The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-05-06
DEBATE ON THE CANAL BILL.
MARKED FEATURES OF THE DIS
CUssION IN THE HOUSE.

FOR once the Speakers Confined
themselves to the Subject in Hand.
The Importance of the Measure
prevented Discussion of Extran-
sous subjects-sOme of the Advo-
Gates of the Measure and Some
Of Its Opponents ana Their Char
acteristics.
washington, May 5.-The most unique
feature about the House debate over the
Nicaraguan canal bill. which has been the
star act in the legislative drama this week.
&c the fact that the debaters have discussed
,be merits of the measure under considera-
ton.
In the House it is the exception rather
than the rule, when in the time allowed
for general debate the speakers on both
sides coniine themselves to the real issue.
When an appropriation bill for the Dis
,rict of Columbia is up, for instance, the
visitor in the gallery who does not under
stand the legislative game, might from the
tenor of remarks believe that the law
makers were being asked to determine the
foreign policy of this government or its
financial policy; the question Of the per-
manent increase of the standing army or
of the control of trusts-anything in short
except matters pertaining to the District
of Columbia. And so it runs through the
whole gamut of legislation at the House
end of the Capitol. This is due to the re-
strictive rules built up by the fostering
care of that eminent citizen of New York,
Attorney Thomas Bracket Reed.
AT the Senate end things are done diff
ferenty There, members have ample
opportunity TO express their views with
out restraint upon any subject and the re-
suit is they confne themselves to the par
ocular subject which is up for legislative
consideration. Members of the House, how
ever are so tied down that they have to
fight for even a few minutes of time in
which to express the views which they
are anxious to disseminate among their
constituency by means of the Thanking
privilege which goes with puDllcallon III
the record.
1t was different in the canal debate,
however, for the reason that the subject
under consideration was one upon which
every fellow had ideas to express, which
afforded in itself plenty of opportunity
for political talk.
One of the Stars.
That veteran legislator, Col. Pete Hep
burn of Iowa, as chairman of the commit
of the stars of the debate. Col. Hep
burn is not an orator of the skyscrapinS,
cloud-chewing order, like his handsome
young colleague, Bob Cousins nor does.
he possess the halielujah lick of the stump
speaking Deliver, also from his home
state; but Hepburn is one OF the most
forceful debators in the House for all
that Unlike Joe Cannon who always
dcns his Sunday coat and puts carna ton
in his button hole when he has bill to
engineer through the House, Hepburn does
not dress up for the occasion. He wears
loose fitting double-breasted sack coat
which has seen much service, and there
are no frills on ''Pete." His manner OF
argument is that of the Western lawyer,
the one popularity being an almost en-
tire absence of GESTURE. With fold of
paper of some kind in his
right hand, he will once in a
while puilctuate his remarks, but more
often there is nothing of this sort.
While there was a division in his com
mittee over the amendments which serve
TO tone down the original bill so as to
make ii mo in accord with the ideas OF
the STATE department., it developed right
at the outset that the real division of the
House was represented in the antagonis-
tic attitude of such Republican leaders as
Joe Cannon of Illinois, Burton of Ohio
and Hit of Illinois.
MIR. Hits Cautiousness.
Mr. Hit, the chairman of the Commit
tee on Foreign Affairs, whose almost
snow white-hair and gray mustache serve
to make him one of the picturesque char
acters of the House, is always graceful
and is always sure of an audience. He has
however. besn so long IN the atmosphere
of foreign relations that it has bred in
him a timidity which causes him to APP
proach all matters with any possible for
eign bearing over cautiously. He talked
of the Clayton-Bu treaty giving to
Il a degree. of reverence which is not US
ual among men in politics. There is
suspicion, of course, that some of the OPP
position to- the enactment CT canal legis-
lation at this season of Congress finds its
birth in the antagonism of the Panama
canal people on the one hand and the
Trans-Continental Railroads on the 9th
er. but no such suspicion attaches to Mr.
Hits opposition.
To those who have made gallery study
of canal legislation during several con-
crosses past, the opposition of Cannon and
Burton TO anything that Hepburn attempts
is not al all surprising. Scarcely session
passes without a clash between the Iowan
on the one hand and Burton and Cannon