The San Francisco call., 1898-02-02
Next in Order the Joint Reso-
 lution Will Be Taken Up.
IN : EXECUTIVE. SESSION.
Senators Pettgrew and White Tell ..: Why Hawaii, Should Not Be
 .. Taken Into the Union.
Special Dispatch to The Call.
Call Office, Riggs House, :: Mn Shinpt Eeh

l. Call OIlCe, fllSSS 1OuSe,
 :: Washington, Feb. 1
 The Hawaiian anneXationists; now thoroughly disheartened, are convinced that the treaty will fall several votes short of the necessary sixty. The visit of President Dole has. not benefited them, as expected. They have been
 wining and dining him, and have in-
 vited those Senators who were con- sidered doubtful to meet him at these
 dinner parties. but the result is dis
 appointing. The situation remains the same as it did two weeks ago. The an- nexationists will lack at least five votes of the necessary number. Sena- tor Davis, chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, consulted with his henchmen in the Senate restaurant to-day, and 1t was agreed among them that unless. recruits from unexpected quarters were secured the treaty was doomed to defeat. The prospects are and the joint resolution taken up. It is said that several of the influential Senators on the Republican side are
 endeavoring: to persuade Chairman Davis to drop the treaty and take up
 the joint resolution. or bill,: but MT.
 Davis well realizes that the abandon ment of*the treaty would be a confes- sion of weakness and could not fail to
 prejudice the chances for passage of the joint resolution. l.: !: =. . ::. :. Indeed. he is well aware. that several Senators now. counted. in favor. of the treaty could not be prevailed upon to vote. for annexation: by the=< irregular: .[af i11f': They are sticklers@ for Senatorial pro- priety'' and time -honored customs: and I cannot be induced to depart from them: The: prospects. are; that. the: treaty twill be: talked to death unless it is:= aban- doned. At least fifteen. Senat tors. 0p-: posed to annexation have given notice: of their intention of: :: making long several long winded= Senators like Allen. of Nebraska, who; in: the last Congress made the longest speech ever deliN: cred in that body. The speeches of White: of California: and=Pe igrew of. Dakota in executive session to-day gave l their brethren an inkltng of@.Whatthey may eXpectf White and < Pettigrew4 have not fairly started yet.<and= both: of them are well eQuipped= for a long siege and well armed with. vast amount of information which, they wish to lay before. the. Senate, :. :.-:.. .:2* :2**G ::
 f'Of course. we. will not filibuster,"@ said Senator White tonight, for that \ is. not a legitimate mode of procedure in a parliamentary body like the Sem ateeof the United States, but" added he significantly, i've could discuss the treaty: aiI= summer and then not give any too muchstime to the consfderat ton of so important a natter" :: I
 On the other hand, the friends: of the treaty including Senator Davis, chair man of the Foreign Relations Commit 1 tee, are confident that sixty Senators, whose votes are necessary for two- thirds ma ajority, will vote for ratifica- ton. Confidence in the changed con- dition Is found in the determinations of the friends ofratification to press for- ward the treaty to final vote This feeling was shown when the proceed ings of the Senate on the treaty in ex- ecutiye session day were opened. Senator Thurston: made a motion for the postponement of further considera- tiorl of the treaty until the first of March. The motion was not discussed at length and was voted; down viva voce. ,:
 Senator Platt. of Connecticut opened; the debate with carefully arranged argument in favor of annexation. -
 Senator Pettigrew took the floor as soon as Platt had concluded, devotfng himself especially:to replying to the Connecticut Senator's remarks con- corning the present Government Of the ] islands. He made a careful analysis of the. constitution under: which. the Dole government exists, showing that it had been adopted by what he termed sarl alleged constitutional convention,
 composed, he. said, of nineteen mem bers, one of whom was Mr. Dole, whoa had been me enfbers of the" Committee Lof Safety which played such a. prominent part during the revolution, and of eigh- teen. other delegates. He argued that while these latter: delegates had: been. elected by. what was caIled a popular
 vote; such was not. the case. Of: IA, 0OD persons entitled to suffrage he asserted that only 4000 had voted for them. T. =. T his convention. of thiftY-seven per: sons thus chosen. had adopted the con- sututton, and 1t had never been sub-:] \ 9mitted to a :popul lar: vote: Mir. Petit: grew dWelt upon the fact that Mir. Dole had been a member of this con ventton and said that gentIeman had had himself. made president ;of the re- public. and that in doing so he. had ] practically arranged: the matter So as. to insure his perma anenee in office, He.l read the cdnstitutfon to show that Mr; Dole was named in it for president ar1d that it was provided that :lle :shou1d:l remain in that office until the year 1900, i or until his successor should be elected .1
 Senator White of California also spoke in opposition to. Ratification of 1 the treaty.. His was in the:mair a con- stitutional argument intended to show that the annexation of territory which I would require navy to defend it had l been from the beginning opposed to] our theory of government: He quoted extensively from the works of Thomas Jefferson to show. that he had never;l contemplated. the acquisition of terri tory situated as were the Sandwich l Islands, where a fleet would be neces- l sary to their preservation.
 This remark did not, however, ap- ply to Cuba. which was so near our own coast that no navy would be necessary to Its control and protection. | White also read from President Ty- Ier's message, which, he said, was pop 1 ularly supposed to have been written I