Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1908-04-03
WASHINGTON LETTER.

are properly on the registration OuokS.
WASHINGTON LETTER.
From Our Regular Correspondent
Washington, ID. G., March 2S.-The
House this week was the scene of sew
ere and at times witty arrangement of
the president, delivered by Rep. Beall
of Texas, who declared that it were bet
ter that no legislation be passed, or
that legislation as crude as the Railway
Rate bill when it went from the House
to the Senate be placed upon the sta
tutes than that the President, should
usurp the legislative functions of Con-
gress and dictate the course of the ma
jority in the national legislature He
declared that Congress was no longer
legislative department of the govern
ment but had degenerated into "a ma
chine to record the will of the man at
the other end of the Avenue After
reviewing the legislation to which the
President had driven his party in Con-
gress, and showing the incapacity and
nnwillingness of the Republican lead
ers in Congress to carry out the will of
the people, Mr.. Beall said that IA
more disgraceful exhibition of the alb
dication of power by one of the great
departments of the government was
never give to the people, and more
disgusting usurpation OF power was
never witnessed by any nation Con-
Guiding, the eloquent Texan paraphras
ed the book of Solomon, saying among
other things, of the President, "He is
both broncho buster and trust bus
ter, the difference being that when he
breaks broncho he blindfolds the
horse and when he starts to burst a
trust he blindfolds himself. He is
tickle in his affections. In the White
House cookbook of 1904 Hartman s
name was donation; in 1903 it is
'damnation.'
Representative John Sharp Williams
announced his purpose, one day this
week, to introduce resolution of in
quiry to investigate the extent TO which
the President had hauled Representa-
tive Diekama of Michigan, over the
Goals because of the character of the re-
port which a subcommittee of which
Mr.. Diekama is chairman had made in
the case of Judge Whitley of the United
States court of Shanghai. 1t has been
reported i'll local paper that this re-
port severely censured Judge Whitley
and later that the President had sew
erely scored the chairman of the sub
committee. Mr.. Diekama arose in the
House, and declared that the Presi-
dent had not hauled him over the Goals
at all but had merely called his atten-
ton to the fact that if Judge Whitley
were scored it would so injure his pres
tige in China as practically to end his
usefulness there. The fact is, every UNI
prejudiced observer believes that Judge
Whitley deserves the highest common
dation, instead of censure for his course
in China, but Mr.. Williams took the
ground that entirely apart from the
merits of the case, the President should
do nothing to cOerce the members of
committee of Congress, point which
cannot be controverted. Mr.. Diekama's
explanation that the newspaper story
was false, however, cleared the situa-
ton.
William j. Bryan is in Washington
and he made great hit with the Irish
by attending banquet given by the
Ancient Order of HibernianS at which
he spoke, Boosting of the fact that his
ancestors were Irish and giving high
praise to the Catholic Church for its
benificent work in this and other coun-
tries. To the politicians the most in
teresting and significant feature of Mr..
Bryan's visit was his long conference
with Bourke Cochran with whom he
walked to the Capitol. Mr.. Bryan
would throw no light on his conference
with the eloquent New Yorker who has
just been read out of Tammnny Hall.
The Peerless Leader visited the House
and his coming was the occasion Of an
enthusiastic though informal reception
in the room reserved for the reception
of members of the press, on the Demo-
cratic side of the House.
There is comment in some quarters
away from Washington because there
is SO little written from here of Demo-
cratic politics but there is really very
little to write. The Democrats in Con-
gress seem to be almost unanimously
of the opinion that Mr.. Bryan will be
nominated and the reports which reach
here from the various states certainly
show a remarkable strength for the
great Nebraskan. Occasionally, of
course, there is talk of some other can
didate. A Minnesotian will talk en-
Enthusiastically Jof- johnson, or a New
Yorker of Grey, and because there is so
little doing in political way, their in
terviews receive a prominence in the
press to which they are by no means
entitled. There is, obviously, faction
in the Democratic party whose cry is
aAnyone but Bryan" precisely as in
the Republican party there is faction
whose cry cry is "Anyone but Taft"
but in both parties it is the same sort
of faction, the conservative, let-well-
enough-alone crowd, and this seems to
be bad year for that sort OF crowd.