The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-03-02
HAD BATTLE ROYAL
SHIP SUBSIDY FINALLY WINS IN
 HOUSE.
Deraoerats at One Time seemed to Have Carried the Day But Mo- tion to Heconsider was
 yfctorfoua.

4 Washington, March 1.--It has been years since the House was the scene Of so royal a battle between the two great parties as 1t witnessed there today over the ship subsidy bull. The bill was passed, but not until after 1t had been once defeated and this fact in itself shows how close the alignment was. When the first vote disclosed q mas jority against the measure the Demo- crats and their Republican allies made the House rang with their cheers. There were several roll calls before the final favorable result was Asfeated on the first vote--ayes 154. nays 161.
 The Democrats could not retain their lead however, for on a vote to lay on the table motion to reconsider tho opponents of the ship subsidy were de- feated, 1ss to lbs, and the vote Go re- consider the first vote was adopted, lsA to 1g4. The final vote by which the bill was passed was 155 to IA. The annual subsidy for each line is to be $300, ,000 for monthly nall service or ss00.0o0 for fortnightly service, excepting the Argentine line, which is to have $400,000 for monthly service, or ss00,000 for a fortnightly service.
 No American cities are named as ports from which any of the lines are to start and the bill Is so worded thaE the lines in the Pacific to South Amer lea can touch at any number Of ports in the United States.
 The same is true of the Atlantic lines. It is provided In the piil that all the vessels profiting by this sub- yention for carrying mall must have a speed of not less than sixteen Knots and it has been repeatedly stated on | the floor of the House that no ships now engaged in the South American | trade can make anp such speed. When the bill was taken up at the | beginning of the day the amenament nresented by MT. Townsend of Mfchi- | gan. striking out the steamship line | fron the Pacific coast ports to Hawai-, Japan and the Philippine islands was | pending. 1eAro
 MT. Townsnd spoke in support of 1 his amendment and 1t was adopted, I fsS to 100.
 | Townsend moved to strike out the l line from Puget Sound to the Orient and that motion also prevailed, laV l to lOE. Then the line to Australia went out, 129 to Ill.
 | An amendment by Mir. Fordney, of Michigan. reducing the subsidy for the 1 line to Buenos Ayres s400,0O0 to $2s6,- 00N was lost-114 to 40.
 Mr. Humphreys of Washington nov ed that the line from the gulf of Mex | leo to the Isthmus of Panama be striken out He said he wanted see ltifasit was question of eeograhpy."
 An amendment bysBLr. su1zer reouir- ing ships to stop at Mexican ports which developed the fact that several members of the house do not know the names Of Mexican ports was next offered. By this time interest in the bill was intense. The galleries were crowded and the leaders on both sides of the chamber were rallying their forces for the final battle.
 It was dangerously near s s o'clock, and there was still pending Mir. Ford ney's amendment substituting tom mage tax measure. The advocates of the Littauer bill did not desire to vote on that proportion and they began to
 ilfbuster by forcing on the SuIzer amendment which was overwhelming ly defeated.
 Tellers were demanded by Mir. Lit- tauer to kill time. When the count was finally taken there was found to be only one vote for the provision. The vote was slow in the extreme and the Democrats became highly indignant. Mir. Sulzer asked to haveNthe vote by tellers abandoned. but MT. Currier CN. H.1 in the chair, held that the vote could not be interrupted. and the farce was continued until o'clock arrived, when regular order was demanded.
 The bill was then reported from the Committee of the Whole to the House and, much to the chagrin of the sup porters of the Littauer bill. Speaker Cannon held that there must still be n vote on the FordHey substitute. Tho result was unfavorabls to fEtat meas ufe and a ballot on the Littauer bill was immediately annouced. The suc- cessive votes. by which the measure was defeated, reconsldered, and finally passed. were then taken amid the keen est sort of Jockeying and vote-huntinE.