The Washington herald., 1914-04-02

| appeal President Wilson Is making fo
the passage OF a repeal bin without en-
tangling amendments
Vote viii BE Close.
On the present lineup in the Senate
the President seems to have enough vote.
to beat any such amendment. II is ad'
mitted. however. that the vote would bs
uncomfortably close. Whether the Presi.
! dent will be able TO convince those who
favor repeal with an amendment that
the success of his foreign policy demands
that he be left absolutely without In
structions as to the question Of arbitra-
| ton or the construction of the treaty, ts
| of course, 4 matter for the administra-
] ton lieutenants to settle before the vot-
| ing commences.
Strong pressure is being brought to
| bear upon the President to take some
members of the Senate. possibly the for
eign relations committee. into his conn.
dence more fully as to what he had in
mind when he wrote the concluding para.
graph in his tolls message. Senators
| feel that they, as members Of the body
4 given coordinate responsibility by the
Constitution for the handling Of interna-
tional affairs, should not be asked to vote
in the dark on the tolls question.
While the President sympathizes with
this feeling. he knows that practically
! II is impossible to take any consider.
able number OF the Senate or any Other
| group of men into his confidence and moi
have something leak" that might
4 jeopardize his entire international pro-
gram. 1t is not meant to be implied that
| the President fears his confidence would
be wilfully violated. But the very fact
that he had communicated information
of a delicate character to any consider
able body of Senators, would give rise to
|, conjectures and near truths which might
be dangerously embarrassing. And the
furnishing OF such Information to one or
more Senators obviously would defeat its
own purpose through the stirring up OF
resentment on the part OF other members
| of the Senate.
Five Proposals Made.
A meeting OF the Committee on Inter
oceanic Canals has ben called for next
Tuesday by Senator o'Gorman. The COM
mittee now has before ~ FIVE proposals
touching on the canal tolls controversy.
| Senator Owen. a member Of the COM
mittee, is the author Of q fiat repeal bill.
duplicate of the Sims bill, which the
House passed Tuesday. Senators Lewis
authorizing the President to suspend or
apply tolls as he deems wise. Senator
GallingeE has a declaration OF sentiment
in favor of free tolls. The Norris amend
ment also goes before the Interoceanic
Canals Committee. In addition, Senator
Poindexter yesterday introduced a reso-
luton ordering the repeal bill held in
allegiance until the President shall have
communicated to the Senate his reasons
IA. alfaNN Npva
goes to the Foreign Relations Committee,
where it will be pigeon-holed.
Conjecture yesterday over the tolls
controversy centered largely around the
probable action Of the Interoceanic
Canals Committee. While there was
some talk of a long delay, 1t is not be-
lieved more than ten days will be con-
sumed in committee consideration of the
various proposals. There are fourteen
members on the committee. Seven Of
these, Senators O'Gorman. chairman.
and Walsh. Borah, Bristow, Perkins,
Crawford, and Thomas, are against repeal
Six members, Senators Thornton, Chill
ton, Owen, Simmons, Page, and Brande-
gee. are in favor of repeal Senator
Shields OF Tennessee is doubtful. Sena-
tor Thomas however, though opposed to
the repeal. will vote in favor of making
an early report on a bill which will
DrlnR the QueStlOn SQuarelN before tne
Senate. Senator Shields also will vote
for an early report
Two Majority for Report.
This gives a majority Of two in favor
of a report. As the committee will be
evenly divided on the main issue II Sena-
tor Shields sides with the administration
forces, the best that can be expected
from the committee is a report without
recommendation. The worst to be ex-
pected is an adverse report by the ma
jority and a strong minority report in
favor of a fiat repeal bill.
The length of debate in the Senate still
remains extremely problematical Esti
mates vary from two weeks to two
months. Neither of these extremes
seems justified. but the debate may run
as long as five weeks II a strong bona
fide public sentiment develops against
the bill Present reports from the coun-
try at large indicate a condition of
apathy as far as the general public is
concerned with the tolls question.
At present. with the country not yet
authoritatively heard from, the vote
promises to be, not upon the merits of
the question. but dictated by questions
of political expediency. This disposition
promises a lengthy debate, but not so
long as II a strong public sentiment and
political expediency were on the same
side in the controversy.