The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-01-28

Copyright. 1906. By Lincoln steffens.)
 Washington. Jan. 27.--Everything in Washington looks different from what it did out there in the United States the Senate, for example: l thought the United States Senate was bad Didn't you? I had heard it spoken of as "a rich mans. club" I called it once the Chamber of the Bosses" and had come to think that the men who sat there were, If not the enemies, at least the agents of the enemies Of the republic. was prejudiced-before l came to Washington. And you-out there in the United States--arent you a little bit prejudiced?
 You are if you think not well of the Senate Far from being an enemy the Senate. is the saviour of the re- public. You protest? Well, so did l. still protest. I am not yet converted, nor shall I attempt this week to con vert you But if we are to get the truth about things, we must open our minds to all views, and this IS the Washington view of the Senate. on, there are other views that are held here. and strenuously. too. Che of the masters of the House of Representa- tives described the Senate to me at length as a body which, legislattng by unanimous consent. could pass bills only when every Senator good and bad, had arranged to get out of our government just what he wanted, rlght or wrong "A most expensive method of Legislation" this sober, responsible critic of the Senate called 1t. But he was prejudiced. The House IS Jeal- ous of the Senate. Veteran members of the House who long have watched the Senate have facts and figures, sto- ries and exhibits to Illustrate their neig hborly view of their neighbors. And we shall want their facts. But our best course is to see the Senate first as the Senate sees itself.
 And the Senate sees itself as the head of the government of the Uni
 ted States. Now this was one of the charges which I, in my prejudice
 thought to bring against the Senate
 that by usurping power, this lesser half of the legislative branch of the | government has so magnified itself | that the constitution had been cracked | to let the Senate rub. But l con | cluded last week that the President was the President. and, since the Sen ate continues to complain both pri- vately and publicly, that the Executive
 is encroaching upon tho Congress it still seems true that. at least. the Executive is intact. So it rather takes
 ones breath away to hear grave Sen
 ators declaring gravcly that their
 House is and of right ought to be
 the throne of American sovereignty Some of them read tnIs into, some read
 it out of, the constitution, but they
 seem to differ materially, (and, by the
 way, quite significantly, among them | selves as to the intent of that great instrument. They agree, however, that
 in the last analysis the Senate is what 1t is because the Senators are, and | always have been, what they are-the saviours of the republic. | Though there is no such word. there
 is such a thing as 'plutogogy.' and the phrase. Saviour of the Republic" !" dropping from the lips of friend of | the Senate, sounded to my unaccustom- ed ears like the opposite of "dema- gogy." And l looked for the smile that goes with the word ''pee-pul." but my friend of the Senate smiled not. neither did he bat an eye-lid. Then l heard others use it, some with real feeling.
 one hard -headed veteran correspondent
 said
 T suppose you're down on the Sem
 ate. We all are when we come here,
 But I'll bet you anything that in a month you'll see, and you'll say. that