Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1909-01-08
CONGRESSMAN URGED TO
STAND BY PRESIDENT
People Of Country Plainly With
President I'm His Conflict
With House
SPEAKER CANNON IS VERY ANGRY

From the Brooklyn Eagle.
Washington, January 5-One of the
Brooklyn representatives got two let
tiers this morning from constituents
who are strangers to him, telling him
to stand by the President in the con-
~troversy between the executive and the
house in the matter of the Secret Ser
vice. The incident is significant, for it
has convinced the Brooklyn represen-
tative that the people of the country
are with the President and against the
the house in the present quarrel. The
same idea is becoming fixed in the
minds of a number of other represen-
t~atives, who are struggling between a
desire to fight back for vindieat1on and
a terrible fear that if they do SO they
will all be made members of the Presi-
dents "Bad Club"
"What's the use of fighting that man
in the White lHouse?n plaintively in
quired a prominent Republican repre-
sentative to-day. 1--WE can't hope to
beat him at this game. He is far too
clever for us. He doesn't mind distor-
ting the issue, covering up the facts and
putting wrong constructions on our
acts. The people read his hot messages
with eagerness. What if they are not
in strict accordance with the facts as
we see them? The people don't know,
and they wouldn't care if they did.
They believe inlthetP President and are
inclined to look with suspicion on all
Senators and Representatives. Weare
too badly handicapped to fight the
President on the issue of the integrity
of national lawmakers. If VT keep up
the warfare, we will be made to look
worse than ever.n
This statement represents pretty well
the presentssfeeling of most of the repre-
sentatives. A lot of them are red hot
with anger against the President, be-
lieviug that he was unfair in his second
message, in that he shifted his original
ground and got entirely away from the
real issue. They foresee that aggres-
sive action by the house in reply will
bring forth a third message more dam
aging than the preceding ones.
Just the same, there is intense resent
ment against the President. Speaker
Cannon, for instance, is furious because
he was represented in the message of
yesterday as not acting on information
sent to him by the President in a letter
jL connection with secret service legis-
1a5f0n. The speaker Is telling his friends
today that the letter was marked con-
fidential, and that he va not at liberty
to make use of it.
The house has gone too far, however,
to back down entirely, and it is believed
thatthe so-called spanking committee"
will recommend the mildest form of
punishment that can be devised. This
Is likely to consist of a recommendation
that the offensive paragraphs in the
original message be laid on the table.
The committee met late this afternoon,
but came to no conclusion. 1t will
probably have several meetings before
its report is ready. Several members
have made up their minds to reply in
speeches to the Presidents criticism.
Among these are Representatives Shir-
ley and Smith, both members of the
Appropriations Committee. MI. Fitz-
erald of Brooklyn may also have some
remarks to make. Chairman Tawney
is expected to make the chief reply,
however, as he is made by the President
to shoulder most of the responsibility
forthe restrictive legislation that kicked
up all the rumpus. Tawney had not
arrived in Washington up to a late hour
this afternoon SO his exact state of mind
on the subject is not known.