The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1911-03-04
HARMONY IN LONG SESSION, DIS
CORD IN SHORT oEssloN
MARK CONTRAST.
WILL CLOSE TODAY NOON
Exera Session Certain to be Called
Early to Act on reciprocity
Important Measures
Passed and Pending.

Washington, March 3..n the reJ;o-
speet the si%ty first congress, when
item at nocn tomorrow, appears to
have been distinguished by three
thing: I he revision of the tariff in
the socalled PayneAliricn bill, which
was passed at an extra session in
the summer of 1909; the :arge amount
of important legislation, much of it
upon the recommendation Of Pres
dent Taft enacted at the regular ses-
sion of 1g09-10, and tie exceedingly
small product Of the "slori session
so,called, row coming to a close
The interval between the last two
sessions was featured by the political
upheaval registered at the gene'al
election of last November, whica
changed large Republican majority
into a still larger Democratic major
ity in the house of representatives;
cut the Republican majority in the
senate almost to the vanishing point
and incidentally effected striking
ctenges in tho senate rersonnel.
81 Extra Session Certain.
IRE failure of this .ess;on to enact
much important legislation has re-
suited in the practical certainty that
the new sixtyeeconG congress will
he called almost Immediately in eN-
traordinary session especially by rea-
son OF TIE sronG desire of Pres dcnt
Taft TO secure action upon the re0l-
ing reciprocity agreement with Can
ada, to the consummatgn of which
the contfaeting parties piedged she'
utmost effor'B Of the TWO soveFn-
men.5.
In strong contrast vita the support
which tie Taft administration re-
ceiyed from the Republican majority
in the matter Of legislation in the
regular session Of 1903 70 is the fact
that at the present session the ma
iority has been anything but united
the reciprocity agreement was passed
in the house by the all OF large
proportion of Democratic votes, while
inthe senate the rift in the majority
between the regulars" and the In
sarsents has ten an important factor
in Ms side-trackins and in the con-
sequent summonng Of the extra sas-
sion.
To this division in tie majority
was largely due the most dramatic
feature of the previous :ong session
the wotractCd and sensational con
fict last spring which ended in ma
terlal changes in the mouse rules gen"
orally interpreted as "the overthrow
of the SPEAKER" and which, after
bitter fight lasting many hours an
including ono all night struggle
stopped only just shc of the actnI
ureeating of Speaker Cannon.
While the acimony between reG'r
lars ana insurgents neither began
nor ended with the battle over the
rules, that was It's most conspicuous
episode, and there has been ltttle
reace between the factions since n
cithe house.
In the senate the most sensational
feature of this session was the un-
availlng effort, in which the insurg
ents were most active, to unseat Will
lain Larimer as junior senator from
Illinois, en- the ground of alleged
bribery in connection with his elcc-
tion by the legislature of that stato
in the spring Of 1909. The echoes OF
that battle are still reverberating,
and lis bitterness adds friction to the
closing hours of-the senate session
Another important action of the
eenate was the defeat of the resolu-
tion embodying a proposed ameni-
ment to the constitution of the United
States to provide for the direC, elea
tion Of senators by the people,
The resolution received more than
a majority Of the senate, out 1t neel.
ed a two.thirds vote, and reIl short by
only four Had the senate passed it,
the house almost certainly wo.'d
have done so. The friends of this
proposition entertain EttleIoubt TINT
it will pass the next congress, and e.
to the states for ratification CIR Dc
feat.
The output of this session In the
way of general measures consists
chiefly OF the appropriation bills and