Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-08-12
ANT|-LODBY BILL
MEETS DEFEAT BY
SENATE F|L|BUSTER
Was a Fight Between Progress
sive Supporters of Hoke
Smith Working for Bill and
Brown Supporters


| ing put on it's second reading in the
| senate Tuesday afternoon, and thereby
| defeated It. From beginning to finish II
| was a fight between the progressive
! supporters Of Hoke Smith on the one
| hand, working to pass the bill, and the
| Brown supporters and sympathizers on
the other. working to kill it. If the bill
| had been put on it's merits 1t would have
, passed, as II had 30 votes.
/ Not only did the filibuster kill the anti
| lobbying bill, but 1t killed half dozen
! other bills OF Importance, on which there
| would have been no organized fight and
| which would have passed in all proba-
bility. These bills lost out like the anti
| lobbying bill, because they were not put
! on their second reading. The senator's
| engaged in f1libustering had no fight on
these bills, but they were so determin-
ed to kill the anti-lobbying bill that
! 1t didn't make any difference to them
| how many. others they killed in accom-
plishing their purpose. --s.,...- 49,
Repeated efforts were made to- stop
| the fllibuster for the sake of saving these
bills. but the senators making these
appeals simply wasted their breath.
| These appeals were not made by sena-
tors working for the anti-lobbying bill.
They were made by Senators Matthews
and Slater, who were both lined up with
| the opponents of it.
And not only did the flibustering
forces refuse to- let up and show quar-
, ter. to these bills. but by refusing to
! yield the floor during the last Is or 20
minutes OF the session they cut OF re-
/ peated efforts to make a motion to have
night session, just in order to save
| these other bills. And the senator want
ing to make this motion was Senator Sla-
ter one of the strongest opponents of
the anti-lobbying bill.
SUPPORTERS IN MAJORITY. q,
On the preliminary fight at the morn
! ing session the supporters of the anti
lobbying bill showed up strongly in the
majority. The preliminary fight was
| made to get the bill out of the hands
of the committee on banks and banking
| to which it had been referred Monday on
motion Of Senator Julian McCurry, one of
| the leaders Of the filibuster Failing to
| get the bill away from the banking COM
mittee, the supporters of the bill had
] rallied again and made q concerted rush
to force the committee to report on 1t
| Immediately. Then Senator Morris. also
a leader In the fllibuster, the chairman
| OF the committee, had fatty refused to
call the committee-taking refuge in his
constitutional right to retain his seat as
| long as the senate remained in session
| So the supporters of the bill had to
compromise by waiting until 8 o'clock
| for the banking committee to report
Trey recommended that the bill do not
pass, which was just what the whole
senate knew they would do. In fact.
Senator Morris. at the morning session.
had predicted as much.
And II was when the supporters of the
bill renewed the fight with a resolution
asking the rules committee to meet at
once and set the anti-lobbying bill for an
immediate special order-for the purpose
OF dlsagreeing to the committees ad-
verse report-that the flibuster started.
Thls resolution was signed by a majority
| Of the senate
Senator Julian McCurry opened the fill
| buster by calling for the ayes and nays
| on the resolution. The opponents of the
| bill voted to sustain the motion, and be-
| ing IL In number they constituted the nee
essary one-fifth vote. The roll call pro-
ceeded and when the name of Senator
Calhoun-another opponent of the bill
was reached, he asked to explain his vote.
Instantly Senator McCurry objected This
made room for a motion to allow Senator
Calhoun to explain. and on this motion
the ayes and nays were called. Again
| the opponents of the bill voted to sus-
tain the call, and again the roll call pro-
ceeded. This time 1t proceeded as far as
Senator Irwin-another opponent of the
bill-before there was a request to ex-
PLdl1 NOlc. Inero was OO-
| lection by the opposition, and this made
room for another motion. On this Sena-
! tor McCurry called for the ayes and nays
SLATONe READY WITH RULE.
President Slaton was ready, rule book
In hand. He. delved into it, and present
ly emerged with rule. But the time
hadn't quite arrived when he could ap-
ply 1t, and the call was sustained. Sena-
tor Irwin talked in explanation of his
vote for the full three minutes allowed,
much to the amusement of the entire SEN
ate. When his time expired Senator Cal
houn moved to extend 1t. On this Sena-
! tor McCurry called for the ayes and
nays.
Then President slaton got a chance to
apply his rule, and he declared the call
out of order He ruled that the ayes
and nays could be called on any ques-
ton directly bearing on legislation; but
that on a purely subsidiary motion the
call could not be In order, since IL It were
the call could be prolonged indefinitely
ION an explanation of an explanation,
or an explanation OF an explanation" ad
infinitum. ..s-.. ....
On the question of allowing Senator
Calhoun to vote the supporters of the
bill stood together, and he was voted
down Then the roll call was resumed
on the main resolution. II got as far as
Then the same procedure was repeated.
little further down the list it was
repeated again. and the chair again got
a chance to apply his ruling on the sub
sidiary motions Whereupon Senator
Cahoun appealed from the ruling, put
the motion. called the ayes and nays,
and off II went again. During this roll
call Senator Matthews, one of the op-
ponents of the anti-lobbying bill, was
allowed to explain his vote and urged
tho senate to uphold the chair. He de-
plored the "flibuster and the dilatory
tactics" His words might as well not
have been uttered.
MAIN CALL FINISHED.
Finally the main roll call was finished
and the resolution was adopted. Sena-
tor McCurry moved to reconsider. SEN
ator Jackson, leader of the bills sup
porters, made the point that no business
had been transacted. He was not sus-
tanned. Again there was a roll call. It
got as far as Senator Slater. of the op-
position. They let him explain his
vote. He pleaded with the leaders of
the filibuster to stop, in order to save
other bills waiting to be read the second
time. You have already demonstrated
you can kill the BILL" said he, so wait
until tomorrow and resume the filibus-
ter, after everything else has been
saved" And. like Senator Matthews, he
oh uall not hava said uord