The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-03-16
SENATOR CUMM|NS
OUTSIDE THE PALE
Iowa Man Speaks In Opposition
to the Administrative
Railroad Measure.
READY TO LEAVE PARTY
BILL TO BE KEPT CONSTANTLY
BEFORE THE SENATE.

Washington, March l5.-That he would
oppose the administration railroad bill
even though it might result in an effort
| to read him out of the party. Senator
| Cummins. of Iowa, in effect, declared in
| the Senate today in the initial speech on
the railroad bill. He commented espe-
| cially upon history of the measure,
which. he said, had originated in the ex-
ecutive branch Of the government. rather
than in Congress.
! After occupying It's plaoe on the Sen
ate calendar for eighteen days the bill
was taken up at o'clock. and thus was
launched the discussion OF what the
members OF the Senate regard as the
/ most important legislation before Con-
gress. The Iowa senator had spoken
| about two hours when he asked leave TO
suspend until tomorrow.
The leave was granted, but Senator
Hale, chairman Of the Republican caucus,
| gave notice that hereafter the bill would
be kept constantly before the Senate. In
| language just positive, Mr.. Bailey a.
| clared that the bill could not be rushed,
and declared that Congress was liable
still to be considering it when the dog
| days arrived.
In the main. Mr.. Curnmlns' speech was
devoted to a general review of the rail-
road measure, but il was preceded by
recital of the history of the proposed leg
islation, in which he criticised the course
of the President and declared. his inten-
ton of opposing the bill in Its present
shape, even at the cost of the displeas-
ure Of the chief executive.
Duty of Republicans.
IF the uncontradicted and apparently
authorized statements OF the newspapers
| be not in error, every Republican. at
least, is expected to vote for 1t Just as
= &c mi oca Hn do n
| the executive displeasure, but to be ban
ished from the Republican ranks" said
Mr.. Cummins.
AZ do not speak OF this phase of the
scious Of no other sentiment than pro-
| found regret. / recognize that it is not
| only the privilege, but the duty, OF the
| President of the United States to make
such recommendations to Congress as, in
| his judgment, Will promote the general
/ welfare. He is quite within his privi-
leges and his duties in expressing his
views upon such subjects as often as he
! likes and as emphatically as he pleases.
! Whether he is within his privilege or
/ his duty when he undertakes to pre-
scribe the precise form that legislation
shall assume may well be doubted. His
| great predecessor evidently thought that
| executive propriety did not permit il, for
when he was dealing with the same sub
/ ject in his message at the beginning of
| the Fifty-ninth Congress, in 1905, he said:
/ " Tt is not my province to indicate the
exact terms of the law which should be
| enacted, but I call the attention of Con-
gress to certain existing conditions with
which it is desirable to DEAL
Il would not, however, be inclined to
attach much Importance to the practice
| which now seems to be very general
were it not that its cures, in the very
| nature of things, must be disastrous. Al
| though 3 senator may be In full sym
| pathy with the broad purposes which the
executive proposes to accomplish, the
! ba orfz his iD6anpnHaDf view
1 of the best way to accomplish the pur-
| pose he finds himself in direct conflict
| with the President and he must choose
between losing the presidential favor ana
/ doing a thing in q way his conscience
tells him it ought not to be done.
Fears for the Future.
st do not fear that in slight instance
or during one administration the indie
/ pendent will of the members of Congress
/ can be overcome; but, II upon subjects
/ like the one before us, the practice or
having bill prepa red in the executive
| passage, accompanied with an Implied
| message that punishment follows dis
| obedience, is continued from year TO
| year. in the end Congress Will become q
mere form in organized society.
! with the utmost respect for the ex-
! allied office of President of the United
| States and for him who occupies 1t at
| the present time, / record my protest
| here and now against practice which
believe to be full Of dangers and dis
| asters"
| Declaring TO be extraordinary the cir
| climstances connected with the origin OF
the bill, the Iowa senator detailed the
| meeting last August Of Attorney General
| Wieke rsham in New York with others,
who, he said, had undertaken to put into
/ shape for enactment the various rec
| concentrations of the President on rail-
road legislation. The report as made to
the chief executive was supposedly con-
! fidential. he said, but as a matter of
fact long before ii reached the President
it had fallen into the hands of the rail
Discussing the progress of the bill after
1t reached the President Mr.; Cumnlns
declared that Il had been vastly changed.
| Indeed, he declared, but for the birth
mark of the commerce court, no one
| would recognize the measure born in the
| dog DAYS up there in New York.
These changes he attributed to the in
! fluence of the railroad men that had
been brought to bear upon the President
| and attorney general before January II,
| when the bill was presented to the chair
man of the committee on interstate COM
merce He asserted from the time the
measure had been turned in to the Presi-
dent until ii had left him, nearly every
railroad president in the country had
visited Washington and had been heard
| by the President and The attorney gem
eral many of them twice. Substantially
every change had been made to suit the
ing of hearings on legislation, he said.
His objection was to the course of the
executive officials in taking In hand the
entire direction of legislation. If the at
torney general and the President were
| to prepare bills it was "eminently fair
that they should hear those interested"
But while the railroad men had present
ed their views to the President and his
attorney general, only one of them had
been heard by the Senate committee.
Pernieious Precedent.
Because of the method of proceeding,
the Senate, he urged, necessarily was ig-
nOrant of the argume ats used to bring
| about the changes. No doubt there was
/ good reason for the changes, but be that
as it might, the Introduction of system
| (which would lead those desiring to in
fluence legislation TO appea, to the White
House rather than TO Congress he con-
| sidered perniciOus.
| Mr.. Cummins inveighed against the pro-
posed court of commerce as unneces sary
and expensive. He asserted that not to
exceed seven or eight cases a year would
| come before the court, md the expense
| would not be short of 100000 year: He
| also argued that any court created FOR
the trial of railroad cases alone would
In working out the policies of the Re-
! publican party,