Hepburn Rate Bill

The legislative process established in the Constitution requires that each bill pass through rigorous procedures in both houses of Congress, including opportunities to add amendments. A bill’s journey through Congress is not complete until it has been passed in identical form by both houses.

This cartoon depicts a bill that has been amended so much in the Senate that it is practically unrecognizable to its original House author.

On January 24, 1906 William P. Hepburn (R-IA) introduced HR 12987, the Hepburn bill, to the U.S. House of Representatives. After weeks of debate in Committee of the Whole House, the original un-amended bill passed the House on February 8, 1906. The bill then went to the Senate, which had been hostile to similar attempts at progressive reforms. Over the course of the next several months the bill was fiercely debated and pro-railroad Senators, intent on weakening the bill, tacked on amendment after amendment.

The Senate passed their amended version of the bill on May 20th and it went back to the House for concurrence. After another month of conference committee negotiations, the Hepburn Rate Act became law on June 29, 1906.

This cartoon was drawn by Clifford Berryman, one of Washington, DC's best-known cartoonists in the early to mid-1900s. Berryman drew for the Washington Post and Evening Star newspapers. His cartoons touched on a variety of subjects including politics, elections, and both World Wars.