Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1917-03-06
NATION MAY Be
LEFT HELPLESS
Statement From White House
Declares Executive Has No
Authority to Arm Ships.
NOTHING U. S. CAN DO

Authority 10 AIM SnlpS.
NOTHING U. S. CAN DO
Washington, March 5.-President
Wilson last night informed the coun-
try in statement that he may be
without authority to arm neutral ships
and take other steps to meet the Ger
man submarine menace, in the absence
of authority from congress.
An extra session of congress, the
president says, is required to clothe
him with authority but it is useless to
call one while the senate works under
the present rules which permit small
minority to keep an overwhelming
majority from acting.
Asks British Rules.
The president proposes, therefore,
that the special session OF the senate,
which he has called to meet tomor-
row, revise the rules ito supply the
means of action and save the country
from disaster"
"a little group of wilful men," says
the president in his statement, repre-
senting no opinion but their own,
have rendered the great government
OF the United States helpless and con-
temptible."
Unparalleled Condition.
The presidents statement in full
follows:
1.-THE termination of the last session
of the Sixty-fourth congress by con-
stitutional limitation discloses a stu
alton unparalleled in the history of
the country, perhaps unparalleled in
the history of any modern govern
ment. In the immediate presence of
crisis fraught with more subtle and
far-reaching possibilities of national
danger than any other the govern.
ment has known within the whole
history of its international relations,
the congress has been unable TO safe
guard the country or to vindicate the
elementary rights OF its citizens. More
than 500 of the 53l members of the
two houses were ready and anxious
to act; the house of representatives
had acted by an overwhelming ma
jority; but the senate was unable to
act because a little group of eleven
senator's had determined that it should
not.
Rules Do Not Cover.
"The senate has no rules by which
debate can be limited or brought to
an end, no rules by which dilatory
tactics of any kind cal. be prevented.
A single member can stand in the way
of action if he have but the physical
endurance. The result in this case
is complete paralysis alike of the
legislative and of the executive
branches of the government.
This inability of the senate to act
has rendered some of the most neces-
sary legislation of the session impos-
sible at a time when the need for it
was most pressing and most evident.
The bill which would have permitted
such combinations Of capital and of
organization in the export and import
trade of the country as the circum-
stances of international competition
have made imperative-a bill which
the business judgment of the whole
country approved and demanded-has
failed.
Whole Program Falls.
"The opposition of one or two sem
ators has made it impossible to in
crease the membership Of the Inter
state Commerce commission or to
give it the altered organization neces-
sary for its efficiency. The conserva-
ton bill which should have released
for immediate use the mineral re-
sources which are still locked up in
the public lands, now that their re-
lease is more imperatively necessary
than ever and the bill which would
have made the unused water power of
the country immedia, ely available for
industry have both failed, though they
have been under consideration
throughout the sessions of two con-
crosses and have been twice passed
by the house of representatives.
Army Bills Fail.
"The appropriations for the army
have failed, along with the appropri-
atoms for the civil establishment of
the government, the appropriations
for the military academy at West
l. ONT, and the general deficiency bill
1t has proved impossible to extend
the powers of the shipping board to
meet the special needs of the new
situation into which our commerce
has been forced or to increase the gold
reserve of our national banking sys-
tenn to meet the unusual circum-
stances of the existing financial situa-
ton"
No Cure In Extra Session.
1T would not cure the difficulty to
call the Sixty-ffth congress in extra
ordinary session. The paralysis the
senate would remain. The purpose
and the spirit of action are not lacking
now. The congress is more definitely
united in thought and purpose at this
moment, | venture to say, than it has
been within the memory of any man
now in its membership. There is not
only the most united patriotic pur-
pose, but the objects members have
in view are perfectly clear and def