Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-02-05
D. w. Norris Writes Of Senator
Delivers Position and the
Delegation
THE FIGHT OF DELIVERS LIFE
The Senator Frankly Admits That He
Is UP Against What Bryan Calls
the "Money Power" But Norris
Can See That the Bill Is Going to
Pass With the Aid of Democrats.
[By D. w. Norris at Washington

| by d. w. Norris at Washington
The debate on the Hepburn bill II
the house was of great interest to me
1t will continue most of the week, and
then the house will vote. The bill will
have an almost unanimous support. II
| will not be amended, altho numerous
amendments will be offered Why?
| because the bill has been drawn with
exceeding care. 1t has been well pom
dered and thought out. Days and
| weeks and Sleepless nights have been
| spent in it and now to permit amend
ments, however attractive, would be
| dangerous. Col. Hepburn has charge
of the bill. 1t is almost an exact dup
| licate of the Dolliver bill. 1t has been
carefully gone over line for line and
word for word by it's author, Col Hep
burn, by Dolliver, by the president, by
the attorney general, by Townsend, by
Esch and by every earnest friend in
vited to consider 1T, and now it must
go thru as agreed on. 1t is the only
safe way.
Iowa people who thought Col. Hep
burn insincere, were mistaken. Never
was man more sincere, more in earn
est, more loyal to the president and to
cause. AS Senator Doliver put it to
me, there was certainly an excuse for
the apparent luke warm attitude Of
the Iowa delegation when this agita-
ton began. He said ut was new
proposition to me and to all of us. l
had never received single letter
from a constituent on this matter till
the fall of 1904 l have been working
on my bill ever since. I spent the
greater part of fifteen days after the
opening of this congress on one short
paragraph. The people at home began
to pound us for not doing something,
and all the time we were at work.
feeling our way. l realize that we are
up against 1t. l find that we have
got fight on our hands, and absurd
as it may seem, 1 find that we are
up against what Bryan used to call the
money power
The senator talked freely and frank
ly. He seems to have burned his
bridges, and he fully realizes that the
result is to make him or unmake him.
Delivers shoulders are broad, IL they
are a little hunpy, and like the OK to
the load, he has squared himself for
the pull of his life. ] was astonished
at his frankness. He makes no secret
of the fact that many of the strong
men of the senate are against him,
and that it is to be the fight of his
life. AS l sat at the lunch table and
listened to him, / felt that the people
of Iowa We're mighty fortunate in havs
ing this broad shouldered, STOPPING
exactly bearing the world on his
shoulders, but he is carrying a big
load.
When he complained, not querelous-
ly, but kindly, of how the Iowa papers
belabored him and others for being
inactive. l told him that it was not
because the people of Iowa had any
doubt as to where his sympathies
were, and Senator Allison's too but
we were simply afraid of the silent
influence and environment The fact
is, not one of them had any doubt as
to where he would stand, but it took
time to grid the loins and put on the
armour, and persuade men to fall in
/ have no doubt that in this contest,
the Iowa delegation, every one of
them, will stand by the people. Two
of them may give their support
grudgingly, but they will support it,.
I can see now very plainly that our
doubts were unfounded, at the same
time, the pressure brought to bear by
the great newspapers in Iowa, was not
untimely, and has borne splendid
fruit.
1T must indeed be very humiliating
to certain newspapers in Iowa, notab-
ly the Capital, the Hawkeye and the
Cedar Rapids Republican to find that
the entire delegation has taken po-
sition which those papers have an
tagonized. Colonel Hepburn has al
ways worked with the Blythe machine,
and in local politics, will no doubt
still be found in the Blythe camp, but
Hepburn is brave man, an honest
man, patriotic man, and when he
found that his duty to his president
and to his country required him to
take a position antagonistic to the in
terests of the Burlington system, he
did not hesitate one single moment.
The present senate is certainly a
very fine looking body of men, whether
it is a sincere and patriotic body as a
whole is question, but when one sits
and listens to the debates, he goes
away impressed with the belief that
these men mean on the whole to DO
right. Their ideas of what is right
may not be ours The view point is
different. 1t is useless to expect of
men like Aldrich, Platt. Depew Dry
den and Clark, legislation that will
require them to loosen the screws that
their masters have on the life of in
dustry, but these men are not neces-
sarily unpatriotic. They may be but
i is pleasant to think they are not.
They are rich, they represent vast in
terests. they are themselves a part of
the system that is attacked. Selfish
ness, and years of total disregard of
the rights of others. make it impossi-
BILE to be just. So let US give them
the benefit OF the doubt and use some
other word besides "unpatriotic." The
signs are that they are losing their
grip and they know it, When a man
like Knox, of Pennsylvania, deserts
monopolys camp and goes over to the
side of the people, the rampants are
weakened. And above all and under
all is the silent, persistent, relentless
Roosevelt.
The house, as one looks in it, does
. n n m @ m us aB . . M
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