The Holly chieftain., 1917-03-09


Washington, March 5-President
Wilson Sunday night issued the fol-
lowing statement, addressed "to the
Nation:
the Sixty-fourth Congress by constitu-
tional limitation discloses a situation
unparalleled In the history of the coun-
try, perhaps unparalleled in the his
tory of any modern government. In
the immediate presence of a crisis
fraught with more subtle and far
reaching possibilities of national dam
ger than any other government has
known within the whole history of its
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 and thirty zone members of the
act; the House of Representatives had
acted, by an overwhelming majority,
but the Senate was unable to act, be-
cause a little group of senator's had
determined that 1t should not.
The Senate has no rules by which de-
bate can be limited or brought to an
end; no rules by which dilatory tactics
of any kind can be prevented. A single
member can stand In the way of ac-
tion il he have but the physical en-
durance. The result, in this case, is
complete paralysis alike of the legisla-
tive 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 impossi-
BILE at time when the need for it was
the most pressing and most evident
The bill which would have permitted
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.
The opposition of one or two sena-
tors has made 1t 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
of two Congresses and have been
twice passed by the House of Repre-
sentatives.
The appropriations for the army
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 commerce has
been forced or to increase the gold re-
of ratt no1 how <i,,rr -sfn
to meet the unusual circumstances of
the existing financial situation.
1t would not cure the difficulty to
call the Sixty-fifth Congress in extra
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
been within the memory of any man
now in its membership. There is not
only the most united patriotic purpose
but the objects members have in view
are perfectly clear and definite.
But the Senate cannot act unless its
leaders can obtain unanimous consent
Its majority is powerless, helpless. In
the midst OF crisis of extraordinary
action can make the nation safe or
shield 1t from war itself by the ag-
gression of others, action is impos-'
sible.
nation and the representatives of the
nation stand back of the executive
with unprecedented unanmity of spir
it, the impression made abroad WILL of
course, be that 1t is not so, and that
other governments may act as they
please without fear that this govern
ment can do anything at all. We can
not explain. The explanation is incred-
ible.
The Senate of the United States Is
the only legislative body in the world
which cannot act when its majority is
ready for action.
A little group of wilful men repre-
senting no opinion but their own have
rendered the great government of the
United States helpless and contempt
ible.
The remedy? There is but one rem
edy. The remedy Is that the rules of
the Senate shall be so altered that 1t
can act. The country can be relied
upon to draw the moral. I believe that
the Senate can be relied upon to sup
ply the means Of action and save the
country from disaster.
WOODROW WILSON.