Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1906-05-15
STATEMENT BY PRESIDENT.
CONTINUED from Page OneD

groups Of newspaper men in r,ass. To
all of these, senators. representatives of
senators and outsiders alike, I made tn,
same statements; those that l made to
MIR. Chandler being the same In sub
stance that I made to you and TO those
of your colleagues of both political par
ties with whom had any extended con
ferences on the subject.
"1'he letter of the attorney general.
which 1 enclose, shows fully the facts as
to the conferences which. at my in
stance, he held with Senators Tillman
and Bailey. Those conferences We're pre-
c:scly such as, at my instance, he hell
with many other senators to determine
the phraseoiogy and discuss the effect of
amendme nts proposed by them.
TO all whom l saw I stated that the
Hepburn bill was in it's essence entirely
satisfactory to me. The Hepburn bill as
it passed the House simply recognized the
right of review by the courts-that IS
the jurisdiction of the courts-but did not
attempt to define it, thus leaving the
courts to prescribe the limits of their
own jurisdiction. This was in accordance
with the ideas of the attorney general.
his belief being that thereby We avoided
all danger of the bill being declared I'M
constitutional because of the attempt to
confer either too much or too little juris-
diCtion on the courts.
II also repeatedly stated that while It
was entirely satisfactory to me simply to
leave the Hepburn bill in Substance as it
was-that is. with the recognition of the
jurisdiction of. the courts but without
any attempt to define that jurisdiction
yet that | was entirely willing that there
should he 4 definition, provided that this
definition did not seek to grant Il broad
; review, but explicitly narrowed it to the
two subjects which as y matter of fac.
| believed that the courts would alone
consider in case there was no attempt to
dcfn" the limits of their reviews; that
is. would limit it to the question as to
whether the commission had acted ultra
wires and as to whether any mans con-
stitutional rights had been impaired. I
stated that if the question Of defining
or limiting the review was brought up 1T
all personally felt that tins was the way
in which it should be limited or defined.
AT different times at least a score of
| tentative. amendments were either pre-
| pared by the attorney general at the re-
| quest Of senators or submitted &c me by
| senators. As many Of those amendments
| GnclndinG among others the substance
| of the So-callod LCng, Ovcrman. Bacon
! and SpOoncr amcndmCnts), | stated that
Should be entirely satisfied to have them
! in the bill: as to others. ] suggested mod
! ificat onS which would make them salts
1 factory; rs to none did I ever say, either
! to Mr.. Chandler or to anyone else. that
! | should insist upon having them in the
! bill as a condition of my approving it.
On the contrary. I always was most care
! full to state that | was not trying to die
tate any particular program of action.
| "In no case. either in the case of Mr..
| Chandler or in the case of anyone else.
was there the slightest opportunity for
any honest mscoucrptiou Of my attitud.
| or any belief that had pledged my
self specifically to one and only one
, amendment or set of amendments or that
I would not be satisfied with any amend
mcnt which preserved the essential feat
ure Of the Hepburn bill as it came from
the House.
'You will doubtless recall that in the
course of the several visits that you per
sonally made me we discussed a number
find out for which one there could be
obtained a sufficient body or assent to Sc
cure its passage and the passage of the
rate bill.
ITO almost every amendment proposed
by anyone 1 found that there were othe,
excellent men who objected, OF who al
least wished to change it, and | finally
became convinced that it was impossible
for senators with advantage to use me
as the Intermediary in coming to an
agreement with their colleagues. eSpec-
tally when they only communicated with
me through another intermediary, and
earnestly suggested to all to whom
spoke that they should communicate
with you, whose purposes and mine were
identical About this time | was inform
ed by various Democratic senator's that
they could not come to an agreement
upon any amendment and that the best
! chance for success lay in passing the
Hepburn bill substantially unchanged.
was informed and believed that this was
Senator Bailey's view; and a number OF
the Republican senators who favored the
bill expressed the same opinion.
Shortly after this you in company witt
Senator CullOm called upon me with the
amendment which is nov commonly
known as the Allison amendment ] told
you that while | should prefer the Long
and Overman amendments, yet that youl
amendment was entirely satisfactory
Your amendment did not i'm the slightest
degree weaken or injure the Hepburn
bill. 1t merely expresses what the friends
of the bill have always asserted was i'm
piled by the terms of the bill. 1 may
add that my own opinion that YOU
amendment in no way changed, whether
by diminishing or charging the scope OF
the court review as provided in the orig
inal Hepburn bill. is also the opinion OF
the attorney general. of Mr.. Root and Of
Mr.. Taft. Their Judgment is that tho
amendment merely avoids the criticism
that the Hepburn bill would be constitu
tionally invalid i'll not expressly providine
the court review which its supporter,
have always contended was plainly i'm.
piled in the original language.
1.-The original Hepburn bill stated thai
the venue for certain actions was in Ger
tain courts; the amendment states thai