The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1906-05-19

statement was Issued from II. -.
House giving an account Of ~. whit
3ect on the part Of the presidan. suo,
Attorney General Moody. ~ aad
The statemenA comprisad
tern, one letter from the presia. ~ ",
Senator Allison, and the othss s to
Attorney General Moody to the non
dent, both dated yesterday. p's.
President to Allison.
The presidents letter is> d;,.....
Senator Allison, he says, becanss :, %
senator's name had been PROMISE. as
the discussion. It recites man. u
ferencee with senators and oths,, 'o y
terested on the subject Of thu =! :.
bill, and to al these, the nra.,s ,sss
says, he stated that the Hepbnrn '1 ss,t
was perfectly satisfactory to him w :,
though he did not especially ob;ac.. :. :
q court review amendment. nros;s % .
i was limited. Continuing, the n .ssa
ident says: '
II also repeatedly stated that Vim
It was entirely satisfactory to ma ~. s
ply to leave the Hepburn bill n %s
stance as it was; that is, with thu ny
ignition Of the Jurisdiction Of ~.
courts, but without any attempt To !. '
fine that jurisdiction, yet was emit
~ willing that there should be a das
milton, provided that this detinitias
did not seek to grant a broad revis,
but explicitly naarrowed it to thu to,
subjects which, as matter of fact ~ :
believe that the courts would slo,.
consider in case there was no attam,s
to define the limits of their revia..
that would limit it to the question ~
to whether the commission had sctad
ultra wires. and as to whether anv
mans constitutional rights had bean
impaired At different times at least
score of tentative amendment, vera
either prepared by the attorney zen.
eral at the request of senators or sub.
mitted to me by senators. As to msuy
Of the amendments, including among
otherBthe substance ~of@the so-called
Long, Overman, Bacon and Spooner
amendments, stated that should bs
entirely satisfied to have them in thu
bill; as to others, / suggested modi.
fications which would make them cat.
isfactory; as to none did I ever cay,
either to Mr.. Chandler or to anyone
else, that I should insist upon having
them in this bill as q condition Of my
approving it. On the contrary I wal
always most careful to state that
was not trying to dictate any partit
ular program Of action. -
Referred to Allison.
TO almost every amendment prc
posed by anyone I found that ther
were other excellent men who otiec,
I'd, or who-as least wished to chang
It, and I finally became convince,
that it was impossible for senator
with advantage to use me as an inter
in coming to an agreemen,
with their colleagues, especially when
they only communicated with me-
through another intermediary, and
suggested to all to whom
spoke that they should communicate
with you, whose purposes and mine
were identical.
About this time I was Informed
by various Democratic senators that
they could not come to an agreement
dpon any amendment, and ethatr the
best chance of success lay in passing
the Hepburn bill substantially IN.
changed. I was Informed and believ.
ed that this was Senator Bailey's
view; and q number of the Republi.
can senator's who favored the bill e1.
pressed the same opinion.
Shortly after this You, in company
with Senator Cullom, called upon me
with the amendment which is now
known as the Allison am.
endment. l told you that while |
should prefer the Long and Overman
yet that your amend
entirely satisfactory"
In conclusion the president says that
he does not see that the Allison
changes the slightest de-
gree the PROVISIONS of the original BILL
merely meeting the objection OF some
senators that the bill would not be'
constitutional If some definite provls-
ion for court review were not included.