by Senators Of both parties-by Mr..
RAYEER OF Maryland, Mr.. BAILEY Of
Texas and Mr.. KNOX OF Pennsylvania,
lawyers OF consummate ability. Mr..
FORAKER, who was the first Senator to
deal with the bill from the lawyers point
of view, had given many days and nights
TO the collection of his authorities. This
proposed rate legislation" he said.
raises some of the most important ques-
tions we have had to deal with since the
civil war"
So the Senate Is going slow. THE
amendments are the vital things says
Mr.. HALE Of Maine, who with other old
heads is coaching Mr.. TILLMAN, a very
apt pupil, In steering the bill to a vote.
A number OF important amendments
have been already proposed, but Sena-
tors, recognizing the wisdom of the full
est discussion, have hesitated to press
any one of them to a vote. 1t is manifest
that the cynical prediction once heard
that the rate bill would be talked to
death in the Senate will fall to the
ground. Already, with several big guns
to be heard and new amendments swell
ing the calendar, there Is a marked
anxiety'to arrange the time and a
ner for voting. Mr.. HALE's proposal
that at least five days of short speeches
be devoted to the amendments, after
the long speeches on the main subject
are out Of the way, ought to be adopted.
At the end Of that period the Senate
should be able to send a law proof bill
back to the House, and as it is to be
supposed that the Representatives are
following what Mr.. HALE calls the
illuminating debate" in the Senate,
they ought to be able to deal with the
amended bill promptly. Let us hope
that they will approach their task in the
spirit of Senator TELLER, who says Of the
last act in the evolution of the rate bill:
when We get through with this bill, II
we do our duty, we shall have a bill that
will accomplish what the people desire
that is the regulation, not the de-
struction, of railroads; a regulation that
shall benefit them. in my judgment, as
it will benefit the producer and the
consumer