Imperial Valley press., 1922-05-01
Confessions
of a
III. s. Senator

How president deals with the ser
ate is told in this, the fourth install
ment OF a senator's actual story of the
inside workings of the upper branch
Of congress. 1t reveals the great power
Of the executive over legislation
United Press, New York.
BY LAWRENCE MARTIN
United Press Staff Correspondent
Copyright, 1922, by United Press
CHAPTER ~.
WASHINGTON, May 1.-the pres
ident> once said to me--neVer mi ind which
president--th he wished members of
congress would stop asking him to do
their thinking for them,' said the SEN
ator, continuing his inside story of the
United States senate.
81 had gone to the white house to
get presidential o. k. on bill i'll which
| was mighty Interested. Rather, | had
gone to try to convert the president to
my bill, for / had learned through the
underground channels of cloakroom
talk that he was opposed to 1T and had
advised certain senator's to vote against
it.
"The president was not in the best
humor that day. He was a bit short
tempered anyway, and things had not
been going just right. While | talked,
he kept fuming, and finally he got
me so nervous that L stopped. That
minute he got UP and wagged his
fingers at me.
{. 'Doggone you fellows he said, Il
wish you would stop Fostering me this
wayi / mean, why do you insist that |
~ do '-hp
waved me aside as lie saw | was about
to protest-and l can prove it by this
very bill you came up to sell me. 1T is
bad bill, and if, you stopped to think
it out, you would never press it, much
less ask me to stop fighting it.
'Well, then he proceeded to lay my
poor little bill out Ncold, i'll the most
ruthless fashion. AS matter OF fact,
| l did not know much about the bill,
except specifically, for had IN
troduced it after some folks out in my
state had sent man down to Wash
| ington to talk me into it. This man
had q mass of information, which he
freely impaired. ! knew him, and knew
he was o respectable citizen, and rep
resented respectable folks. So / didn t
90 behind the facts and figures he pre-
sented to me, especially as within a
few days of his visit, | began getting
letters from some very influential folks,
all of whom L knew to be of the high
est standing and probity. They all en-
dorscd the scheme, and urged me to
sponsor it. >,
"Now the whole business didn :
amount to much in itself. III the bill
had passed and become law, nobody
would have been particularly hurt But
the president showed me that 1t would
establish u dangerous precedent, anu
open the way for persons not so re-
spectacle to tap the public treasury UNI
der the guise of doing a public service
"Before / got away, he had me al
mitting that if I had gone into the
matter as he apparently had-for he
knew a lot more about this partlculas
project that l did wonld have been
against it. / guess some OF my col
leagues thought l was crazy when
withdrew the bill day or two later
i | know the folks out home who hac
got me to introduce it never quite got
over my action.
"That plain talk by the president was
| GOOD for me as % legislator, and my OBJ
| servations since has led me to conclude
it would be good for some more OF u
in the senate, though | am not goins
to criticize my colleagues. | am MOI
without sin myself, therefore | will cas-
no stones.'