The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1906-03-18
BY LINCOLN sTEFFENS.


BY LINCOLN STEFFENS
call imperfect and ll.advtsed lesisia-
tion7' -
Mr.. Aldrich said tho Senate hadn't
waited, and he cited the Elkins law to
show that Il had done sor'leth lns. !, But y
|. he had to admit that neither the ElkNs
law nor the Hepburn bill would solve
the problem.
The fact Is that they can't act here ur,-
| til tho business interests they represent
viii permit them to act. The Senate,.
which senator's call tho head Of the.
governments isn't the head OF tho GOV.
eminent. The Senate, like political
boss. only represents tho head OF the
Aldrch objects TO that Wow, lIc rrof5a'.
BY citing his own case. He referred
to the charge that he represented Stand
ard OIL, and he didn't deny It; he said
that he never went to SEQ those people
or received instructions from their.
NO." I answered. and II 4 were
they, I'd mover send for YOU or offer to
send you Instructions. That wouldn't
seem necessary II had q man Ike
you mere representing Iuo - ~ "
to do instinctively what was right Tor
me-
When he Erasped the point that did
not mean to charge bribery or anything
that lie would call corruption against
him or the Senate, no admitted all that
need be alleged. !,
"Of course man Is influenced here.
he said. .by the business he has been IN,
by the alliances he has formed ana by
his environment
We'll. that's nll there Is OF It. There. are
Senators under suspicion (nnd conviction).
az taxing fees or ''retainers"; the
Senate has It's retail. trade. And. as good
an authority as the Hon. Charles IL.
Irosvenor. member OF Congress from
Ohio before reform). told me the
withdrawal by the railroads OF passes
had had no little to do with the revival
in the House OF the policy OF enforcing
certain railroad laws. But I wnnt to
disregard all this CHEAP" Exceptional
sporadic" corruption and get down to
the bottom truth. And when. Mr.. Aldrich
admitted that n Senator Is influenced,
by the business he has been In. by the
alliances lie has formed and BY his en-
vronment,'' we were scap'ng bottom.
Z. Senator 4tldrich was a street railway
magnate. Ignoring for the moment the
corruption OF the people OF Rhode Is
lind. which enabled him to control his
state legislature. 1t Is enough TO say
that he. having that power. used 1t to
grant his company privileges which MS
people opposed and which netted MN
and his associates a fortune each. Ignor-
Ing also his alliance with tho Rockefel-
Ter family, It is safe to say that his
sympathy naturally would be with the
Standard Oil or any other business that
wanted grants. subsidies or tariff
which would net millions.
It is natural that Senator Kean and
Senator Foraker or any other senator IN
...the business they have been in. should
prick up their ears-as they do--whenever
n railroad or a land grant. tarin or
a subsidy Is suggested in their chamber.
1--WE represent ourselves, said senator
A,drich, and pointing across the cor
rdor to the Senate one day, he added.
az venture to say there Is not senator,
in on that floor who does not represent
himself"
& This is an extreme statement, and the
senator contradcted 1t moment later:
when he was contrasting the East and
the West In the matter OF railroad con-
troll of states. But let's accept his state
I II ent for the moment: The senators rep
resent themselves. The best of the worst
OF them do. They aren't owned and they
don't have to be briled. They represent
themselves. But when they represent
themselves most truly they represent the
corrupt Legislatures, the corrupted peo-
pie and the corrupting business OF all
their States: and they represent those,
things with conscience clear. But look at
tho net result:
United States Senate.
washington, D. c.. Feb. 8, 1903.
Dear Sir.--Yours OF the 19th ultimo
came duly to hand. It has happened as
! feared: the Interstate Commerce Com
mittee will not report the measure giv-5
ing power to the Interstate Commerce
Commission to fix rates.
It is expecting too much from human
nature that Senators whose every nsso-
citation is with the great railroad corpo-
rations and whose political lives largely
depend upon them, should In good faith
i approveya measure that would to an ex-5
tent make the railroads q servant Of
the people and to be subject to the de-
clsion Of the Commission when a .ducs-i
ton OF rates Is raised. The Senate COM
S,nittee is by a decided ma Jority men Who
bear those relations to railroads. I hope
that sometime In the future, the COM;
mittee Will he SO constituted that legis-B
slation OF the character mentioned will
issue from Il. but am afraid that you
and will DO many years older when
Yours truly
This Is a letter not intended for pub
LEGATION from member OF the Senate
Committee on snterstate Commerce to
a shipper Since the date OF il, public
clamor and a few changes in personnel,
have altered, little, tho tono OF tho
committee, but we have seen that 1t
still is a "raIlroads' Committee, IT
approved Nhougli# hardly in good
faith IA measure that would to an ex-
tent make. the railroads n servant Of the
speople." But; watch the Senate pass that
I PHI as s.. y watched it PASS the pure food
bin {. The pure food bill was directed