The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-03-19
END OF THE
SESSION


busters are flying; darkies are clean
ing the cuspidors. Heavily laden train
are snorting out of the depots in Wash
ington, bearing the Senators and mem
bers of the late departed Fifty ninth
! Most of them are now Senators AM
t members of the Sixtieth, some of then
! are-well, lame ducks.
The terrible stress and strain is over
The Capitol did not rock on it's foun
: dations, but if it's great mass of marble
steel, mahogany and other materials
could be embodied into one living
breathing, thinking personality, il
| would probably roar forth it's rejoicing
; that the spenders'' are gone For the
membership of both branches of the
seth Congress will be known chiefly
hereafter for spending proclivities
The enormous total of appropriations
stands out as the chief feature of the
session which began early last De-
cember. The spending of S2,00O,000 a
minute is literally one of the sessions
achievements For one evening not
long ago Senator Hale passed through
| the upper branch of Congress the ma
val appropriation bill, carrying a total
of over $100, 100000, in fifty-tWo minutes.
| 1t was not Mr.. Hale's fault. 1t was
| rather to his credit that he could en-
| gineer such big bill through with so
| little debate and with such expedition.
| Right after him came Senator Frye,
who almost equalied that record by
passing a rivers and harbors bill of
about 500, 900, 900 in little over sixty
minutes.
But Washington is recovering from
the hurly-burly. The city will get
back on an even keel, as it always
does when there is sufficient quiet in
the Capitol to allow ones foot falls
to echo in the corridors. Theodore
Roosevelt, President, with just two
years of his term remaining, is glad
of the quiet. He will not keep his eye
on the Capitol any more for the present.
It is not known, outside of a few of
his friends, that the President is tired
exceedingly tired. Vigorous as he
looks physically, full of energy, cheer
full, aggressive in the execution of his
plans, the President nevertheless is be-
ginning to feel the strain. If there
were no other reason for his declining
another term, he would do SO because
he is tired of his strenuous career as
President. He will not pause
There are twenty-four months more
of his executive career and he must |
drive through a lot of measures be- |
fore he yields to his successor. But |
he is tired in the way that comes only |
from prolonged effort, effort SO en- |
thusiastic that one does not stop TO |
think how exhaustive it is and realizes |
only of a sudden when the WEAKNESS |
of every fiber of the body becomes
apparent. The strenuous work of the
recent session has brought the Presi-
dent to a realization of this.
With all it's prof1igacy, it's expendf-
lures of nearly a billion dollars in
manner that would have babe even
Tom Reed shudder ten years ago, Con-
gress died an easy death In few
days the statiSticians will have the
exact figures to show that at no. pre-
vious Congress were SO many bills in
troduced in Senate or House, We're so
many measures reported and passed,
were SO generous appropriations made, Il
even when the country was at war. L
But the prof1igacy had been completed
several days before the end of the ses-
sion was due. The bars were simply
let down. Men were tired of protest
ing in the name of economy. There
was money a plenty in the treasury.
The Dingley schedules with their high
protection for captains of industry
we're bringing millions upon millions
INTO the National Golfers. What mat
ter that the money comes from the
people, even indirectly! Spend, Spend!
Every old measure that carried an ap-
1ropriation was allowed to go through.
t was not necessary even to observe
he old formula of waving the flag and
declaring that the expenditure was
patriotic, that any poor creature VINO
opposed was an enemy of his country.
sufficient to say simply that 1--WE want
he money"
Senate and House sat Sunday. That
vas unusual, but not unprecedented
March was in reality the last day or
he Congress and March was Sunday.
The passage of scores of little b1lis
depended upon the Sunday session.
-he work could not all be done Mon
law morning, March 4, although in a
legislative sense it was not March
ill noon of that day. But the jour
ais of Senate and House will have
10 later date than March 2, for neither
ranch adjourned after it began it's SEES
ion Saturday morning. 1t simply re-
essed, recessed from late Saturday
vening till Sunday, recessed Sunday
yening till Monday morning. Thus by
n old and honored legislative fiction
congress was not in session at all sun
ay. 1t adjourned Saturday.
One old corpse was left in the cor
idors done to death by violence
his was the ship subsidy bill. Its
asst hours were ones of terrible tribu-
alton. Lobbyists from far and near
ried to infuse it with life. The grim
Id veterans, who came haughtily upon
he scene back in the days when the
enate voted ship subsidies that were
title short of national scandals, We're
here as were the younger workers who
ave had a hand since more reasonable
nd more honest ship subsidy bill
we're being enacted at the North end
f the Capitol.
There was a terrible struggle to get
he Senate bill before the House. 1t I
ad to be materially amended in COM
nittee, and then Speaker Cannon halt
d till all the appropriation bills We're
ut of the way. At least he gave the
vord. The special rule for considera-
ion was brought in, the debate of r
everal days began, and finally Friday
f last week the vote was taken. The
ill was badly mangled. The provision {
or three subsidized lines from the