The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1906-05-15

It IS perhaps due to you thar shoule
write you on the matter. After the
rate btu was reported from the com
rnittee, and after. by vote of the
committee, Mr. Ti1lnan had been put
IN charge Of II. many Senator's and
many outsiders came to see me With
reference to 1t. Among others I was
asked to see ex-senator Chandler as
representing Mr.. Tillman. who was in
charge of the bill. i stated in re
Spouse, that I was OF course. entirely
willing to see Mr.. THlman personally
or to see Mr. Chandler or any one else
who could speak for him. and accord
ingly directed by secretary to make
an appointment for Mr. Chandler TO
see me. Ny understanding was that
he was the Representative of M. Till
man. in this first interview he stated
to me the views of Mr.. Tillman, with
seeming authority. He called on me.
several times. During the same pc
Rod saw other gentlemen who pro-
fessed to give the views OF other Sem
ators- In addition saw numerous.
Senators, both Republican and Demo
Gratis, some Of them once or twice.
some of them many times, also saw
numerous outsiders. railroad men.
shippers. newspaper men and students
OF traffic regulation. including espe-
cially the Attorney General and the
members OF the Interstate. Commerce
Commission. and on two occasions
saw groups OF newspaper men in a
mass. To ali of these. Senator's, Rep
resentatives Of Senators and outsiders
alike, I make the same statements:
those that made to Mr.. Chandler be-
ing the same In substance that made
to you and those of Your colleagues
OF both political parties with whom !
had any extended conferences on the
subject The letter Of the Artorner
General which enclose shows fully
the facts as to the conferences which
at my instances. he held with Sena-
tors TiIiman and Bailey. Those con-
;ferenees were precisely such as, at
my instance. he held with many other
Senator's to determine the pharseol-
ogy and discuss the effect of amend
ments proposed by them.
" ." AoI24 = Sd" L StdtSO %24<4( IAe1
Hepburn bill was in its essence en-
tirely satisfactory to me. The Hep
burn bill as It passed the house sim
ply recognized the right Of review by
the courts-that IS the jurisdiction of
the courts-but don't attempt to de-
scribe the limits OF their own juris-
diction- 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
unconstitutional because of the at
tempt to confer either TOO much or too
little jurisdiction on the courts al
so repeatedly stated that while it was
tentireIy satisfactory to me. simply to
leave the Hepburn bill in substance as
1t was. that is the recognition of tho
jurisdiction of the courts without any
attempt to define that jurisdiction yet
that I was entirely willing that there
should be a definition, provided that
this definition did not seek to grant
! broad review but explicitly narrowed
/! it TO. the two subjects which as .
matter of fact I believed that the
courts would alone consider in case
there was no attempt to define the
limits Of their reviews; that IS, would
| limit It to the question as to whether
the commission had acted ultra-vires
and as to whether any mans constitu-
tonalG rights had been impaired ]
stated thatEif the question Of defining
or limiting the review was brought up
that I personally felt that this was
the way in which it should be limited
or defined.
"At different times at least a score
Of tentative amendments were either
prepared by the Attorney General ar
the request of Senators or submitted
to me by Senators AS TO many Of
those amendments Gncuding among
others the substance of the So-cailed
Long, Overman, Bacon, and Spooner
lamendments) stated that should be
entirely satisfied to have them in the
bill; as to others I suggested modif-
cations which would make them sat
isfactorily, as to no one did I ever say.
either to Mr. Chandler or to any one
else that should insist upon having
them in the bill as condition OF my
approving it On abe contrary, 1 was
always most careful to state that 1
was not trying TO dictate any part OF
the programme of action in no case
either in the case Of Mr.. Chandler or
in the case OF any one else, was there