Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1914-07-28
ADMINISTRATION "PRocEssEs"
APPEAR TO CASUAL ossER.
YER TO BE RECKLESS.
BILLS UNDERGO CHANGE
DESPITE WILSON'S DEMANDS
Material Changes Respectfully Re-
ferred to as Results Of "Polishins
Observation-Disclosures Bills Usually
Have Considerable Of Senate or
House Polished Whom Passed.
[ Special correspondence

Special Correspondence
Washington, July 2S.-A near view
of the processes of legislation as
President Wilson calls them-particu-
larry those processes" which are man
ufacturinS the trust bills-has forced
the conclusion upon many observers IN
Washington that the laws which the
present congress, under the direction OF
President Wilson. is turning out, are
being made recklessiy and at hapha%-
ard. This is not to say that the laws
when they are finally turned out are
not, as laws go, fairly respectable |
things. This is another question, ana
there will. always be wide differences OK
opinion on this point. But the methous
by which the laws arrive at being laws
are strange indeed. 1t is often won-
dered by unsophisticated observers in
Washington that they ever become
laws at all.
The impression which the public Is
supposed to have Of the legislative
processes Is that after the party
chiefs and the learned wise men have
drafted the bill or-bills in question, eX-
pressing the thoughtful and scholarly
craftsmanship of democracy, onsress
thereupon, with its rare ability. sets TO
work to polish and perfect these meas
ures. In due time the bills-so the
cheerful Wilson theory runs-emerge
from one house or both in their mar
velous form They have not been
changed at all in any essential partic-
ular, of course; all that has been done
was TO improve them here and there. SO
much for the fiction. Now for the
fact
Bill Returned Unchanged az
The currency bill is an instance in
point. All thru the strife and turmoil
over that measure the president Kept
insisting that the bill must pass the
senate substantially as it passed the
house. Day after day the country was
informed by news dispatches written
upon authority at the White House
that the president would accept no
amendments to the currency bill. and
when the bill was finally passed after
having been radically changed In the
senate. the president still promoted the
impression that nothing had been done
10 it. A little study of roll calls should
convince even the most partisan DEM
ocrat that this was not the case. For
Minnesota the original exposer of the
money trust always q radical on
currency reform voted for the Glass
bill as it passed the house. but. after
it came back with the senate changes.
he voted against it. His reason for so
doing was that in his opinion the re-
vised bill centralized credit. AT all
events il is clear that Mr.. Lindbergh
would not have changed his vote had
the bill been the same after it passed
the senate as it was when it left the
house to 90 to the senate.
But officially. the processes" thru
which the currency bill has gone has
done nothing to it but polish off the
rough corners and gloss it over with
| legislative varnish.
Sudden Change in Legislation.
Extraordinary indeed is the story OF
how the Stevens amendment to the in
terstate trade commission bill hap
pened to be recommended by the sem
ate committee which was framing the
| bill. Along toward noon Of the day
on which the bill was about to be re-
ported the Stevens amendment with its
definitions of unfair practices, was not
! a part of the measure. The committee
I was sitting, presumably under instruc-
/ no intention whatever of changing the
| bill radically All of sudden the door
of the committee room burst open. In
! came Representative Stevens. of New
/ Hampshire. Within FIVE minutes the
! com mittee had adopted the amend
ment.
The reason for this sudden Shift Is
as follows: Representative Stevens
| and~Senator Hollis had called at the
! White House on the morning in Dues
\ ton to urge upon the president the
adoption of this amendment. Appar-
!, emily, the president had heard nothing
! of the proposition altho it had come
up when the bill was being considered
in the house and had been the sub
| ject of common talk in Washington In
unofficial circles comprising newspaper
| men and others who follow the course
! of legislation fairly closely. The
scheme Listened well" to Mr.. Wilson.
and he told his callers that he would
| like the amendment included in the
/ bill The two gentlemen, much with
their success. left the White House
and started for the capitol by the usual
process Of transportation in Washing
ton-the slow moving street car.
| All of sudden it occurred to one
of the statesmen that the quicker they
got to the capitol the better. A taxicab
was Immediately hailed and the senate
was reached an hour or two sooner
i than would have been the case other
wise. Just before the committee fin
shed it's final process" on the inter
state trade commission bill, the door
burst open as just described, the mes
sage from the president was delivered
was obeyed. and the bill was reported
Waterpower Bill in Process"
Processes of the same kind are
going on with reference to the water
power BILL now being hotly contended
for and against in the house. AS has
already been outlined in dispatches, II
is perfectly apparent in this case either
that the president does not understand
the waterpower situation or that he
prefers to be led about by Represen-
tative Underwood and the gentlemen
who are trying to have the government
hestow waterpower for practically
nothing upon them and the men they
: work for. The current week has marked
series Of visits Of various statesmen
to the president for the sole purpose
: Of getting him to reverse his approva
Of the revised Adamson bill and make
1t more nearly conservation measure
What the president will do yet remain'
to be seen.