The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-26
TAFT IS DESERTED BY EVERY FACTION Only StubbOrnness of Weak Man Will Cause Ex
 tra Session
BY wATTERsoN sTEALEY

| Washington, February 25.-(Special.)-
 That an extra session will be due to the 'stubbornness of weak man." Is the | way in which leaders of the Senate and House dispose of the fight between the White House and the capitol over the Canadian bill. The President finds him. self without the support of even fac tion in Congress. He has not a defender of strength on the floor of either branch of Congress. He is left high and dry by his party and there Is none to say a good word for him. If the Senate should pass the Canadian reciprocity bill 1t will
 not be done because of willingness to help out the President. but because of the personal inconvenience an extra ses- sion would entail upon members. There Is no disposition to take the President into consideration about anything. Tn some quarters there Is doubt expressed that the President will call an extra ses-
 sion in spite of his repeated announce
 ments that he will do so If the Canadian bill is not voted upon.
 "I have no doubt,' said a member of the Senate today. that the President dStuoiiy bciiOftS Hc 10 6oih6 hO NO Wiiut
 he says today, but he may think bet ter of it when the time arrives"
 This senator points out that Canadian
 reciprocity is not a big enough matter to warrant Congress being brought to-
 gether and that the President would not hope to gain anything by doing so. In the meantime the President is hear ing and will continue to hear from every important business center opposed to an extra session. The "captains of industry who placed him in the White House will demand that business be not dis turbed by an extra session and 1t Is ar gued that MT. Taft Is under some obli- gations to these men. There are very reliable reports here that the smile and geniality about which so much has been said and written have completely worn off in the Presidents offices. White
 House visitors report the President as
 being in little short of a rage over the
 situation and emphatically denouncing | both regulars and insurgents for their treachery. The insurgents and regulars,
 when they are not too busy with their own quarrels, united in replying in kind
 and it is all a pretty kettle of fish. An amusing feature about the whole
 affair is that those who are in position
 to be in the confidence of the President
 say that he cares nothing about a re-
 nomination and yet the standpatters who
 will control the convention next year are all for him. The insurgents are openly against him, but they are frank to ad- tl,ot l, I, tlz tl, by next year to nominate LaFollette or one of their own number. There is prac- tical admission among all republican con gressmen that nothing short of impossi- ble stupidity on the part of the demo-
 crats will save the republicans from los ing the presidency next year and by com
 mon consent it seems that President Taft
 is to be the sacrifice.
 The American Economist. the standpat
 organ, referring to the debate in the House on Canadian reciprocity, styles
 prospective Speaker Clark as 'The brain fest, Shrewdest and most consistent dem ocrat now in public life" And adds that "the whole trouble Gin the republican par ty) grows out of President Taft's desire to lower the tariff and abolish it in many cases altogether. There Is a bitter feeling existent as was shown in the debate on the "reciprocity' bill in the House. and it Is growing more bitter all the while. In the meantime the President is threat ening extra session to get the "reci- procity" through. j
 MT. Roosevelt was regarded as a posi- tive, outspoken and determined man. Just the opposite of MT. Taft, who Is very genial. But Roosevelt ostensibly had the party with him while he was in the White House, while MT. Taft has all ready split the party. That is what has given life to the democrats, put them in control of the next House and made them feel confident of winning the presidency
 and carrying the Senate, all of which does not look impossible the way things are going now.