The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1907-02-01
JACK HARRIS WASHINGTON LETTER.

- ~ PAN'Nh' IhO puDllS llOLl VIII
Messing what might prove a dis
graceful personal encounter, and
to allow the senators an unob-
served opportunity to reconcile
the belligerents. For nearly two
hours the Legislative session with
closed doors continued, and what
was said and done is largely mat
ter of conjecture. At the end of
that time the doors we're again
opened, and both Senators Till
man and Carmack made a public
apology from their seats for what
ever unsenatorial conduct they
had been guilty of.
OF course the public was hOrri-
bly, disappointed in not seeing
somebody's skull fractured. The
fracas for which they had waited
for weeks with vague hopes and
indefinite lOngings had escaped
them at the last moment. The in
evitable trouble was smoothed
over and hushed up in secrecy. 1t
was too bad, wasn't it? Well,
this was about the end of the no
torious but not celebrated
Brownsville case". Before Till
mans speech an agreement had
been reached to adopt a resolution
which at last had the endorsement
of a reunited majority, and the
next day it was adopted. This
instructs the Senate committee
on military affairs to inyc- CUE
the facts in the case, which it will
do at it's leisure and report when
it gets good and ready.
To all intents aud purposes,
this is a practically complete vic
tory for Theodore Roosevelt. The
whole matter WAS sprung on the
senate for the purpose Of putting
him in a hole, and it has reacted
with deadly effect 1t has left
him as clean and serene as before,
and the few who conceived the
scheme are nursing bruises and
fractures innumerable. 1t came
dangerously near busting the re
publican majority in the senate
wide open, and only the NEST
adroit management prevented it.
And to Roosevelt belongs the
credit of healing the breach. He
pulled them out of the hole
which they had dug for himself.
He stepped in to save the party
after its would-be leaders had
slammed and banged and pound
en- for weeks with the party as a
club to hit him. 1t came near
sIivering the club but never turn
ed hair on him.
The best lawyers in the senate
or in the country have told that
body that it was powerless to re-
view or correct the presidents
acts. No existing body except the
United States Supreme Court
can do that. So, in this aspect
OF the case, the entire uproar has
been the yer1est fopdoodle and
The Senate could not
reach him as to the legality or
constitutionality of his acts; it
could only ascertain the facts as
to the guilt or innocence of the
discharged soldiers. Now the tu
multi and the shouting dies, and
this last is what the committee
will attempt to do.
Another great investigation of
an alleged great evil has been
started by the senate, the probing
of the lumber trust of the United
States. Senator Kittredge of
South Dakota, the father of the
resolution of investigation, AYERS
that the lumber trust has adj
yanced prices some hundreds per
cent in the past few years, arbi-
trarily and unjustly that indie
pendent lumber companies are
frozen out of competition, and |
hat the trust is responsible for
IS great hardship as the ordinary
citizen has to endure. He pro-
1uces facts and figures to sub
,tantiate his charge, and will see
hat the people charged with the
Investigation are given all the
necessary details. So, it may be
'airly safe to assume that in due
ime the lumber monopoly of the
country will receive sandpaper-
ng which will remove some of
he knots and slivers which have
made it decidedly unpleasant for
the common people" for some
ime past. /
Since Brownsville was out of
he way the Senate has given some
to delayed appro-
,riation bills, has heard Senator
sutherland of Utah tell the truth
n defence of his colleague, Sena-
or Smoot, and has been RECALLED
With good old fashioned state
lights speeches by Senator Rayner
nd others. Today-Saturday-
as been devoted to eulogies of the
ate Senator German in the Sen
te. Meanwhile the House has
lugged along in a desultory dis
ussion of appropriation bills, in
he course of which members have
poken on a wide range of sub
xtended and thoroughly consid-
red speech by Congressman Eos
er on the presidents Japanese
--L;ol, hnlr mot with Wide /.