The National tribune., 1911-03-02
,'THE, cd CONGRESS.
(continued from page one.)

White, House more frequently since last
November than ever before in recent
years. Champ Clark goes there on oc-
casiopr and frequently meets the Presi-
dent out atfsocial gatherings. AS much
is True, of Senator Bailey, of Texas. VINO
viii. be the greatest single Democratic
force in the Senate probably from this
time en-. The President probably will
cooperate with his Republican friends
in the Senate. more closely than he has
been doing, because he will have to
count upon the Republican Senate 10
head OFF, many Democratic measures
Of which he does not approve and also
to check Democratic plans that are
conceived for political advantage.
Such things have been in Washington
often in the years gone by, and yet they
will seem new to most people now iiv-
ing at the Capital. 1t has been Is
years since there was Democratic
things go in Washington's official cir
cles.
The shattered Republican remnants
are struggling thru the few remaining
days. They are fighting tremendously
as they straggle. The finish gives every
promise OF being climax to the most
tragic Congress for the party since it
triumphantly regained control 16 years
ago.
In that regard it seems to make lit
tie difference whether reciprocity with
Canada carries or fails. 1t probably
will make little difference to the par
tvs future whether or not half dozen
other pending measures of Importance
slide thru in the very closing hours and
become laws The President may or
may not have n good string of legisla-
tive victories to his credit. as he had
when the smoke of Congressional con-
ilict lifted from the last session which
adjourned in June. In the minds of
Washington men his political future
may not be materially benefited or in
iured either way.
The Presidents Legislative Achieve
ments.
The facts are that the Presidents
legislative achievements during the
61st Congress have been disastrous po-
iiticalIy Outside of very partisan cir
cles it is recognized that he has been
very influential in getting much good
legislation written upon the statute
books since he entered the White
House. The impartial verdict with
reference to such matters may extend
also to enactments of the present wan
ing session, now involved in almost I'M
precedented turmoil.
He began with the Aldrich-Payne
tariff law. the product of the first ses-
sion of this Congress 1t alienated the
insurgent wing completely from the
Administration. making definite and
bitter fractional division that Presi-
dent Roosevelt had originated. The
insurgent suspicious of the Admins
tration. which that tariff session en-
gendered, have never been aIlayed.
They were strengthened by the strife
of the succeeding session over such
measures as the railroad-rate-law
amendments and other bills, which
were included in the Presidential pro-
gram.
The country has come to regard
much of that legislation as beneficial.
Many who DO not follow politics at all
closely wonder why the Presidents sue
cesses in such particulars have not re-
bounded more to his credit and popu-
larity The answer is in some part in
the insurgeDt antagonism to his pro-
cedure. That faction claimed that the
original drafts of the railway amend
ments, the postal savings bank bill and
the conservation measures were iniqui-
tous,i and that credit for the final Ian
guage of the new laws belonged to the
insurgents. @~'
Fundamental factional differences
were involved. Insurgents allowed the
President little or no praise for yield
ing 3ary Igat to their demands The
=
at all. The political conditions grew
steadily worse, and the popular dissat-
isfaction, beginning with the tariff law,
marured into the Democratic landslide
OF last November
1t is a question in the mind of WASH
in2ton politicians whether, IL another
rejection were to be held following the
try would not go even more over
whelmingly Democratic. The feeling in
Washington Is certainly that way, and
in spite of the oft-repeated declaration
that Washington knows nothing about
the sentiment Of the rest of the coun-
try 1t lis nevertheless true that Wash
ington sentiment, when carefully
sounded, is very often indicative OF
what the rest of the country thinks.
Apparently this third and last session
of the 61st Congress has been the most
disastrous of all three in completely
wrecking tho Republican organization.
Whatever the merits of the Canadian
agreement, 1t seems to have succeeded
in driving the stalwart faction away
from the President quite as effectually
as the tariff enactment of the first ses-
sion and the legislative proceedings of
the second session drove the insurgents
away from him! But, as has been
made very apparent. 1t has not pacified
the insurgents in the slightest, and In
some instances at least, strangely,
enough, has further embittered them.
A Unique Situation.
The situation Is exceedingly unique.
The President has very few sincere
friends in Congress of his own party.
They could almost be counted on the
fingers of ones hands. Those most ac-
tive in sustaining him are doing so for
expediency's sake. Their private con-
versations at the Capitol demonstrate
little sincere regard for his program.
The Democrats of Senate and House
arc his most effective allies, but they
assent to that role simply because for
the moment they think it wiser poll
tics to do so. So
In a-persoral sense no President for
many years has been more highly
thoughtsof in Washington thansis Pres.
ident Taft. In a personal sense almost
everybody In Washington, except "a few
militant insurgents, is the Presidents
friend with all the Republican, dis
ruption new prevalent one hears nc
predictions that any other than the
President will be nominated. All say
he must make the race once again.
I Many wonder whether he and his
party may not now be nearing the bot
tom of the toboggan chute. The con-
ditiopS that have accelerated the de-
scent have by no means been entirely
| of the"President'S making, altho he 1.