New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1917-03-09
WILSON TO NATION
APPEALS TO PEOPLE IN CRISIS
CAUSED BY FlLlBUSTER OF
TWELVE IN SENATE.
President Declares Situation at Close
Of Sixty-Fourth Congress to Be
Unparalleled In History Of
Modern Government.


Western Newspaper Union News Service.
Washington, March 5.-President
Wilson Sunday night issued the fol-
lowing statement, addressed "'to the
Nation:
The termination of the last session Of
the Sixty-fourth Congress by constitu-
tional limitation discloses Il situation
unparalleled in the history of the
try, perhaps unparalleled in .he his
tory of any modern government. In
the immediate presence of a crisis
fraught with more subtle and far
reaching possibilities of national dan
ger than any other government has
known within the whole history of lts
International relations, the Congress
has been unable to act either to safe
guard the country or to vindicate the
elementary rights of its citizens,
More than five hundred of the five
hundred ana t~htrty-One members of the
two houses were ready and lnXiOuS to
act; the House of Representatives had
acted, by an overwhelming majority,
but the Senate was unable to act, be
cause a little group of senators had
determined that it should not.
The Senate has no rules by which de-
bate can be limited or brought to an
end, no rules by which d~ilatory tactics
OF any kind can be prevented. single
member can stand in the way OF ac-
ll'l II ne nave bIl tue lIlS StNtl en-
dUrance, The result, IN this case. is a
complete paralysis alike Of the IeGisIH-
tive and of thu executive branches Of
TIN government.
This inability of the Senate to act
has rendered some of the most ncces-
sary IeEISlatt0n ut Tn" session tmpOSsl-
BILE ut n time when the need for il WAS
the most pressing and most evident,
III" blll which would have permitted
such combinations of capital and of
nrfF 100 T1r d I lam "a tI4- a. a. -, anal Ia. Y.-rt
trade Of the country as the circum-
stances of international competition
have made imp"ratiVc-a Bill which
the business judgment Of the whole
country approved and demanded-has
failed.
The opposition OF one or two sena-
tors has made it Impossible to increase
the membership of the Interstate Com
merce Commission or to give it the al
tered organization necessary for its ef-
ficiency.
The conservation bill, which should
have released for immediate use the
mineral resources which are Still
locked up in the public lands, now that
their release is more imperatively nee
essary than ever, and the bill which
would have made the unused water
power of the country Immediately
available for industry, have both
failed, though they have been under
consideration throughout the sessions
t'| lag 49, ~ ''tii |
twice passed by the House of Repre-
sentatives.
The appropriations for the army
have failed, along with the appropria-
tions for the civil establishment of the
government, the appropriations for the
military academy at West Point 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 stu
alton into which our has
been forced or to increase the gold re-
serve of our national banking system
to meet the unusual circumstances of
the existing financial situation,
1t would not cure the difficulty to
call the Sixty-fifth Congress in extra
ordinary session. The paralysis of 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 I 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 purpose,
the objects members hay in view
are perfectly clear and definite.
But the Senate annot act unless it's
leaders can obtain unanimous consent.
Its majority is powerless, helpless. In
the midst of a crisis of extraordinarv
peril when only definite and decided
shield it from war itself by the ag-
OF others, action is impus-
sible.
Although as a matter of fact the
nation and the representatives, of the
nation stand back of the executive
unprecedented unanimity of Spir-
t, the impression made abroad will, of
course, be that it Is not 50, and that
other governments may act as they
please without fear that this govern
nent can do anything at all. We can
rot explain. The explanation is incred- {
bic.
The Senate of the United states is
he only legislative body In the world s
which cannot act when it's majority is
for action.
A little group of wilful men repre-
ienting no opinion but their own have
the great government of the
United States helpless and contempt
BILE.
The remedy? There is but one rem
The remedy Is that the rules of
he Senate shall be SO altered that 1t
an act. The country can he relied
pom to draw the moral. | believe that
he Senate can be relied upon to sup
'ly the means of action and Jsave the
ountry from disaster. [
WOODROW WILSON. 3