The Washington herald., 1911-02-18

majority. The performance appeared to
thoroughly dishearten the legislative gi-
ants of former years. As a rule they al
lowed the orgy to proceed to the danger
point and then weakly assisted in driving
back the hordes.
No Progress for Reciprocity.
Naturally. too, 1t was a poor day for
any material advancement of President
Taft's reciprocity cause. The worry of
members of Congress appears to be in
another quarter at present They are
wondering whether the appropriation bills
will get through in time for adjournment,
| let alone the tariff measure. The fears
they have seem to be we'll grounded.
In the short time that remains of the
| session, stupendous work must be
| accomplished. Six of the fifteen appro-
| priation bills have yet to be considered
| by the House. Several of those already
passed by the House are lodged in the
| Senate, and three measures are being
| bandie6 about in conference Up to
| date /but one Of the fifteen large supply
| bills has been sent through for the
signature of the President.
The important naval appropriation bill
which ordinarily takes at least a week
to pass the House, patiently stood in the
wings all day yesterday waiting for the
completion of the tedious row over the
omnibus claims bill. The Military Acad-
emy bill, the diplomatic and consular
bill, the Notifications bill, the general
deficiency, and the sundry civil bills
have yet to come from the House COM
mittees. With the Sulloway pension bill
awaiting a chance in the Senate, the
Lorimer case still hanging fire, no vote
as yet on the Senatorial resolution, the
tariff board measure entirely lost sight
Of, and unsmoothed disagreements galore
lying in wait for every one of the appro-
prtation bills, it begins to appear that
the measure putting into force President
Taft's tariff agreement with Canada
will indeed have to find a lodgment
where it may. President Taft is yet
hopeful, however. and there are plenty
OF individuals at the Capitol who say
there Will be no extra session.
Possibility of an Extra Session.
The congested. condition of Congress,
the irritation of those who hereto
fore have been leaders, and the ag-
gressiveness of the minority gave rise
yesterday to the first faint qualm, on
the part OF those who are praying for
the administrations welfare, over the
VI dH extra session DelnR
forced by the Democrats through
wrangling over the appropriation bills
and keeping them in conference. The
Democrats If they choose, can readily
find a way to charge up the loss OF the
reciprocity bill to disgruntled stand
patters, and by blocking the appropria-
ton bills can make an extra session
inevitable. In such an event they
would probably employ the Canadian
reciprocity bill as a vehicle for a revised
Schedule X, or some other tariff gem,
and send it along to the President with
a dare-you-to-veto message of good
will and respect. Should any appro-
priation bills go over into a possible
extra session, it is pointed out they
would receive treatment about as con-
siderate as an irate parent gives his
erring child, judging from the pres
ent-day anxiety apparent among the
Democrats to sail in with the economy
ak.
Will Try to Force Business.
AS a matter OF fact, there will be a
serious attempt to put through not only |
all the supply bills, but the measures
of the Taft programme. including the !
reciprocity bill. The serious thing Presi- |
dent Taft has to consider through it all |
is that, neither in the House nor the |
Senate, has he the small group of stanch |
leaders at his command that he had |
in the closing days OF the last session. |
when so many of his projects were en-
acted. The powerful Aldrich has gone /
away. The last of the famous Big Six
MIR. Hale-soon to retire from the Sen
ate, has decided to stand apart. He has |
no stomach for the reciprocity scheme.
In the place of these two powerful lead
erS the President now must depend upon
a circle of Senate managers, several of
them more or less lukewarm in their
efforts on account of the dislike they
feel for the reciprocity measure The
effect of this is apparent 1t took an
almost piteous appeal on the part of
Senator Lodge, that a Senator be not
driven into speech-making after an ex-