The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-05-03
Leaders of Forces Of Admins
tration Will Emasculate the
Measure Rather Than Agree
to Cummins' Amendment.
REGULARS CONFER AND
NOTIFY THE PRESIDENT
Mr.. Taft Said to Have Ex-
pressed Himself EmphatiCaI-
Iy and to Have Placed Blame
Upon InSurgent Senators,
SITUATION BADLY MIXED

ASHINGTON, May 2.-President
Wv Taft's railroad Legislation will
be emaseulafed- Al the close of
ii prOfracfed conference of leading greg
ular" Republican senators tonight. 1t
apparent the revolt of the Senate
'iaSurgents' had been virtually sue
cessfui and the sections of the bill ell
dtiVe to traffic agreements and mer-
gers which Senator CumminS and other
Insurgents have been fighting to
amend Will be abandoned.
Practically nothing distinctive OF the
original bill will remain save the Sec
lions providing for the creation of "a
court of commerce. Even that has had
. periIOUs time I'm the House, and no
body tonight Is prepared to guarantee
ID will he enacted
In fact the differences between the
Senate and the House are so great that
it would surprise nobody If the entire
bill should fail in conference
So serious became the situation of
the bill late today that President Taft
himself at Pittsburg was advised of the
situation over the telephone by Sen
ator Aldrich-
Des3 pairing of putting the bill through
the Senate as reported from the COM
mittee on interstate commerce, the
leaders in this conference tonight de-
sided to eliminate section Z. which the
insurgents claim practically would have
repealed the Sherman antitrust law,
permitting traffic agreement, and sec
ton II, which would have legalized
mergers in cases where the railroad
corporation owing already so per cent
Of another desired to control outright.
Taft Places the Blame.
Upon the insurgents the administra-
ton viii endeavor TO place the respon-
sibility for the failure of the Taft rail-
road Legislation To Senator Aldrich
over the telephone Mr. Taft is said TO
have expressed himself empLatically to
this effect:
He said he had initiated the pending
measure and had advocated ii through
out the country in the form in which it
was reported to the Senate and if
combination of insuTgent Republicans
and Democrats rendered it impossible
for the Republican majority to enact
the bill he felt the administration
should be relieved OF responsibility for
ter in the hands of Senator Aldrich and
his Republican associates, who were
then in conference.
In Ghe conference were Senator'S Aid
rich. EIlOins, Carter, Kean, Crane Root
Curtis. Flint. Brandegee, Lodge and.
from time to time, other Republican
leaders.
Although admittedly stoned from
passing the bill in the form in which
they wished. the administration Sen9-
tors at once began the formulation Of
plans to take away from the insur-
gent Republicans the chance to claim
clean-cut victory. They even wore
an air Of jubilatiOn tOni,,ht over the
prospect of putting the Insurgents to
rout on the pelding Cun-nlins amend
rnent TO then traffic agreement section
" ich Will be the first matter voted
upon when the bill Is again taken up
perhaps tomorrow.
Amendment Beaten Once.
When the original Cumrnins amend
ment TO this section, introduced as a
substitute for the Elkins-Crawford pro-
vision, was voted upon Saturday the
administration senators Won by mar
gin OF votes tt was generally sup
posed this vote constituted a test of
succeeding votes. and that the FIkins-
Crawford amendment, which It's oppo-
nents charg I'd was q bold method of
repeating the Sherman antitrust law
so far as its application to railroads IS
concerned, would be adopted. But there
were so many absentees on Saturday
Continued On Page TvyO)