THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1909. PRESIDENT VERSUS CONGRESS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3096, 20 January 1909, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1909. PRESIDENT VERSUS CONGRESS.

Immediately after President Roosevelt's final message to Congress was delivered last month, it was made clear that neither the Senators nor the members of the House of Representatives were inclined to remain silent under the severe castigation which was administered to them for having dared to restrict the duties of the Government's secret service police to the investigation of certain offences. In describing the useful work which had been done by the secret service police, President Roosevelt remarked that Congress had limited the functions of the secret service agents because it did not wish to be made the subject of investigation itself. That was the spark to the powder barrel, and it accounts for the bitter fight

now going on between the President and Oongress, a fight which seems truly extraordinary, to people accustomed to the monarchical lor n ■of government. Recent cable massages indicate that furious recriminations are going on, for the United States Senate has flung back toe President's gibe and boldly declares that his own action in permitting the Steel Trust to absorb the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company is a matter requiring investigation. The House of Representatives has resolved "to ignore any disrespectful communication from any source," while the Senate, more cautious and circumspect, has referred President Roosevelt's action with regard to the Steel Trust to the Judiciary Cammittee for a report as to its leg- I ality. The comment, however, is made that the Senate's action was not serious, and was merely a sop to the Democrats. The accounts of the trouble already to iWid suggest that the House of Representatives has taken far more aggressive atti- j tude against the President than has been adopted by the Senate, and there are indications that the House of Representatives has less to fear in the manter of exposures than the Senate. President Roosevelt is said to have plenty of ammunition for his attack on the Senate. Rightly or wrongly, the Senate has acquired in recent years a very unsavory reputation, and American writers have not been slow to dilate upon the cynical disregard for public a s against private interests manifested by members of' that House. The half-hearfcedness of the Senate as compared with the resolute stand taken by the House of Representatives is quite noticeable, and it is worth recalling that immediately after President Roosevelt's attack upon Congress was delivered there was a large party of Senators who desired to let well alone, believing that if President Roosevelt drove home the attack he would have the public oehmd him, with disastrous results for the Senate. Senator Tillman will probably be only the first of many targets for the missiles of the President. The disturbance should clear the air at anyrate, and let in sorhe muchneeded light' upon the actual ■ conditions under which the work of legislation is carried on in Congress.