The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1909-12-31


less Of II than thcre was under con.
temptation nj the time Of the western
trim. just now. however. IL looks ms
though the President would send in
some supplemental message, special
II YOU please, dealing with par
ticular topics which he has been unable
to dispose of satisfactorily in his an
nual message.
Then congress came In very tradily |
this year. Senators and representatives
dallicd at home till the very last and |
when they came it was with great |
rush The fact of the extra session, at
which the organization Of senate and |
house was completed, had much to do |
with this. Men did not need to hurry |
f1ck to look after their committee as
signments. as is usually the case at |
the beginning of the regular long SEES |
sion. Then they knew well in advance |
that the first days session was sure |
to endure but few minutes and that
the senate would adjourn out of re-
spect to the memory of Senator Martin
n. johnson of North Dakota and that
the house would adjourn in similar
way for Representatives Francis X.
Lassiter of Virginia and David A.
DeArmond of Missouri. There would
be in either house little more than a
roll call to develop the presence of
quorums, the fixing of the noon hour
for assembling daily and the naming
of joint committee to visit the Presi-
! dent and tell him, in accord with the
time honored custom, that congress had
assembled.
Then the extra session sat so late
into the summer that congressman had
attended to a vast deal of political
and personal business which ordinarily
would have brought them earlier to
Washington. Many more had been able
to confer at length with the President
while he was on tour through the West
which dispensed with the necessity of
coming to Washington in advance of
the session for talks about patronage
and legislation. Accordingly the week
before the session began there were
comparatively few congressional visit
ors at the White House offices. AS n
matter of fact the President would
have had little time to see such visitors
for he was in the throes of his annual
message and could not put it off longer.
But now that the preliminary rush
is over, the doors of the White House
offices are open again and this week
the waiting room for congressman is
crowded with those who have come to
pay their visits of courtesy and to at
tend to other business. Everybody is
| in good spirits. The President has
cordial greetings, there is no proscrib-
ed class of congressman, as was the
case so long under the former admins
tration and the goose honks high. The
best of good feeling prevails in every
quarter which is good augury for the
winters work. However, the prevail
ing tone is one of doing comparatively
little of actual legislation outside OF
the appropriation bills. Something will
be done on the general program, of
course. But the talk from day to day
is for doing less and less and to leave
the country to recuperate.
For instance, it looks at the present
moment as though the federal charter
bill, which President Roosevelt advo-
Gates, which President Taft favors and
which Attorney-General Wickersham
believes in enthusiastically, would be
dropped for the present session. AT
least the opposition to it is strenuous
and it probably comes from some very
influential railroads and other corpora
tons. 1t has been separated from tht
] interstate commerce amendments, be
cause it has been decided that 1T ought
to go before the Judiciary committees
} of senate and house. Legislation comes
out of those committees very slowly
for their membership is made up OF
very conservative men and they pro
coed deliberately.
AS to the interstate commerce amend
ments the outlook is more promising
The parleys are in progress this week
The President and the encouragement
are talking with the members of the
interstate commerce committees, the
opinion of the leaders of senate ant
house are being sounded with prob
ability that some few things will b.
found upon which all can agree ant
! which can be put through congress
without much friction. At least tina
is the present aim. 1t will soon develoI
3 whether such an outcome is feasible.
For the present the great bulk o.