The Minneapolis journal., 1903-03-10
CLOSURE G J! I. In IN SENATE
Why That Body 1! s1ss anxious : . Re
sssssx tain Legislation by ''Unai-
.ssss5s " NOUS Consent"
Hoy ! y It Gives the Senate More Power
by Comparison With the
,r House.

From The Journal Bureau, Room IS, Post Build.
ing, Washington.
Washington, March 1O.-The debate be-
tween Mr., Cannon representing ! the
house, with Messrs. Hale and Allison *on
the part Of the senate. deserves rank
among the highly significant controver-
sizes of recent years. The conditions were
peculiarly ripe for it. ..~e
In his famous valedictory Mr.. Cannon
charged that he had been compelled to
agree to an item of $4,000, which he be-
lieved wholly unworthy. Yet one senator
and everybody knew he meant Mr.. Till
| man-had held up the senate and so the
whole congress. This Mr.. Cannon called
Legislative blackmail," and he expressed
the hope that the country would rise
against the continuation of such a con-
dition, for unless it did so the house would
dwarf into relative insignificance as a
legislative body.
| It was little singular that Mr.. Till
man in his reply should acknowledge the
vigor and vitality of his threat to filibus-
! ter as a controlling factor in the case,
| when MIR. Hale, who followed in the same
attack on Cannon's speech, should have
declared that the deliberations of the con-
ference were not "in any way disturbed
or added to, or subtracted from by any
thing which the senator from South Caro-
lima did (sic) in the committee room."
| The impression which Mr.. Hale OBJ
viously intended to make in his speech
was that the senate conferees had sus-
1 tained this item on its own merit and not
because Of any power which the "unani.
nous consent system gives to an indi.
vidua1 member
OF course, If what was actually said by
the conferees within the committee room
could be made public, if the arguments
which Mr.. Hale and Mr.. Allison actually
made with Mr.. Cannon: for securing his
consent could be known, we should have
conclusive testimony If in that conclave
Hale and Allison said to the house mem.
bers: I'VE simply insist upon this item
because it is SO meritorious; the auditing
officers are all wrong in thinking it other.
wise; we know it's worth and want it tt
go in on that account that would bt
one thing. If, on the other hand they
urged that it go in as the only. way O
i quieting Tillnaan and so avoiding the fail
ure Of the bill and an extra session. tha
would be quite another. vi
Presumably what actually, took plac.
there can never be known, but with Till
man staggering through the senate
threatening root hog, or die," and will
his known success on other occasions b,
the same tactics, it is not hard to gues
what made the senate conferees hold fas
4 to this item. f - s, s ls.als-se alsss4 IS
II their 1nststence were wholly due t.
its intrinsic merits, Mr.: Cannon would b
i guilty Of peculiar degree Of perfidy II
going over the house and setting fort
in the clear cut way swhich ne did tha
this item was Legislative blackmail,
made necessary by ...unanim GUS consent
in the senate. Did Cannon make this u
a out of whole cloth The country lla
known many other instances, such as MI
Carter's talking the river and harbor bi
to death, and Mr.. Quay's compelling com
i promises in the Wilson tariff bill, to b
sufficiently assured that Mr.. Tillman ha
an effective weapon within reach. Tha
. he intended to use it he affirms in hi
formal reply of March 5.
! In the: popular discussion Of the senat
rules which is likely ts0@command increas
ing attention, it should be rernenlbere
that the testimo1lY Yss6f sserla tors tlleniselve
,, on the question: can not be regarded a
disinterested. The .'unanimous consent
plan gives the senate as such SO niue
more power by comparison with the hous
! than it would have were their rules some
where near alike, that It is only naturs