Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1909-01-15
Friday. january 10. 1909.
STRAINED RELATIONS.


dent and Congress seem rapidly
reaching point where such a
claSh may occur as will result i'm
great interference with lee,isla-
ton. Readers of current news
VIII remember that some time
ago the President sent in a mes
sage IN response to q refusal of
congress to make certain apprO-
prlations for the Secret Service.
III which he stated that the 'schief
argument (by members of Con-
gress) was that congressman did
not themselves wish to be inves-
UIgated by secret service men,.
And he then proposed, if such
was the case, that an exception
be made ia their favor in the bill
appropriating the money asked
for.
To the average reader this
looked very like hint that there
were members who were fearful of
having their matters probed into
Tor fear of disagreeable dis
closures, and the added state
ment that an exception might be
made in their favor was n fIIrtber
slap, as the apparent implication
was that they might, if thev
chose, SO legislate as to protect
themselves against the secret
service men.
AT any rate, the message has
raised such a row in the halls of
Congress as has not been heard
Tor many days, and one of the
recent acts of the House was to
almost unanimously lay that
part OF the Presidents MESSAGE
on the table, which of course was
equivalent to throwing it back i'm
his face.
Rnt the President, ALWAYS fertile
IN recourses, comes back at Con-
gress with another message.
loaded with fresh ammunition
lie searches among recent debates l
IN the House and finds some 1
speeches made by three or more
members in which they implicitly )
admitted that they were afraid
At least he places that construc. {
tion on their remarks. He sends
also information connecting Sen. 1t
ator Tlllman of South Carolina lin
with n certain land deal-a very To-
small one, involving only someI h
4,OOO acres of government land no
which itseems theSenator wanted O
TO buy. Mr.. Roosevelt seems to lc
thlnk the evidence showed that @
The Senator, while seemingly yio- h
orously prosecuting the case of a u
company accused of DEALING Il
1raudulently in these lands. was
covertly endeavoring to handle @.
some OF the land himself This 4
naturally brought Mr.. TillmanI 81
out in a characteristic speech-it a
IS no secret thathe and the Presi. u
dentarelmplacable foes-in which Il
he endeavors to defend himself Il
against the accusations of inn q,
proper dealing as to the land in O.
question, and he goes in for some o.,
OF his most caustic remarks as TO +,
the manner in which the revela. RI
lions were made possible. the 81
secret service men it seems hav- al
ny been prying into his affairs q
ma even going so far, he hints. Il
Is TO abstract certain important an
papers from his locked desk iii
The general tone of newsnaner 90
omment on the conduct of Mr. ha
-lllman seems to be that while Pc
e was not guilty of conduct in ba
diving a breach of the laws Vet Pc
tlll what he did was of question: of
blepropriety, and placed him in ins
n attitude susceptible to criti- tn,
sm. Meantime, attacks all flo
long the line are being made on thu
he policy and the conduct of Mr. loo
ocosevelt, and war, bitter and hic
'ientleSs is in the air of both wo
buses OF Congress-. Apropos fac
r. FORAKER comes to the front ths
gam with the eternal Browns ma
lie affair, and this time tits tbe are
cret service that is involved for,
ld lying, perjury, bribing and a of I
timber OF similar crimes are Iv ,
arg,ed up against the depart v
ent and against the secret ser Ser
&c men, and the implication rio,
ade that even the PRESIDENT all
mself has SO farsstrayed away fore
I'm Justice as to wink at the
'ong doings of these men. 90
For the nonce the President b;s
mself is said to be serene and The
acld-for him-and is taking oets
lngs calmly. Those who know f rot
N best seem to think that he thr'
s other cards up his sleeve and a +,
at the real concern of Congress- don
lest he explode other bombs ton.
der their desks. nro,
{ seems a great pity that the Mao
lsiation OF Congress should be TO n
xed up with scandals such as owe,
We been brought to the surface add
~ Si1oo SUCH uhseemly quarrels and
'u ds t 1ccur between the Execu- thin
vi Clle country ana The Legis- coul,
we branch. Still, when men at n
re their personal characters his /,
acked, as members ofCongress as II
n to have had done by the same
sldent, 1T issmall wonder that Anne