The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-03-23
SoUABBLING ON THE TREATY.
THE SENATE PUTS IN FIVE HOURS
DISCUSSING 1T.

All the Important Committee
Amendments Agreed to without n
DivisiOn-An Amendment to EIimi-
! mute the NicaraEuan Canal From
the Treaty Voted DOwn-Senator
Foraker Wants "a New Court APP
pointed For Each Question as 1t
Arises For Arbitration.
Washington, March 22.-The Senate re-
manned in executive session to-day al
most five hours. during which time good
progress was made with the general
treaty of arbitration between the United
States and Great Britain. All of the i'm
portant committee amendments were
agreed to without division. These amend
ments provide that all questions proposed
to be submitted for arbitration shall first
! be approved by the President and then
be submitted to the Senate for it's APP
prevail; substituting 'jurists of repute"
in that part of the convention where 1t
is provided that the members of the ri
bunal shall be members of the supreme
or circuit court of the United States. and
rejecting entirely the tenth article. which
designates King Oscar of Sweden and
Norway as the umpire
No set speeches were made but several
short and clear statements were made by
Senators Davis, Hoar, Chandler and Lodge
and remarks in opposition to the treaty
as a whole by Senators Morgan and
Stewart Senator Morgan offered an
amendment eliminating the Nicaragua
| canal from the terms of the treaty but
this was voted down viva voce, the Sen
ate believing that this had been cared for
| by the committee amendments.
The discussion showed that the Senate
was not altogether clear whether the
| terms of the treaty provided for a single
court to sit in all cases that might be sub
| mitted, or whether there was to be sep
| arate court for each case. Senator Fora
ker, believing there should be no doubt on
| this question, offered an amendment TO
| the effect that a new court shall be APP
pointed, by and with the advice and con-
sent of the Senate. for each case as it
arose.
| This amendment caused Senator Bacon
| of Georgia to withdraw the amendment
| he offered at the last session, eliminat ting
| from the treaty all questions relative to
| state questions growing out of securities
issued during the war, that senator be-
| lieving that under the amendment of Sen
| ator Foraker his amendment would not
| be necessary.
The amendment of Senator Foraker was
not discussed and it went over for future
| action
The chief discussion of the day, after
the committee amendments had been
agreed to. was based upon an amendment
| offered by Mr.. Chiffon of Texas. The
| first article of the treaty stipulates that
| the contracting parties agree to submit to
| arbitration all questions in difference. Mr..
| Chilton's amendment alters the reading
| of this article very materially by inserting
| a modifying clause which limits the sub
| jects for arbitration to all questions which
| the Senate may deem for arbitration.
| This was opposed by members of the COM
mittee and by Mr. Hoar as useless and
| acting only as an encumbrance.
There was some facetious reference to
the amendment of the committee stipulat-
! ing that ''jurists of repute" should be des-
! ignated to act as members Of the court,
| Mr.. Allen wanting to know what the
words meant. They might mean jurists of
| either good or i'll repute. In some of the
states the law required that only jurists
| of repute should be elected to the bench,
! but every man, who happened to get the
most votes was ''jurist of repute." A
yea and nay vote was taken on this
amendment, and il prevailed by a vote of
| 26 to "a. Later on, when the vote was
| taken on the same words where they oc-
CURED in another article, the vote was %
to 10. These were the only yea ami nay
votes taken.
When the Senate adjourned, Mr.. Morgan
had the floor on the Chiffon amendment,
| and will speak tomorrow. Senator Davis
| hopes to have the final vote taken this
week, and he believes the treaty will be
ratified as amended by his committee.