The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-06-11

1
simply blufing, bluf1ng in the hope
that his constituents may not see the
| record, and hiding behind President
Roosevelt's coat tails whenever he can.
A Coat Tail Defense.
Another coat tail defense. is Longs
| defense of his vote against imposing
rebates. He says only five men voted
for it. Yet Long dared be one OF eight
| men who voted against labor unions.
| When Wall street is attacked Long
/ knows no fear. For he knows Wall
! street stands by it's friends. 3
| And when he voted against putting
| rebators in Jail in 1908 he was wrong;
| or else he was wrong when he surren-
dered with Wall street in 1906 and voted
| for impriSoning rebatorS. He stood out
to save Wall street hide until the pres
| ident forced Wall street to terms, and
| then when Wall street surrenders he
| gets under the presidential coat tails
| and assumes great virtue. After these
| votes, votes every one of them square
| ly against the people, is 1t wonCer
| that Wall street knew that Long could
| be trusted in the senate. and that as
Curtis says in his Parsons speech By
| inference they elected Long.
"The Lake Erie & Ohio river ship
canal project was before the senate,
and it was sought first to keep from
watering it's stock to ascertain the cost
of the canal, and base its freight
charges upon it's cost; finally to bring
the canal under control of the inter-
state commerce commission. Long 70
ted against all these measures, though
they would not affect the innocent pur-
chasers of stock because no stock lad
been issued. But by making the freight
charges reasonable, the interstate COM
merce commission could force railroads
to meet competition and thus reduce
freight rates in all transcontinental
traffic. But Long stood with the rail-
| roads. and his absurd defense is that
President Roosevelt signed the bill!
without the amendments. What else
could he do. He couldn't put them in
himself. and he knew what Long and
the railroads would do if he vetoed
the bill. If Long had been voting for
the people all these years his attitude
on the ship subsidy bill might be JUST
fable. AS it is his highly moral posi-
ton peeking out behind the presidents
coat tails is grOteSque. ~
IF, he was SO gloriously tied up by
the presidential recommendation why
in Heavens name, this year when Pres
ident Roosevelt has been pleading with
congress to help labor unions. is there
not one vote of Longs for the boys,
one line of legislation that he has writ
ten, one single bill by him introduced
to help the labor unions. who were ap-
pealing through Roosevelt to the peo-
Pile. He defends his outrageous vote
against the employees liability law by
saying it Is unconstitutional. Every
jack leg lawyer, every congress has
declared every good law unconstitution-
al, every step of progress from the
declaration of independence to the
emancipation proclamation has been
denounced as unconstitutional by these
whose unjust privileges were cramped.
AS Long, who never had a case in Kan
sas that attracted attention outside or
Barber county, now declares that his
vote against the employees liability
bill was unjustified because it was un-
constitutional.
Makes a Correction
However, injustice was done to Sen
ator Long in declaring that he hid in
the cloak room to avoid a vote on the
hours of service bill. Long did not hide
in the cloak room. He remained in the
senate chamber under a Democratic
pair until Wall street quit harryipg
the measure and then he saved his face
by voting for it. Fps - 4
HE claims that time has justified his
vote in deferring the enforcement OF
the commodity clause of the Hepburn
bill. The facts are that the panic is
the only reason on earth why the rail-
roads have been given additional time,
which Long could no more foresee UNI
less he had been comforting with the
men who made the panic, than he could
foresee an earthquake. The truth is
that Long voted with the railroad
crowd, the railroad minority and did
so because the railroads asked it. In
just rates under the long and short
haul provision, Long says it is vote
for Kansas when every shipper knows
that Kansas has to pay freight rates to
Kansas City and back again, on nearly
every pound of freight consumed in the
state. A long and short haul amend
ment was voted for by both Nebraska
senators this spring, good Republicans,
and again Senator Long voted against
reasonable rates. Wall street wants all
the traffic will bear, and the long and
short haul law means that rates must
be established upon just and equitable
basis for the country.
There were two amendments pro-
viding for jail sentences for rebaters,
before the senate two years ago. Nat
urally Long voted for the easiest way
out for rebaters and does not deny it.
Indian Land Correction.
1.-THE old charge that an amendment
to prevent railroads from going into
court with injunctions against the in
terstate commerce commission is I'M
constitutional, furnishes Long with his
excuse for voting against that meas
ure, though the men who voted for 1t
| are constitutional lawyers of national
renown. But when Wall street needs
an excuse, the unconstitutional excuse
| is as good as any. On the Culbertson
amendment and on the Bacon amend
| ment for which Long was criticised, he
has a perfectly good excuse, and 1t
| should be accepted without discount.
Also it should be said in all fairness
to Senator Long that a gross mistake
was made in stating that the Indian
coal lands were taken off the market
| by President Roosevelt. The people
who object to Senator Long have
plenty of valid reasons why he should
not be elected to the senate without
trumping up excuses, and sticking
and haggling, and therefore Senator
| Long having due credit for honest
| -nfa vx-H re oiyIx oct
not dodge the fact that he did vote 10
T! sell the Indian coal lands to the rail-
roads when the sale of those lands
| would have put the people of Kansas