The Washington herald., 1907-01-11

House said 40 BE Good.
The railroad-hours bill was passed in
the Senate yesterday by "a vote of 20 to l.
The single objeCting vote came from Mr..
Pettus, who believes that all interstate
commerce legislation is in violation Of the
States rights doctrine. His colleague
Mr.. Morgan. was absent, bur if he had
bsen present he would have voted against
}the bill It was a busy day for Senator
La Toilette. who had the fight for the
bill in charge. and in the multiplicity Of
amendments and the parliamentary maze
as 70 things that were in order and things
that were not, Vice President Fairbanks
came near earning his salary.
Il was plain that many Senator's wished
TO avoid a vote upon the direct question.
\ motion TO recommit would have solved
the problem for them. Several attempts
were made 10 get a ruling from the chair.
The Vice President announced that while
he would meet the question when it came
properly before him at 3 O'Clock, the hour
previously fixed for taking a vote, he felt
breach of the unanimous consent under
which the Senate was working.
The result was a triumph for La Fol-
lette. to whom. after three days discus
sion, presenting every variety Of objec-
tion to the bill. the Senate simply let the
Wisconsin Senator have his own way,
with very little denia! Of what he asked.
Not being satisfied with the bin as it
stood before the Senate, Mr.. Ia Toilette
offered substitute of his own. and that
was passed. making his triumph even
more complete The first bin was sub
stitute for the House BILL resulting from
hearings before the Senate Committee on
Education and Labor. Different Senators
had pasted amendments on it until the
printed bill looked like "a serious case Of
smallpox.
Senator Beveridge was active on the
floor IN support of the measure.
Test Vote Was Close.
The final vote on the bin did not rep
resent the actual sentiment Of the Sen
ate on the measure. On test votes the
situation was almost evenly divided be-
tween the friends and opponents Of the
measure. The vote on La FoHette's sub
stitute was 35 yeas TO 81 nays. The Sen
ators voting for the substitute were:
Republicans - Beveridge. Brandegee,
Burkett, DollIver. Du Pont, Elkins. Flint.
Hansbrough, Hemenway. Hopkins. Kit
tredge, Ia Toilette, Nelson, Perkins,
Scott. and Warner.
Democrats-Bacon. Berry, CuIberson,
Daniel Dubois. Foster. Frazier. Gearin.
Latimer, Mallory. Money. Overman. Pat
terson. Rayner, Simmons. stone. TaIia-
ferro. Teller. Tillman. and Whyte
Those who opposed il were:
Republicans-Bu Buckley. Burrows Carter.
Clapp Clark CWyo}, Crane, Cuuom, De-
pew. Dick. Dillingham;. Foraker. Frye.
Fulton. Gallinger. Hale. Hepburn. Kean.
Knox, Lodge. Long, McCumber. NiHard,
Piles, Proctor, Smoot. Sutherland. and
Warren.
Democrats Blackburn, Clark DIont),
McCreary, and Pettus.
just prior TO the adoption of Senator La
F0llette's substitute the Senate rejected
the substitute offered by Senator Brande-
gee by vote of IS to % After the adop-
ton of Senator la FoIlette's substitute,
q few amendments were added which the
Wisconsin Senator opposed.
hIr. Gailiuger tried TO have an amend
ment adopted penanzing employees as well
as railroad companies who violated the
law. but the Senate rejected this pTOpo-
siJiou
Senator Bacon tried to secure an
amendment providing that the act should
mot apply 20 any railroad company. the
railway of which lies wholly within the
limits of one State but it was rejected
by vote of l6 10 46. only two Democratic
SeEators-AIouey. Of Mississippi and
Clark, Of Montana. voting with him.
When the result was announced. Mr. Pat
jerson, of Colorado. remarked that there
were thirteen State rights Senators on
the Republican side. that number having
supported Mr. Bacou's amendment.
Terra Gotta Case Suggested.
Senator Knox, just after the passage of
the bill. called attention TO what he con-
ceived 20 be "a flaw i'm the wording of it
by which an empty train, such as that
which plunged into the local passenger
train at Terra Gotta, would not De sub
sect 20 the provisions of the bill because
Il carried neither freight nor passengers.
To meet this point DIr. Knox offered an
amendment, which Senator CuIberson
declared would render the bill unconsti-
utionaL Mr.. la Toilette astonished Mr..
Culberson by accepting Mr. Knox-s
amendment
The clause in the bili as passed made
its terms apply 70 railroad employees on
trains engaged IN hauling passengers
and freight en- Interstate commerce. Mr..
Knox said that any train that passed
from State To State empty would not come
under the bill, and employees could be
made 10 go out for sixteen hours at the
end Of siXteen-hours' run. He offered
an amendment striking out those words
and inserting the words engaged I'm in
terstate commerce" Senator Culberson
thought that this change would make the
bill unconstitutional. and there was a
loud chorus of objections. On point of
order il became necessary to vote to re-
consider iu order 90 correct the bill To
add 20 the confusion, "a duplication OF
language occurred when the Knox
amendment was read into the bill by the
clerk. so that it read trains engaged in
hauling trains &c. The laugh al this
discouraged the Pennsylvania Senator,
and he gave .up i'm despair and made no
attempt TO remedy what he thought was
Il defect in the bin. Senator TiIlman
tused 10 have the whole lire knocked oat
rs surplusage. but a loud cry against
this went ND. and the bill was passed as it
stood.
what the BiI1 Proposes.
The measure makes 1T a misdemeanor
for any common carrier IN the District OF
Columbia OF any of the Territories. or
engaged in interstate or foreign com
merce by railroad or any of its officers.
or agents who require or permit any en-
ploye connected with the movement Of