The Hawaiian gazette., 1908-04-24
ROOSEVELT NOT
HAVING HIS WAY
tMail Special to the Advertiser)


week. For the time being the interes
is all in the House. There "Uncl
Joe" Cannon is massing his team an
planning some smart plays. Thing
: have changed in seven days material
ly. The President is not having hi
way Uncle Joe,'' as the score stand
to date. is having his way.
The President overlooked a bet, a
the racing men say, when he failed Z
call in some wise old citizen of th
House to discuss the plans for th'
legislative work he wanted done by 4;
do-nothing Congress. He did beckor
to Col. Pete" Hepburn .of Iowa tC
come over White Housewares, when h,
J (the President) was trying to refash
ion Seth Lows civic federation bill
for amending the Sherman antitrust
! law. Col Pete" Is credited with
knowing thing or two in these parts
but some very good men occasionally
forget trick. That happened with
Col. Pete"
1t did seem a little rough for the
President to make up a legislative
branch of the government out of Seth
Low, Samuel Gompers and a few others
and conevene them in the library of
the White House. Naturally Uncle
Joe" Cannon was wrathful and utter
ed strong cuss words. But the fell
ers', who made up these amendments
for the Sherman anti trust Law, never
thought for a moment that there could
be any question about the committee
jurisdiction Of that bill. "Col. Pete"
has been in the public life long enough
to take any legislative honors which
come sprawling his way. When the
President called him in "Col. Pete"
naturally gave the advice asked for
and agreed to introduce the bill, which
the President and ex-Mayor Low want
ed him to introduce. He is chairman
of the Interstate Commerce Committee,
which considered rate legislation. There
were interstate commerce amendments
to the Sherman law in that bill, but
that bill treated with subjects also that
belong to the judiciary committee and
some of the amendments clearly belong
ed to the Judiciary committee.
But at the Congress which the Presi-
ent convened in his White House libra
ry questions of parliamentary law at
the other end of Pennysaylvania Av-
enue were not thought of, or, if they
were, were regarded as unimportant
Things came about as they sometimes
do at football game. The pigskin was
put into play with an understanding
that it should be passed around one
end of the line. All eyes were intent
upon its going that way, where "Col.
Pete" Hepburn would grab it and ad-
nr1nn h. ~. 1.
yards. "Oh. how that old veteran will
sprint with it,, the Presidents admi-
rers said. HE will have that ball out
of his Interstate Commerce Committee
in jiffy. Back it will come to the
House and then we will see oh, we
guess the House will pass it, all right,
all right. Uncle joe can not help him
self if he would. The President still
knows how to make Congress hop up." I
The ball went around the other end !
of the line, alas and alack The best
information is that that fine old
strategist, "Col. Pete" Hepburn, knew
it would all the time and was laugh
ing in his sleeve at the tremendous
preparations and expectations of the
White House. Whether he did or not, |
he flew into a fine rage and talked |
about the judiciary committee having
gone into decay. AS was said, how
ever, the ball went around the unex-
pected end of the line, and Represen-
tative John j. jenkins of Wisconsin, |
chairman of the Judiciary Committee, |
had it when the scrimmage was over
Uncle Joe" preserved a most placid |
demeanor all through the proceedings.
1t was nothing of his work Not for
a minute. Ask his parliamentarian,
that gifted man, who, as the Speaker
himself once said. knows more parlia-
mentary law than the Speaker and
the leader of the Democratic minority,
John Sharp Williams, put together
This parliamentarian, Mr.. Asher
Kinds, has the confidence of both par
ties in the House and he said the bill
had to go to judiciary under the rules.
There was no way out of it.
And so 1Uncle Joe" smiled easily
and allowed that he had done every
thing he possibly could for the bill,
and "Col. Pete" ragged about the in
tellectual decay of the Judiciary COM
nittee, which was meant as a blow at
Chairman Jenkins, probably, and there
vas talk about "COl. Pete" raising a
log regarding the matter and defeat
ng Uncle Joe" for Speaker of the
House next time, and, what was prob
IDLY most significant of all, "CoI. !,
Pete" and Uncle Joe" were meeting ,
n their inner offices and down in the |,
barber shop, giving one another a
iouble handshake and beaming at one :
another out of their old eyes.
The great hue and cry went up. of :
course. and the President put sappers Z
Ind miners to work to see what could I
'e done with the judiciary commit '
ee. 1t happens that the bill will be Il
eferred to a subcommittee, of which Y
representative Charles E. LittIefieId S
# Maine is chairman. He is the great [
egal giant of the House, fearless and v
But President Roosevelt | v
las never liked him, since some years
go when the President called Mr. I
-ittlefield over to the White House to s
ell him what he would like to have f
the way of legislation and Repre- a
Littlefield roared back some {
hing about having legislative ideas of '
us own and by the nine gods of war I
le was going to advocate them. n
President Roosevelt does not like e
hat kind of men and he has never had i
ny use since that day for Represen- i
atfve Charles E. LfttIefeId Tho I