The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-11-19
GORMAN IN HOT MOOD
UNABLE I'd UNITY DEMOCRATS
 AGAINSTPANAMA CANAL. {,
Angry wors in Caucus - Ugly Charges are Made and Maryland Senator Threatens to Re-
 sig1 Leadership. .-

Washlngton Spctal 10 CMcaso recoru Herald.
 Senator Gormn's scheme to unite the Democratic mintity of the Senate in an- | tagonism to tn administration on the Panama questioi has come to an inglor- | ious end. The Rmocratic Senators spent four hous this afternoon trying to agree. and concluded tat they could not agree upon any prososition whatever. The
 more they tried to get together the far ther apart they go. From discussion they descended t. recrimination, and per sonalities were feely indulged in. Radi- cal Democratic Anators accused conser- vative senators with having been bought up by the administration" Senator German ost his temper, usually so placid, when Ii; learned the Democrats would not follow him, and virtually threatened to resign the leadership. Va- rious propositions were presented, includ- ong one to censtfe President Roosevelt for his action in the PanaWa affair, but nothing was agreed to. MT. German re- marked with exceeding bitterness that, whereas the Republicans had fifty-seven senators and could present a united front, | the Democrats hal only thirty-three. but could not get together for harmonious
 and effective acton. Immediately after adjournment thii afternoon the Demo-
 cratic senators tathered in MT. Cor mans committee ioom, ostensibly to dis l cuss committee assignments. but spent
 four hours pullins hair on the Panama
 question. At the concluson of the conference
 leading Democratic senators said there | was no prospect hat the minority could get together, and that 1t was morally certain the Democratic side would fur
 nish enough vots to ratify any canal
 treaty the President might submit.
 When the confidence met Senator Car
 mack of Tenne9e offered a resolution
 declaring it to be the sense of the minor ity that the Spconer act should be en-
 forced, and demanding that President | Roosevelt, having been unable to nego- | tiate treaty win Colombia, should com
 ply with that lsw by turning to Nicara- qua and Costa Rica. This was MT. Cor mans plan already outlined in these
 dispatches-a plan to have the Democrats | take their stand o nthe literal enforce | ment of the Sooner law and to avoid
 ultra condemnation of the administra-
 ton. The Maryland senator made stir
 ring appeal ts the conference to adopt
 the Carmack resolution, but signs of dis
 sent were at once apparent Senator af- | ter Senator rose and declared he could
 not give his support to a proposed party
 policy which rested merely upon a tech
 nicality. It appeared that nearly every
 senator present wanted to make speech, and that scarcely any two of them held
 identical views.
 ! MT. Bacon of Georgia offered a resolu-
 tion censuring the administration for it's
 nasty recognition of the Panama Repub-
 lie and its failure to adhere to the terms
 of the Spooner act. This made MT. Cor | he full Iai
 plan to antagonize the President without
 going so far as to stir the patriotic feel
 ing of the country railing to pieces. Sen | ator German asked MT. Bacon if his
 resolution of censure were voted down
 would he, MT. Bacon, still vote for a Panama threaty when the President sent
 1t to the Senate. MT. Bacon unhesitat-
 ingly replied that he was for a canal
 treaty by some route, and that he would
 vote for a treaty. This remark wac
 greeted with jeers by many senators, and | such comments as that the senator from | Georgia was denouncing the crime, but | were made by several of his colleagues l At this juncture the blood in the veins of the minority statesman began to take
 on high temperature. Everyone wanted
 to talk. and it was with difficulty tl4at 8 eemblance of order was maintained Sen
 ator Berry of Arkansas tried to calm the
 ruffled waters. by moving to refer the
 whole question to the steering committee [ No sooner was one proposition made
 than some one jumped up with another
 or with passionate speech, and the re-
 suit was that no progress could be made | toward an agreement MT. Newlands of | Nevada tried his hand at peace-makine
 but with no better results. He proposed
 to name a special Democratic committed
 to confer with a like committee of Dem
 ocrats from the House of Representa-
 tives to take up the questions of Panama
 tariff, etc, and formulate a party policy
 Nothing was done about this. No action
 was taken on any resolution.
 Senator Teller of Colorado, MT. Dubois
 of Idaho and other extremists, who are
 opposed to any canal by any route, made
 violent speeches in criticism of the Pres
 ident. It soon became apparent that not
 only Senator Bacon, but his colleague
 MT. Clay. Senator Martin of Virginia and
 Senator Simmons of North Carolina were
 ready to support the Panama canal
 treaty when the President sends it to the
 Senate, and ill-natured remarks were
 more openly made about these senators | having fallen under administration in- i fluence through the magic power of fed | eral patronage.
 Disguised and angry, Mir German de-
 clared it seemed to be impossible to SC.
 cure even a shadow of harmony in the
 Democratic ranks, though they were forced to fight big majority who rarely