Evening star., 1915-12-02
FIGHT ON C[OTURE
RESUMED IN CAUCUS
Senate Democrats Also Expect
Contest for Temporary
Presiding Officer.

The contest over the adoption of a
rule to provide for cloture of debate
was renewed when Senate democrats
resumed their caucus at O'Clock this
afternoon.
The way for action on the measure
had been paved as the result of an
agreement reached by the special rules
committee proposing limitation of de-
Sate to prevent filibusterng. The
cloture rule would provide means for
forcing a measure to vote whenever
f1libustering tactics become apparent.
Contest Expected Tomorrow.
Indications were that the rule would
not be approved without a vigorous
fight. Several democratic senators had
announced their intention to oppose it
A lively contest also is promised over
the caucus selection tomorrow of a
president pro tempore Of the Senate
Senator Clarke of Arkansas, who is a
ca ndidate for reelection to that place
will have Senator Pomerene of Ohio as
an opponent. The entrance of'the lat
ter into the race is the elimination oil
opposition to Senator Clarke because OF
his antagonism to the ship purchase
bill at the last session. Administration
senators had sought, however, TO al
Law the opposition for the sake OF
party harmony.
To Prevent Filibuster.
The cloture rule agreed to by the spe-
cial committee would provide means for
forcing a measure to vote whenever
fIibustering tactics become apparent. 1t
would provide that when any Senator
arises and asserts the opinion that an
attempt is being made to- obstruct a
measure, and claims the right of the Sen
ate to proceed to a vote, the chair shall
submit to the Senate without debate the
question: "is it the sense Of the Senate
that an attempt is being made to Oh
stIuct, hinder or delay vote
If the question is decided i'll the af-
firmative it would be in orde> for any
senator to move to fix a time for taking
vote the pending measure and all
amendments. such motion to be decided
without debate. The time to be fixed
would be at least two calendar days
after the making of such a motion.
Plans of Proponents.
Senator Owen, Senator Walsh and
others interested in having a cloture
rule adopted are bent upon raising
the ouestion as to whether the Senate
is a continuing body or not, and
whether the rules do not have to be
re-adopted at the opedng of each new
Congress.
They contend that only in this way
will IT be possible to put through a
cloture rule in the Senate without hav-
ing almost endless debate over the
adontion of the rule itself. For if the
Senate is not a continuing body and the
rnIes have to be readopted, the sup
norters of this Idea say II will be pos
sih,e to amend the rules before they
are adopted by the Senate, under the
ordinary parliamentary law which per
mits moving the previous question:.
thereby shutting off debate.
II is expected that this question vii
! he thoroughly discussed during the meet.
inc this afternoon, There is a wide di-
| ,,eppenfe of opinion on this question, an6
some OF the senators who are favorine
cloture do not look with favor upon the
suggestion that the Senate is not a con
timing body in every sense and that the
rules have to be adopted at the opening oi
each Congress.
| There are some of the democratic
senators who are absolutely. opposed to
cInture In any form, and others who
will support only the mildest kind of q
cloture rule
Republicans Are Baking.
Those republicans to whom the demo.
Gratis looked for support in the cloture
hpht in the Senate itself have served