The National tribune., 1911-04-13

THE NATIONAL TRIB(
CANADIAN RECIPROCITY.
Continued from page one.)
been getting too excited however about
all this talk regarding minority leader
| of the Senate. OF course, from a pol.
| tional Democratic standpoint thing:
| got pretty hot for that band of new
Senators. including Charlie" johnson
of Maine, Jim" O'Gorman, of New
| York, and numerous others.
But let it be borne in mind that nj
minority leader has led the Senate Dem.
ocrats for many, many years. Their,
Arthur P. German, of Maryland. wa.
minority leader for quite a spell. Ii
that role he delivered an occasiona
emphatic speech and once in a while
looked around and persuaded some
Democratic colleague to make remark!
upon given topic. when the debate
in the Senate had taken political turn
Senator Culbertson, of Texas, has beer
| minority leader for a Congress or two
| j. S. G. Blackburn. of Kentucky, be
fore his term as Senator expired and ht
was appointed governor of the Cana
Zone, had a turn at being Minority
Leader for while. 1t has been almost
forgotten now.
| Lots of folks around Washington
would scratch their heads a. long while
before they could tell who was Minority
Leader of the Senate at the last session
of Congress, Herando DeSoto Money
of Mississippi City, Miss. a fine old
Southern gentlemen. gifted with much
information and of ling experience ir
nj cCtN hn11 hn OFF nj
Minority Leader but one was not re-
minded of it much, except on days wher
the Democratic caucus met and he pre-
sided as chairman.
Joe" Bailey a Real Leader.
OF course, the. Minority Leader does
look after political matters to some ex-
tent, but the Senate is a great go-as-
you-please place and for no one more
so than for the Democratic brethren
The Senator who has been the recog-
nized leader for number of years has
been Joe" Bailey, of Texas. There has
been none to dispute his primacy in de-
bate or his powerful and convincing
reasoning on matters of legislation.
However, there is an impression around
the Capitol that Nelson w. Aldrich, OF
Rhode Island. took Bailey into camp
some years ago. The Rhode Island Sem
ator certainly had a way of doing such
things when a great intellectual foe
man Ioomed prominently on the Demo-
cratic side. No one can quite say that
the statement is true but there are
many people who are convinced for
some reason or for no reason at all that
it is true.
Senator Bailey will maintain this pri-
macy all during the 62nd Congress
probably. There are very few Repub-
lican Senators who care to cross swords
with i'm m MI no r
CT them are willing ton challenge his
arguments and keep him from getting
away" too glibly in a conQuering-hero
sort of fashion. The Texan is so con-
temptous of opposition and states his
own case with such confidence and
cIearness that. for the moment, his
hearers are impelled to regard him as
law and gospel. He tried it on with a
Democratic Senator in the last Congress
the late Charles J. Hughes. of Colo
rado-and got the worst of the argu-
ment. II Senator Hughes had lived
Bailey would not have shone with un-
rivalled light.
are in sight Of the Presidency, the po-
sition of Minority Leader will have a
new importance. The leader must
watch out for political tricks and see
that his own party does not overlook
opportunities in the Senate. He may
have some voice in deciding what policy
the minority shall pursue Once In a
while he may conduct negotiations with
the Insurgent Republicans, especially
when it comes to passing tariff bills
through the Senate. There will be a
great opportunity for the right kind Of
Democratic Senator to keep the Regular
Republicans waking up fitfully at night
and worrying themselves out of good
sleep.
For the present, at least, the Repub-
licans will be more afraid Of Senator
Bailey than of any new found minority
leader. But Senator Tom Martin is
supposed to be long headed in politics
and if ne vindicates his reputat ton in
that regard the Republican leaders
will be tramping around his way with
olive branches and trying to fix
up agreements about tariff bills, so as 10
embarass the low tariff insurgents. AS
the session progresses John Sharp
Williams. the new Senator from Mis-
sissippi. should be able to render serv-
ice and make himself of utility TO the
party. for he was long Minority Leader
of the House, where the office has more
and where the occupant
is. under pressure to demonstrate some
capacity for actual political leadership.