The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1917-03-08

Western Newspaper Onion News Servica
Washington.-Twelve Senators, led
by Senator La Toilette and encour,
aged by Senator Stone. Democrat,
Chairman of the Foreign Relations
Committee, in a filibuster denounced
by President Wilson's spokesman as
the most reprehensible in the history
of any civilized nation, detied the will
of an overwhelming majority in Con
gress up to the last minute and de-
MED to the President a law authoriz-
ing him to arm American merchant
ships to meet the German submarine
menace.
Unyielding throughout 26 hours of
continuous session to appeals that
their defiance of the President would
be humiliating to the country; uncom-
promising in a crisis described to
them as the most serious to the ma
tion since the Civil War, La Toilette
and his small group of supporters re-
an opportunity to vote on the armed
neutrality bill, and it died with the
Sixty-fourth Congress, at noon.
To fix the responsibility before the
country, 76 Senators, 80 Republicans
and 46 Democrats, signed a manifesto
proclaiming to the world that they
favored the passage of the measure.
This declaration, embodied in the
record of the Senate, referred to the
fact that the House Thursday night
had passed a similar bill by vote of
403 to 13 and also recited that the
Senate rule permitting unlimited de-
bate gave a small minority opportu-
nifty to throttle the will of the ma
jority.
The text OF the manifesto is as fol
lows:
The majority of United States Sen
ators favored the passage of the Sen
ate bill authorizing the President OF
the United States to arm American
merchant vessels, a similar bill hav-
ing already passed the House by a
vote of 40S to 13. Under the rules of
the Senate allowing unlimited debate
it appears to be impossible to obtain
a vote previous to noon, March 4,
1917, when this session of Congress
expires. We desire the statement en-
tered on the record to establish the
fact that the Senate favored the legis-
lation and would pass it if a vote
could be obtained"
Those Who Reneged.
Thirteen Senators declined to sign
the declaration but one of them, Sen
ator Penrose, OF Pennsylvania, Repub-
lican, announced he would have voted
for the bill had opportunity been af-
forded him. The IL who went on rec
ord with the 13 members of the House
against granting to President Wilson
the authority he asked from Congress
in the crisis were:
Republicans-Clapp, Of Minnesota;
Cummins, Of Iowa; Gronna. of North
D,.kota; Kenyon, Of Iowa; La Toilette,
of Wisconsin,; Norris, of Nebraska;
Works, OF California;.
Democrats-Kirby, Of Arkansas;
Lane, Of Oregon; OGormsn, of New
York; Stone, of Missouri; Vardaman,
OF Mississip2i-5.
Associated with them in opposition
to the armed neutrality bill were the
following Representatives who voted
against the House bill.
RepubIicans-Bened of Califor-
mia; Cary. Of Wisconsin; Cooper, of
Wisconsin; Davis, of Minnesota Hell.
Eesen, of North Dakota; Lindbergh,
of Minnesota; Nelson, of Wisconsin;
Stafford, of Wisconsin; Wilson, of Illi-
nois-9.
Democrats-Decker, of Missouri;
Shackleford, Of Missouri; Sherwood,
of Ohio.
Socialist-London, of New York;.
Lineup Of the Patriots.
The rs Senators who signed the
manifesto were:
Democrats - Ashurst, Bankhead,
Deckham. Broussard, Bryan, Cham
bsrlain, Chiffon, Fletcher, Hardwick,
Hitchcock, Hollis, Hughes, Husting,
James, Johnson of South Dakota,
Kern, Lea, Lee, Lewis, Martin OF Vir-
ginia, MARITIME Of New Jersey, Myers,
Newlands, Overman, Owen, Phelan,
Pittman, Pomerene, Ransdell Reed,
Robinson, Salisbury, Shafroth, Shep-
pard, Shields, Simmons, Smith of
Georgia, Smith of Maryland, Smith
of South Carolina, Swanson, Thomas,
Thompson, Tillman, Underwood,
Walsh and Williams-46
Republicans-Borah, Brady, Bran
deee, Catron, Clark, Colt Curtis, Dill
lingham, Dupont, Fall, Fernald, Hard
ing, Jones, Lodge, McCumber. Nc
Lean, Nelson, Oliver, Page, Poindex-
ter Sherman, Smith of Michigan,
Smoot, Sterling, Sutherland, Town
send, Wadsworth, Warren, Watson
and Weeks-30.
or the seven Senators not recorded,
three-Gallinger and Goff, Republic. .
ans, and Gore. Democrat-were alb |
sent on account of sickness Senators
Lippit, Republicans, and Johnson, OF
la