The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1909-05-10
SENATE REBELS
GROW STRONGER
DoLLlVER'S SPEECH is cONsiD-
Erred SIGNIFICANT.
1t Indicates That the West Is Prepar'
ing to Break Away from New Eng
land Domination of Senate.

WASHINGTON, May MagniH
cent, but it will change no votes, you
know" This is the Senate criticism
of the great speech Of Jonathan T
Dolliyer, Of Iowa, attacking the wool
en- schedule OF the Payne tariff bill.
Perhaps it will change no votes in
the Senate; but the truth is that Wash
ington has awaited the Dolliver speecA
with more interest, not to say anxiety,
than any made in this session. Wash
ington knows the Senate too well
to expect that the ablest of speeches
will affect single vote pladged as
part of a great log-rolling ,schemc.
What Washington wants to know is
the effect of the Dolliver speech, and
some others that may follow it, on the
congressional elections of 1910. Nor
does the curiosity end at this point;
for the presidential campaign of 1912
is more or less involved in the eXcit-
ing situation which has developed in
the course of the present rvision of
the tariff.
Not that Senator Dolliver is the COM
handing personality for whose woru
the country has waited-that is not
the point. The question is whether
Dolliver voices a protest of the Mid
die West which, although feeble now,
may swell into a mighty thing and
sweep away Republican control OF
the House, discredit the leadership of
the Senate and force a man of is own
choosing upon the next Republican ma
tional convention.
AIdrich Under the Lash.
Nelson w. Aldrich at first sat like
a statue under the castigation of the
passionate Iowan. 1t was not a speech
to which categorical replies could be
made. No wise man tries to answer
master of satire, lest he be over
whelmed. In its personal side, the
Dolliver speech challenged the Rhode
Island Senator as none other has.
from his own party. 1t was built upon
the undisputed fact that the textile
schedules of the last four tariffs nave
been written by textile manufacturers
and not by legislators, without a word
of protest from Senator Aldrich. Ii
the purpose had been to nullify the in
fluence of Aldrich with the country
it could not have been more brilliantly
executed. What | have said of Iowa
is true, in an important sense, of the
upper Mississippi Valley, and | cannot
help thinking that there is radical de-
feet in that party leadership which
dismisses the voice of the great com
munity, fearlessly expressed in both
hauses of Congress, with a synical
sheer about the weakness of public
men who are governed by temporary
political eXigencies." This was the
challenge thrown at Aldrich-a hint
that as he had ignored the great Mid
die West its wishes and its represent
atiyes in Congress, now would the
Middle West strike back.
DoIiver Charges Serious.
On it's economic SIDE the Dolliver
speech is profoundly interesting. II
has laid before the country, with all
the weight that may be attached to
)ne of the ablest of United States Sen
ltors, the flat assertion that the great
extile interests have obtained their
enormous protection by deceiving Con-
'ress and the people of the United
states. The charge is too serious to
'ass over. The question is whether |
ublic opinion is too Indifferent, even
it understands, to concern itself
lrther with the Dolliver cnargep.
he whole issue turns upon this point
he Payne bill will be driven through
Ongress with the textile duties raised
touched at all, if Congress is con-
need that the people will stand for
at program. If the country follows I
oliver, rather than Aldrich, tariff {
vision may not be finished before the !
holidays. Il
The Brilliant Western Group. t
The group of Western Senators who v
fighting the old liners of the Sen I,
includes some of the ablest men ri
the country. DolIiVer is an orator
force. Now he is reused,