New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-05-15
GETTING TOGETHER.

Senator Albert B. Cummins. OF Iowa,
Is having as hard luck with his proph-
acr Of an .irrelsressihle conflict Ill
tho Renublican party as Director Willis
q atoora-11sually has with his promises
Of ideal Inauguration Day weather
Last Tuesday the junior Senator from
Iowa delivered in Des Moines solemn
warming that the Republican party Id
Congress- and in the nation was nope
leSsly divided and would continue 10 pc
divided on issues w iich had presenter
themselves in legisla ton undertaken by
Tho c1s+ ConorpSs He declared that
those divisions were mot ephemeral.
and that the sooner the public apprecl-
ated that fact the sooner it would ne
..co,ne conscious of a great and ever
lasting truth
Yet only a few hours before Mr.
C1mmins addressed his audience IN DeS
Noines the Republican party III the
! House voted unanimously for rail-
road bill on which it was supposed to
| be bopeiessly split The insurgent Rep
resentatives from Iowa. those re-eiec-
ton the Junior Senator was adVocatlhs'
snd the regulars. whose renomlhatloh
he was vigorously opposing. Joined IN
/ sy1nportins railroad bill satisfactory
to the entire Republican representation
! in the House. What he esteemed TO be
impossible had already been accom-
nlisbed. and the fntility of his alarmlst
prophecy had been demonstrated even
! before he had given it voice
From DeS MoiRes Mr.. Cummlns re-
rurned 10 Washington. and on FRIDAY
| he was found helping to discredlt his
own prediction by voting with Senator
! A1drich and the Republican regulars IN
/ the Senate for long and short hauf
proyision in the interstate commerce
! hill over which there had also been
! what he profeSsed to consider another
| irreeoncilabe dispute. Practically the
whole Republican membership of the
/ Senate was able TO reach. after brlef
conference. an agreement diSposlng OF
all contentious as 10 the form of the
'Iong and short haul'' paragraph. 1t
had previously reached a similar agree
ment as to the excelsior from the bill OF
the pooling and merger sections. If
the Republicans in the House and in
! the Senate can thus amicably settle diff
| ferences over details Of legislation,
what basis remains for Mr.. Cummins's
contention that there are two elements
! in the Republican party in Congress
ready to fly at each others Threats and
more widely separated from each other
| in opinion and sympathy t1ian are che
majority party and the opposition?
The agreement OH the long and
short haul question. although posi-
bIv not entirely satisfactory to any one,
| is yet not seriously objected to by any
group among the Republicans support
/ inc it. Mr.. AIdrich and the regulars
accepted it. the insurgents voted for it
as one man, and the Attorney General,
/ who drew the interstate commerce bill
originally reported to the Senate, says
! that he can find nothing in it to criti-
else If all authorities can thus agree
! in settling an issue which, because of
/ its local and sectional character has
been extremely embarrassing to deal
with. why can they not agree on all
! the other eatureS of the railroad meas
ure and on the features. Of any other
bill in President Taft's Legislative pro-
gramme: The power of compromise
4 is great and seems to fall short only
when it has not been sufficiently tested.
The Republican party is competent
now, as always, TO arrange fair COM
promise of differences Of opinion with
| in its ranks. 1t is not confronted, as
Mr.. Cummins thinks, by an ''irrepressi-
| Die conflict but only BY passing
clash of. views and interests which can
be stilled by the exercise Of sound po-
litical judgment.