The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1902-02-12
TEMPEST IN THE SENATE |
The Debate on the Philippine. .Ques-
ton Grows Personal.
TAuNTs AND CHARGES PASSED
Old Senators Say That Such HurEieans
of Bitter VItuperatton and Of Unmodi-
fed Criticism Has Not Occurred For
Years-The Chair Deprecates tho Dis-
regard Of the RdIes. u ~

Years-The Chair Deprecates tho Dts.
regard Of the Rhles. "
Washington, D. C. - A Philippine
storm was central in the Senate Cham
ber Tuesday for nearly three hours,
but was void Of definite results. 6 At !
times it looked serious, and the spec
tators who thronged the galleries
watched it with breathless interest. :
Acrimony in Senate debates is not in-
frequent, but old Senator's say that
not in years has there been such hur.
ricane Of bitter vituperation, Of per.
sonal taunt, of ugly charges and OF
unmodif1ed criticism as was witnessed.
Irritation was aroused on both sides
Of the Chamber, and once or twice per-
sonal encounters between Senators
seemed imminent. Once when Sena-
tor Teller taunted the Republican Sem
ators by declaring they knew the
statements made In a recent dispatch
from Manila in which General Wheat
on was represented as criticising; the
opponents Of the Governments policy I
in the Philippines were true, half
dozen Republican Senators were ON
their feet In. an instant. Senator
Lodge, at whom the taunt seemed to
be aimed particularly, hnrriedly
crossed from his seat in the centre Of.
the Republican side to the main aisle
of the Senate and, white to the lips,
passionately challenged the statement
Of the Colorado Senator and demanded
that he Withdraw 1t; Senator Teller
so modified the statement that further
hostilities at that time were averted.
One Of the sharpest colloquies Of the
session was between Senators Spoon
er, Of Wisconsin,. and TiIlman, OF
South Carolina. The race problem, In
volving the lynching of negroes, was
interjected into the controversy, and
much feeling was manifested by both
Senators. &;
Then Mr.. Teller referred to what he /
declared was the establishment in the
Philippines Of RECOMMENDATION camps
and to the repetition in the Philippines
Of the horrors introduced into Cuba
by Weyler. He said that a private
letter from an army officer In the Phil
ippines had been received in Washing
ton in which an army officer was
quoted as saying with respect to the
establishment of concentration camps,
"If this thing Is to continue will have
to apologize to Wey1er." Another off,
Ger was quoted as adding, The time
has come when I'm ready to apologize
to him now"
Mr.. Teller in response to volley Of
questions replied that he did not know
the name of the writer Of the letter
and would not mention 1t II he did
know it. AS he was proceeding to dis
cuss the censorship of press dispatches
sent from Manila he was interrupted
by Mr.. Foraker, who quoted from an
interview with President Taft of the
Philippine Commission, stating that
there was no censorship Of press dis
patches.
Mr.. Teller was insisting that he had
good authority for the statement that
press dispatches were censored IN Ma
nila when he was interrupted by Mr..
Beveridge Qndiana), who said that 1t
had been stated by authority on the
floor Of the Senate that press dis K
patches were not censored in Manila.
He was prepared to make the same
statement from personal observation
in the Philippines. Why, therefore,
he said, Mr.. Teller persisted In max
ing his assertion concerning censorship
was not clear.
Manifesting considerable irritation,
Mr.. Teller declared he would let the
Senate consider the "impertinenee" OF
Mr.. Beveridge in interrupting him for !.
a question and then proceeding to lee
ture him. "This Is the first time In
my experience" said he, "that a Sena-
tor has gained the floor to ask q ques-
ton and then charged the Senator
who yielded to him with being liar"
Senators in their excitement seemed
for the moment to have forgotten the
subject of debate. The Chair (Sir.
Frye was able with difficulty to main
tain order. When the discussion
finally was ended for the day the
Chair felt called upon seriously to ad-
monish Senators that the rules of the
body had not been observed, and, after
reading the rule which had been vio-
lated, he expressed the hope that In the
future Senators would have a care to
observe it. Such an admonition mas
not been made by the presiding of1cer
of the Senate in many years.
p,tJcKED OUT HER RIGHT EYE.