Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1921-10-09

at the party shall or shall not do.
8 1t is with something of a wrench
I that Washington sees the control of
the grand old party drifting out of
| the restraining influence of the CON
+ servative east, out of the keeping of
the prim New England states and of
powerful Pennsylvania, which SO long
have welded dictatorship over it.
Senate In coatroI.
For be it known that Senator Pen
rose and his all-prevailing finance COM
mittee have been compelled to bend the
knee to the so-called agriculture bloc
which is nothing more or less than
an organized group of the determined
senator's of the west. Time was when
Senator Penrose at the crack of
whip could have mustered all the Re-
publican senators in line and trained
! them in a chorus of ayes" which
would have put through any form of
tax. or tariff legislation which he de-
sired. But that time is no more. The
west has risen. The west is feeling
it's strength The west has very
plainly told the east that it was the
I west which produced nearly all the
new Republican senators for this ses-i
sion and that when the Republican
west of the Mississippi river. with the
exception of Arkansas, Louisiana and
Texas it welded a new and powerful
influence for the west in the affairs
OF the party.
The situation in Washington def
nitely has developed the fact that
party control ut the present time rests
entirely in the senate of the United.
states. The senate is all powerful:
it can set at naught the best intended
action of that more popular branch of
the national legislature. the house of
representatives. and it has shown only
too well that it can veto virtually ey-
cry act OF the president If it be so
inclined.
The realization has come to Wash
ington with greater fcrce than ever.
therefore, that the elements which
control majority in the senate have
an all but complete control of party
plans and policies. It remains conse-.
quently for the present majority in
the senate to whom President Hard
ing must look for legislation of al-
mlnlstratlon plans to preside over the
destinies of the Republican party in
the next three years.
Absolute Control.
Control and leadership of the Re-
publican party in the senate have been
so long vested IN the east as to have
become traditional. This tradition in
itself makes the new development diff.
ficult of realization but Just as surely
as the party itself sprang from. the.
west so the direction it is taking is a
westward way. Analysis of the stu
alton among the Republicans in the
senate however is tremendously illum--
mating. The Republican strength II co
senators.
Thirty three Of these come from the
states bordering upon or lying west
of the Mississippi river. five more
come from the middle western states
OF Indiana. Michigan and Ohio. From,
New England and the east including
West Virginia come % Republican
senator's.
Here We have a total Of SO mid
western, and far western Republican
senator's against an eastern repre-
sentatlon of %. If midwest strength
should at any time be counted WITH
New England and the east the Alissi-
slpp, ana Tar western states still
would have a majority of SO to 27
But this is not all. If the Rennh,ic
an sweep of last fall was. an indica-
tion of more or less permanent Re-
publicanization Of the far west, the
Republicans of that section will have
an opportunity IL the next three years
to elect nine additional senator's. The
Republicans Of New England and the
east will have an opportunity to elect
but two additional senators with 4
possibility Of loss Of one or two in
states like Maryland It is not diff
cult in view Of these figures to under
stand the western senator's coming to
the fore. why they are imposing their
will on the party. why they are saying
of measures which have failed to meet
their favor .'they shall not pass"
It is perfectly true that there are
scattered conservatives among the Re
publicans Of the west like Warren Of
Wyoming and Smoot Of Utah and
Phipps Of Colorado but the progressive
element is dominant and militant.
Moro Trouble Ahead
The differences which the '.old line,
leaders of the party have had with tax
legislation is but Z forerunner Of the
troubles to come when the tariff is
tackled in the senate. Time was when
the groups Of senators from the manu-.
featuring states of the east could die
tate the tariff subjects with an aha0.
lutism of which the oil but forgotten
czar Of the Russians might once have
envied. But the last time the eastern
Republicans dictated tariff in the
shape Of the Payne-Aldrich bin i
brought disast1r turnhlinE from the
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