The Hawaiian gazette., 1916-03-24
Armed Merchantmen TangIe
Keeps Senate and House From
Any Real Work T.
CONCENTRATE ATTENTION
ON PRESIDENTS PROBLEM
Democrats Of Bryan Stripe Max
ing Bitter Fight Upon
Administration
By ERNEST q. WALKER.

e. AOAN1 NhNh -
ceptional episodes as the President &
demand about armed merchantmen are
tremendously disconcerting to 9 ngte' s
The senate, as Il were, has a single
track mind. Attention. can be Genterod
there on only one big thing at a time,
Ditto the national house. Some actual
Progress has been made with gene.al
legislation the past week, but not as
much as should have been. The excite.
ment has been all absorbing. The con.
gressiOnal leaders, such as they were,
have been concentrating on the Presi,
dent s problem. AZ
This promises to continue in SONS
measure for another week and all told
well nigh fortnight of the time Of a
lagging congress will be occupied in
Strengthening ont the trouble that a LOT
of Democratic meddlers are chi hy re.
sponsible for. This, however, does not
seem as lamentable as the lack of pa,
triotism in the, balance with individual
political advantage in both b anches
of congress. The situation has uu.
doubleday been graver than the m
Pr"hension ~ the average citizen. NJ
one may ever know how close to war
with Germany tho recent congress ion a
differences have brought us.
Team Work In Senate
There was splC mild team wark in the
senate, not only in facing the s;tuqtinn
when the house seemed not to have III,
stamina to do ii, but in cooperating to
vote without debate. Repub leans be
1t said, WIRE quite as public spirited
and non-partisan in that regard. 1t
was felt the influence upoA the B Rim
foreign office would be much more eff
fcctive If the vote w're taken without
discussion. The appalling indisc e Jon
OF Senator Gore, whose blindness saves
him from much criticism richly de,
served, had Impressed upon fore ign re
latiOns senators the desirability Of NJ
moge talk in the senate about the ne,
gotiations. 49,. !,
The aftermath has len clearly dis
appointing. Opposition senators, and a
few others W ~uld haze their say. There
was Senator McCnmber of Moth D1-
kota, whose constituency includes
many Swedes and Germans. There
were Senator Sherman of Illinois who
thinks he is a Presidential candidate
and who represents many hyphenatel
German press but the fractional Demo
cratic press which nags President W
son opened fire, praising Gore AMI
claiming that the s"nate vote did not
mean q victory for the administration.
All this was noted by members of the
house., especially Republicans, who
have been encouraged to stand up in
opposition to the President and to
make q sat 'sfactory vote in the house
more difficult
Middle, States Make Trouble
Incidentally, n g Cd part of R,puh-
mean oppos ton to the President in tn :
senate came from the Mi sissippi Val
ley and the so-called Middle West.
There was only one Eastern VOTE
against the President in the senate
that of Senator Gallnger of New
Hampshire. He was almost the last
Republican frNn whom this might have
been expected, for he is Canadian bora.
There were two Republicans in opposi
ton from the Pacific coast Clones of
Washington and Works of California;,
and three If Borah of Ilaro be counted
in fiat category.
Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin and a
few other states in that section have
been giving the most trouble in the
hnrse. representative Cooper Of Wis
consip has been quite active in behalf
OF a resolution to warn Anne. leans off
merchantmen, defensivelv armed. Rep
resantative Mann of illinois, the M,
nority leader, whom Pre-. ident Wilson
invited to the White House for consul
tation, has proven 80 aggressive on the
antl-administration side that it is ad
mitted a mistake was made in inviting
him, House Republicans have shown
much stronger disposition to play pol.
itics with the Situation than was shown
in the senate. OF course, thu excuse is
available that all memf ers of the no s,
come mp for reelection this autumn,
which holds true of only onc-third Of
the senate
Unjust Taunts Often Fly
IL would hardly be fair to charge
that the Middle West, which has been
doing so much backing and filing over
this. armed merchantmen issue. is any
less patriotic than the rest of the coun
try. But unjust tannts often hy peri
sistentiy over a. series of yeas and it
may happen that Miss" nj, WiScou sin
Illinois. fNebTaFka and Iowa Will have
to squirm' under unpleasant chararteri
zations on that score 1t will he re-,
membered that the West, il not the
South, was a. long time firing of filings
at New England for being nervous dur
ing the early part of the Spanish War
Cloak rom sages aud even orators
upon the public. platform r. font Of
telling how New England could not
ST. e. for fear of Cervera = fleet.
The emphasis by scores of cong ess
men recently that the country docs not
want war with Germany is rrcog0iEea
as entirely true. Bat the state depart
meat and the White. House real z,
keeply how damaging this is to the ne,
"otiathprF just now. A lot of Repub-
leans who seized upon the Pr sident =
unfortunate, although well meaning