Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1917-03-09
May Not Be Unmixed Evil.

No act of any branch of the nation
al government since the civil war has
SO stirred the country as the action
of IL United States senators in refus-
ing the President authority he asked
to protect American citizens and Am
erican ships on the high seas last
Sunday, and yet it is very probable
that this action will prove blessing
in disguise.
1t has called the attention of the
nation to a rule of the senate which
permits such action, a rule not toler-
ated in the lawmaking body of any
other civilized nation on earth, and
this attention will beyond doubt re-
suit in change of that rule. With
this accomplished, the unpatriotic
work of Sunday will not have been in
vain. 1t is impossible to conceive of
situation that would have done so
much to crystalize public sentiment
upon the side of President Wilson as
this action in the present crisis. From
every corner of the land, it has
brought forth words of encourage
ment and pledges of support for the
President, in which political party
lines are totally obliterated, so that
those who hoped to show by the SEN
ate action that this nation was divid-
ed upon the question of the protection
of American rights on the seas have
another hope coming.
While the Herald has no desire to
impugn the motives of any man, we
confess an utter inability to under
stand the attitude OF the senators re.
sponsible for the outburst of the week.
Party politics was not concerned, as
the II ebraced seven Republicans and
five Democrats, among them acknowl-
edged leaders in both parties, includ-
ing Senator Stone, of Missouri, chair
man of the committee on foreign af-
fairs and Cummins of Iowa, and 9th
ers who have long stood high in the
councils of their party and the nation.
These men were doubtless actuated by
motives to them worthy, but they will
require long time to explain them
the nation.
The press has been unanimous in
do, Dip1C f1,o 1ntf Tow
entirely regardless of political pre-
delictions, as will be seen from the
following, the opening paragraph of
the Oregonian of Monday:
Through the disloyal conduct of -
senators, the Sixty7fourth Congress
has expired without having given to
President Wilson the authority he
asked to protect American citizens and
American rights on the sea from
threatened attack by Germany. In an
emergency without precedent these
IL senators have basely deserted the
President. They have in effect de-
clared that the United States must
abandon the freedom Of the sea at the
dictatiOn of Germany; that Germany
has the right to make the law of the
sea, and that this nation must obey
that Germany is free to murder our
citizens at sea, and that the United
States must do nothing to protect
them or to avenge them"
Our own Senator Jones, although
not included in the ~, aided in
thwarting the will of senate, al.
though he hedged by signing the
round robin, with reservation, and
for which he was severely roasted in
the legislature Monday by Representa-.
tive Mark Reed, Republican leader of
the house, and has no doubt heard
what vast majority of his constitu-
ents think of his conduct on that his.
tOrical occasion.