Evening star., 1915-02-10

who Is to succeed Mr.. Underwood as
majority leader after March 4, was next
, to call. also spending half an hour with
Mr.. Wilson. With both men the Presi-
dent discussed the advisabllity Of at
taching the ship purchase bill to tho
Weeks bill in tho assumption that az
the republicans Of the Senate supported
| that bill when before the Senate they
| would be placed at q decided disad-
| vantage II the bill should be returned
| to them plus tho ship purchase meas
ure Of the administration.
Representative Underwood Is under
stood to have told the President that
he believes the House has a majority
| in favor of such a measure as the
| Weeks bill amended, and also that the
chances Of the passage of the admin
House are doubtful. One Of the in
teresting phases of the next House
would be the fact that the new ma
jority leader. Representative Kitchin.
chase bill. If the measure Is laid be-
fore the House at this session Mr..
Kitchin will take no steps to work
akainst Its passage; but It ttr,1n may ~ be
should the bill come up for debate and
vote in the next House Leader kitchin
intends to work vigorously against IT
unless a Transformation occurs in his
opinienA on the subject.
Another Plan Presented.
Another plan for forcing through q
ship purchase bill lies in introducing
| in the House the Gore substitute. This
measure is a modified form of the reg
ular ship purchase measure which Is
now causing the administration anx-
iety. It prohibits the purchase of the
ships of a belligerent nation and pro-
vides for the out-and-out operation OF
the purchased ships through a ship
Just which of these plans will be
adopted, II either. was problematical
when the House leaders got together
to whisper the latest developments to
man on the team will be necessary to
get action in the House. and to that end
Chairman Alexander of the merchant
| marine committee and Chairman Henry
of the rules committee expect to VISIT
| the White House for conferences.
| This afternoon the President is to see,
in different engagements. Representatives
Fitzgerald, Henry, Webb. Adamson, FLOOD
and Padgett, the latter being chairman OF
the House committee on naval affairs. be-
fore which the Weeks bill is now pending.
Mr.. Henry, as chairman of the rules COM
mittee of the House, Is to be consulted as
| to what plans may be devised to force the
shipping bill through Congress at this
| session. other phases of the problem to be
| taken up with the other visitors.
If the Weeks bill attachment does
| not meet the approval of the visitors
the President wants to know what they
| think of the House passing the ship
| ping bill in its present form as an in
dependent measure, thereby giving 1t
some prestige and position for quick
| legislative action should the bill be
| pushed through the Senate in the last
| stages of the session.
| AS matters now stand, If the demo-
Gratis should outmaneuver the repubh-
cans in the Senate and pass the bill
| in the last moments, serious difficulty
would confront the House in getting 1t
| through. If the House passes a bill
now containing provisions that appear
of the Senate the measure would be
| in position for a hasty conference and
passage in the closing minutes Of Con-
gress.
Provision Against Contingencies.
The President wishes to provide
against contingencies of an extra ses-
sion if he can do so. and 1t develops to-
day that he wishes to help prime the
democratic leaders for q final rush at
the last minute that may stave or an
extra session.
Representative Kitchin is strongly
opposed to an extra session. and told
the President his views on this ques-
tion. The members of the House ways
and means committee do not like the
thought of an extra session.
The President, however, is strongly
bent upon the passage of the shipping
bill, even IL 1t necessitates an extra
session, but he told Mr.. Kitchin and
others today that he has not given up
hope of securing the passage of the
measure at this session and, to avoid
an extra session, wanted to see every
thing possible done to settle the ques-
tion before March 4.
Secretary McAdoo was at the White
House early this morning when Mr..
Underwood was there. He Is said to
have impressed upon the President and
Mr.. Underwood that If Congress ad-
journs without passing the bill the
shipping situation will be decidedly
have rushed their rates up to exorbi-
tant figures already, are holding on
from further increases. Mr.. McAdoo
states. watching the ship fight in Con-
gress.
His Activity Criticised.
Mr.. McAdoo's activity for the bill from
the beginning has been attacked a num-
ber of times lately, the charge being made
that he Is the father Of the measure and
is furnishing the administration ammuni-
ton.
The Presidents determination to ex-
haust all efforts for the enactment, in the
hope of escaping an extra session, was de-
fn hau tha