The Washington herald., 1918-04-03


Continuing the preface to the If
teenth edition Of his Congressional
Government" Woodrow Wilson said
in 1900:
ut is to be doubted whether could
quite say so confidently now as said
in 1884 that the Senate OF the United
States faithfully represents the sew
eraI elements of the nations make
up and furnishes US with a prudent
and normally constituted moderating
and revising chamber. Certainly
vested interests have now got a more
formidable hold upon the Senate than
they seemed to have sixteen years
ago. Its political character also has
undergone a noticeable change. The
tendency seems to be to make of the
Senate, instead OF merely a smaller
and more deliberate House of Repre-
sentatives. a body of political man.
ayers. Still these features OF its life
may be temporary and may easily be
exaggerated. We do not know yet
whether they will persist, or, should
they persist, whittier they will lead
u.s."
The fact was the Senate was led
eventually to the passage of a con-
stitutional amendment providing for
| direct election of its membership
rather than its selection by legisla-
tive bodies, or still smaller political
clans which exercised unusual re-
straint over the men selected for this
body.
Doubtless the President sometimes
feels at this late date that the Senate
does not quite measure up to his eX-
pectations. But there Is manifestly a
more thorough representation of the
! peoples wishes seen in its delibera-
tions. One cannot get away from
this thought no matter how much he
| may disagree with the Senate over
some OF the actions 1t takes.
1t 10 interesting to recall. for pur-
poses Of comparison. the membership
of the Upper House at the time the
President wrote the above quoted
paragraph. In the body then were:
Henry Teller. of Colorado; o. H.
Platt, Of Connecticut; A. o. Bacon, Of
Georgia; Shelby Cullom and Billy Ma
| son. OF Illinois: Fairbanks and
Beveridge, of Indiana: Allison and
Dolliver. of Iowa: Hale and Frye, of
Maine; Hoar and Lodge. OF Massa-
chusetts; Burrows. of Michigan;
Clapp and Towne and Canute Nelson.
OF Minnesota; Cockrell and Vest, OF
Missouri: Thurston and Hayward, of
Nebraska: Chandler and Gallinger, of
New Hampshire; Tom Platt and De-
pew. of New York: Foraker and
Mark Hanna, of Ohio; Penrose and
Matt Quay. of Pennsylvania; AL
drich, OF Rhode Island; Spooner, of
Wisconsin; Warren and Clark, of
Wyoming.
Seeking to berate this country for
failure to follow blindly into any
lane the present warmakers may
lead, Mr.. Brisbane points out that
the people of Germany don't do that
way. They follow blindly where
ever their leader takes them-and
Mr.. Brisbane would have us believe
that this course is proper. We diff
fer with him. That spirit was re-
sponsible for this war in the first
place. 1t is that spirit we are seek
ing to kill. 1t is that spirit which
will be stsamped out of mankind be-
fore we get through with our pres
ent task. It is the spirit we never
want to see develop in our own
country. No. indeed, Mr.. Brisbane,
there is nothing in this German
characteristic which you can COM
mend to America. 1t lacks even the
fundamentals of democracy. We
were founded upon a different rock
and, thank God. we're going to re-
main on our initial foundation al
ways.
The Baer bill, providing rather
large appropriations for the conduct
Of Federal employment agency work
by the Department of Agriculture.
would result in useless and expen-
sive duplication Of activities. The
Department of Labor has a splendid
start in this very direction. The
work is under a competent man. IL
Is organized and going forward at
an amazing rate, and already prom
ises to become q real factor in the
activities Of the present year. The
Baer bill would bring confusion and
inefficiency. This item should be
struck out and the activity should
be left where It has been started.
This il the belief of a number of
the Interested members and they
are hopeful their colleagues will see
the matter in the same light when
they have time to peruse the bill.
Federal control of meat products
Far fha hall ~ ~ x.,or xrwl,,tA