The Washington times., 1912-05-16
SPECIAL MEET OF
CHAMBER TO VOTE
ON EXCISE MEASURE
Approve The Times Atti-
i tude on the Packed"
- Session.
Continued from First Page.)

Continued from First Page.)
zee Is In no position to initiate any fur
ther action without authority of the
Chamber
, The Chamber not only voted to
adort Mr.. Schultels' motion that It OPP
pose the excise bill as passed by the
SENATE, but II also declined to act IA
rorably on Chaplin Browns motion to
take the matter out of the hands of his
subcommittee and place 1t in charge OF
our committee, although Mr.. Brown is
chairman of the municipal legislation
committee. This estops us from fur
ther consideration of the matter, al
though the resolution bearing on the
oil was negative one.
e., Regular But Hasty.
"The whole action was regular, al
Though 1t was hasty and the result, per-
hqps. of misunderstanding" he added
chantably, but nevertheless It was
regular and binding as the action of
the majority. II the committee on law
and legislation should take any further
action, 1t would be In the position of
arrogating to itself unwarranted au-
thority. New authority would be neces-
sary and that could only be given by a
special meeting of the Chamber which
le"hk uCSiuo dllcl HOllCe anu COnSlueTH-
tion to change the action Of Tuesday
might.
THE editorial in The Times yesterday
was quite In point and call of the
whole membership of the Chamber for
a special meeting would indeed be the
proper way to proceed"
Asked whether he knew that members
Iof the Chamber intended individually
TO inform members of Congress of the
circumstances under which the Cham
Der had acted Mr.. Classic declared that
ne was not aware that anyone would
do this. but added that it should not
he done, for II an error of an organiza-
ton is to be corrected he believed 1t
should be corrected within the Sody
y we don't want to be bad losers"
.sa,.! ~ said "'nd the majority ought to
Il don't know what sort of report our
lcommittee would have brought IN, but
II would have been better than the
Times has pointed out the correct way
TO proceed"
Worked Diligently.
Reviewing the work of his subcom-
lSnittee on the question, Mr.. Classic eX-
lplsined that the law and legislation
committee was charged by the Cham
Der with the duty of considering all
bills in Congress affecting the District
Of Columbia, and that at a meeting
OF the whole committee at the time the
Senate hearings on the Works bill were
In progress, p. j. Ryan had moved that
the committee take cognizance of the
matter. Upon this notions adoption,
Mr.. Classic said the chairman Mr. Sin
clair, had sent him formal notice of
his appointment as chairman CT the
subcommittee. with the request that the
matter he taken up.
I'VE went over the bill section by Sec
ton. held hearings. and worked Gili-
gently enough" he said and would
have had complete report ready in
fraA l,,1 h. Nk.o, 1lNa..
taken the matter out of our, hands II
was not until three or four days before
the meeting that I learned that an
other committee was considering the
excise bill. or course, the authority for
this action, as cited by Mr.. Shulteis,
that the board of directors had referred
the excise law question to the commit
tee on law and legislation four years
Mr.. Classic added that he was glad
enough to be relieved of the duty of
examining the provisions of the bill.
Sinclair Is Disgusted.
A. .Leftwich Sinclair. chairman of the
law and legislation committee. is frank
ly disgusted with the action of the
chamber and Is not disposed to take anv
further steps unless given specific in
structions by the organization to pro-
ceed.
Asked whether he would proceed fur
ther with the excise .dw investigation
he replied that he did not consider the
committee to be in position now to
do So
They have stolen the thing away
from the law and legislation commit
tee he said, land we have nothir,;
further before us. 7 believe the action
Of Tuesday night has done the chamber
q great deal of harm and will do TIE
liquor interests no good.
Il told a number of the liquor dealers
at the meeting that their proposed ac-
tion would not do them any good in
Congress, but that II they would ca"a-
fully examine the bill, frame definite
recommendations with respect to it's
several provisions and then make a re.
port to Congress some heddway for
their side might be made.
They came for business however.
and were not content to listen to anv
r"opostion other than that proposed by
the subcommittee on municipal legislA-
lIun. | am pretty much disgusted with
the whole matter. personally, and do not
think that our committee should do any
thing further at this time"
To a question as to whether he knew
any officers or directors of the chant
her we're considering further action Mr..
Sinclair replied that he had heard some
strong expressions of opinion after the