The National tribune., 1909-08-12
THE EXTRA SESSION.
A Tariff Bill Always Dry and Tedious No
New Leaders to the Front-Three.COr-
nered Sectional Feeling Between the
East and West and South.

The session of Congress which has
| just closed will pass into history as one
| of the most important and significant
of all extra sessions. 1t has made very
| few If any new regulations, altho some
careers have been brought out into the
| Iimelight more distinctly, and few
regulations have been put to the test
| of the fiery furnace of public criticism.
1t has been by far the most tempest
uous and most prolific of factionai con-
| tests of any session, and especially of
any extra session, since that which met
Aug. z, 1898, at the call of President
Cleveland to repeal the Sherman silver
purchase clause.
That Cleveland extra session was
| made prominent by the strife of insur-
gents. The Senate Democrats did not
| follow Cleveland any more than the
Senate Republicans have all followed
Taft, and there were storm and stress
during nearly all the days of that extra
session, as there have during the extra
| or first session of the 61st Congress
But President Cleveland in the end got
about all he wanted as President Taft
got pretty much what he wanted of
Congress in the way of tariff revision.
No man on the Ways and Means
Committee has particularly enhanced
his record before the country because
of the tariff revision unless 1t be Repre-
sentative Serene Payne He has been
gradually growing into popularity with
his Republican colleagues, who regard
him as a veteran and stalwart figure
on their side of the House. He framed
a tariff bill for free raw materials, and
gained the approval of quite section
of the country because he fought for
that program very stiffiy in conference.
The President was on his side, and so
yua @ raViSi0niStS
proved of Mr.. Payne that enthusiasts
have mentioned him for numerous high
offices, such as for Speaker of the
House and Governor of New York. Mr..
Payne, however, is content to remain
as Chairman of Ways and Means and
as the floor leader of the Republican
majority.
No speech was made during the con-
sideration of tariff in the House that
brought its maker any special notice.
No eminently noticeable tariff plan was
lanched there. AS a matter of fact, a
tariff bill is dry-as-dust subject when
it comes down to Details and the his
tory of tariff bills shows that few men
have gained fame by any clever coup in
connection with such measures. There
fore. it is no reflection upon the House
of Representatives to relate that the
proceedings with reference to tariff
there were in the main decidedly COM
monplace and, except for an occasional
hour, very duh and tedious.
The session, as far as the House is
concerned, will be notable for the firm
upper hand that Uncle Joe" Cannon
has maintained as Speaker. He entered
upon his fourth term as the presiding
officer of the House with the beginning
of this Congress. an honor no other
Speaker has enjoyed since the time Of
Henry Clay. 1t had become almost
.lyin nlf hot Oh
serve more than three terms, because
the animosit!es which his rule must
inevitably provoke would eventually
become so numerous as to overthrow
him. Speaker Cannon has had to keep
in line party majority, when his party
is represented by two factions, and III
achieving that has had some very stren-
uous work, but he has not failed in any
particular, and laid down the gavel at
the end of this session stronger than
he ever was before. To be sure he came
so close to losing the tariff bill on a
motion to recommit that change of
three or four votes would have meant
an adverse majority, but that was at
tributed to the hostility to the amend
ments made in conference, and the
Speakers friends claim it was in 10
way attributable to him.
The country has been made familiar
more than ever with a few Senators of
National reputation by reason of the
tariff deliberations at the north end of
the Capitol. No fiercer fighting by Re-
publicans has been seen there in a
quarter of century than has occurred
In the last three months with La Fol-
lette, of Wisconsin,; Cummins and Dol
liver, of Iowa; Bristow, of Kansas and
Beveridge. of Indiana, in the roles of
captains But all these men were well
known before the tariff bill was report
a. n fn ha fn nd la h.
said that they have made their repu-
tations because of their opposition in
the name of tariff reform. Three of
them, La Toilette, Cummins and Bev-
eridge, have Presidential aspirations
and probably one or more of them will
loom up large with Presidential ambi-
tions when President Taft has served
out his allotted time and is ready to
retire to private life. Dolliver once
barely escaped Vice Presidential nom
ination that would have borne him into
| the Presidency, and his impassioned
oratory had admirers in every State of
the Union before a line of the tariff bill
was written. Bristow, as Fourth Assist
ant Postmaster-General, conducted the
investigation of the Post Office Depart
ment, which made his name house.
hold word between the two oceans
All these men have gained some ad-
ditional prestige among the low-tariff
followers of the country by their ag-
gressive campaign for a reduction of
rates. Bristow signaled his advent into
the Senate by taking up the Iow-tariff
fight and not letting go till the last vote
upon the bill and upon the conference
report had been taken.
Senator Aldrich had a nationwide
reputation as the leader of the upper
legislative branch long before the extra
session. Probably his name has been
in the newspapers in connection with
the tariff twice as much as that of any
other man. Like nearly all strong char
acters who have decided views and
fight for their principles, Senator Aid
rich has been much criticized, and that
generally means more or less misrepre-
sented. Some of the stories put into
circulation about him have been quite
ridiculous. One brand was his frequent
clashes in conference with Representa-
tive Serene Payne. Several times they
were depicted as being at the point of
exchanging blows. But the real truth
is that Representative Payne was the
one man of all the House Republican
conferees with whom Mr. Aldrich at
some time during the conference did
not have words" His exchanges with
other House conferees were occasional
ly pretty spirited, but not especially
thrilling
OF course, Senator Aldrich is a firm
believer in the high-protection princi-
ple His enemies have to admit he is
consistent in that. He stood for it al,
during the consideration of the tariff
Ill II