Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-06-06
New Departure in Upper House
Causes Speculation as to
Future
cLoTuRE,s FIRST APPEARANCE
Departure from Old Custom May Lead
to Still Further curtailment of De-
bate-Traditions Swept Aside =
House Members Gratified-Emer-
sency Currency Being Printed.

years the theory has prevailed that
the house of Representatives loss OF
prestige was due in no small measure
to the fact that the house had adopted
rules curtailing the freedom of debate.
The increasing power Of the senate
with its freedom of debate, was
pointed to in support of this conten-
ton.
Now that cloture has made its ap-
pearance in the senate, there is nat
ural speculation as to whether the
senate, too, will go into decline. Ger
tainly the claim no longer can be made
that in the senate alone debate is free
and untrammeled.T The methods adopted
to kill Off Senator La Follette's fill
buster again the currency bill are
bound to rise to plague the senate In
future years. A good many senators
have expressed regret that ito meet the
exigencies of the moment the almost
fundamental traditions of the senate
should have been swept aside.
1t is true that the encroachment on
the freedom of debate Is a slight one
in itself, but the fear prevails that the
departure from custom may lead to
still greater inroads whenever another
exigency, arises. In this instance the
encroachment did not extend beyond
the two points of denying senator the
privilege Of utilizing roll calls tor
quorum as an aid in conducting FILL
buster and denying him the privilege
Of speaking an indefinite number OF
times on the same subject on the same
day; but In this instance the exigency
was not especially grave one. 1t was
desired to pass the currency bill 1t Is
true. but this was the long session and
could have been continued until De-
cember II necessary. If at short ses-
sion, where the life of the congress
expired by constitutional Limitation
upon q certain day, obstruction meth
DDS should threaten the defeat OF some
important measure, we might now ex-
pect to see the gag applied as effect
lively in the senate as 1t Ia used In the
house.
Veteran members Of the house who
have for years chaffed under the as
sumed superiority Of the senate do not
attempt to conceal their qualification
that the senate at last has been COM
PEELED to resort to cloture. They de-
clare the course Of the senate fully
justifies the rules in force in the house,
which has to contend with member
ship four times as large as that of the
senate. If the senate with 80 MEM
bers finds it impossible to do business
without cloture, they argue, certainly
no one will contend that the house
with its 391 members could possibly
have free debate and do Its work.
1t is rather odd that the Tightening
Of the reins in the senate should have
been coincident with a demand In the
house for less stringent rules. During
the session just closed notice was
served on the house powers that with
the organization Of the 61st congress
an effort would be made to so amend
the Reed rules as to take from the
speaker much Of the power he now
Yields The action taken by the sem
ate on the last day Of the session prob
ably will have tendency to strength
en- the position of those who defend
the present house rules.
The treasury departrr--- is losing no
time in preparing for use the emer-
gency currency notes authorized by the
Northumberland bill. 1t is announced
that the new notes, in denominations
~ e5 &1O and 800 will be ready by
July /. There is no anticipation that
the notes will be needed by that time
or at any time in the near future, but
treasury officials feel 1t their duty to
be ready at the earliest possible day
to meet any financial emergency that
may arise.
It has been decided that 1t will not
be necessary to engrave new plates for
the emergency notes. The present
plates used for bank currency will be
utilized with the addition Of the
words cor other securities" Not only
will this save time, but it will ma
terially reduce the cost of preparing
the new notes. AS it is the theory Of
many experts that the Aldrich-Vree-
land notes may never be put into cir
culation, that the mere fact Of their
availability will operate to prevent a
need for them, treasury officials do not
want to spend any more money than
is necessary in getting them ready for
use.