The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-03-07
NO CLOTURE AT PRESENT.
The Platt Amendment sent to the
Commit iftee on Rnles.

The ctoture rule of which Senator Platt
| of Conn ecticut gave notice Tuesday is
not to be pushed during the special ses-
| sion. and it is an even chance that it will
! not be neard of again in its present form.
| as it was sent to the Committee on Rules.
! The Senator's announcement came so un-
! expectedly that 1t was believed his action
| might be the result of quiet understand
| ing among n few of the Senate leaders
| and that the plan was to push the amend
4 ment to a vote during the special session
/ so as to start in with the regular session
| next winter on a new basis. That would
! mean long and bitter fight, with revolu-
( tionary possibilities
Senator Piatt explains. however. that
| he was acting solely on his own initiative
! in accordance with n determination which
| he had made while the Democrats were
| indulging In their fllibustering tactics
against the Cuban resolutions and other
measures in the last Congress.
/ TT is tirie.' he says. that something
| should be done to end condition of af-
! fairs where those in favor of a measure
1 are precluded from debating and explain
| Ing its merits because every word they
utter only helps the opposition in its
| scheme of defeating the measure by pro-
| longing debate. The subject Is one which
! ought to be taken hold of. and | hope to
see the Committee on Rules bring in a
! report which can be acted on during the
! regular session Of Congress. of course,
| the great difficulty will always be in de-
! Gliding when reasonable debate has been
\ haG. What might be reasonable at one
time would be unreasonable at another
/ 1t would depend on circumstances.
c.. 10 Hartl-
mittee on Rules. intimates that his COM
mittee may report a rule providing Tor
| cloture of some kind in the last ten days
of a session. applicable to general ap-
preparation bills. thus reaching an evil
| which is regarded as most serious. A rule
of that kind would prevent one man from
| holding up an appropriation bin il order
| to force an extra session. But there is no
certainty that even such rule can be
adopted for there is Discrimination on
| the part of some of the most Influential
| Republican Senators to undertake any
cloture whatever. and 1t is predicted
| by them that the question will not be
pressed to i. settlement.
In any event there is no thought OF
| having the Vice Preside 1T force vote on
| a cloture proposition BY refusing to rec
| Ognize Senators for further debate an
'
| in newspapers and elsewhere about VICE
! President Roosevelt undertaking any re =
| olutionary scheme like that IS que % a
misunderstanding of the limitation OF the
| office. The Vice President is not even a
member of the Senate and has no tunc-
| tion except to recognize the rules OF the
| Senate in presiding and if he were to un-
| dertake to disregard them in this most
! vital particular his action would not pc
| tolerated even by the supporters OF the
measure which he strove TO advance
i,at..
| from the Speaker of the House, chosen
| from among the membership of that
! body. The House of Representatives IS
not a continuous body. Each newly
elected House forrnulates it's own rules.
and until those rules are formulated the
Speaker must see TO the orderly conduct
of business in accordance with the gen
erai rules which prevail in all parlla-
mentary bodies. 1t was under general
parliamentary rules thai Speaker Reed
! counted in the Fifty-tirst Congress, and
So put an end to filibustering in the
House The Senate is Il continuing body
and the rules in force during one Con
gress continue in force in the next
Congress unless they are amended. There
is nothing for the Vice President TO 90
but to observe them.
1t may be doubted whether the proposal
to adopt a general cioture viii be push I'd
| to a conclusion. The minority would eX-
haust every resource in filibustering
against il. and while their course might
be the strongest kind of argument Tor its
adoption. so much time Woulu necessarily
be consumed In considering the PROPOSE
ton that other business would have to
suffer and the minority would have its
way.
The Senate had the previous question at
the beginning of the Government. but dis
carded it. In 1850 Stephen A. Douglas
submitted a rule to revive it, but his mo
tion was laid on the table Since that
time over thirty unsuccessful attempts
have been made to introduce cloture in
some fofIn- Arsong these who have tried
their hands at it have been John p. Hale.
s. c. Pomeroy, Henry Wilson, George f.
Edmunds. Ferry of Michigan, Morrill, Of
Maine, William Window, Henry Z. An
thonX and SenatoTs Aldrich and Hoar.