Arizona republican., 1917-03-06
CAUCUS FUR CHANGE IF
 SENATE RULES
Republican A. p. Leased Wire]

i WASHINGTON. March With President Wilson's demand for d change in senate rules to make i'm ] possible in the future such a filibuster as the one by which |. handful of mem bers defeated the armed neutrality bill ] fresh in their minds, senate democrats will caucus tomorrow on program for the special session.
 ] The session. called primarily to pass upon appointments to office, began formally today and will get down to 1 business tomorrow
 1 Senator owen. who has been the ] chief proponent of a limited debate rule for many years, is prepared to | bring the subject of cloture before the caucus and B senators, most of them ] democrats. have signed an agreement | to support the rule he proposes. ! If the caucus decides to stand behind | this proposal and make it the chief is- sue of the session, the senate may 1 spend the summer in Washington in- stead Of disposing of it's work in a few ! days as usual Many senators who | have participated in various such 1lshts In the past believe it would be i more difficult to get the senate to ] "f1-NN tO c iAlllALtu utBdlt rule LnIn lt would be to get a declaration of war against Germany or to pass the armed | neutrality bill that died yesterday be- cause the rules say senator cannot ! be taken from the floor when he wishes to keep on talking. There has been no caucus among opponents of cloture but l republicans in the cloak rooms today predlcted that the minority party al 1 most to man would oppose such q | alrr ~r-- ! would be democrats to side with them. The biggest present asset of those i Who Wish a change in the rules is the l president and the public opinion his statement denouncing the present rules 1 IS expected to arouse. Never before in the history of the many suggestions | that have been made for such a change
 mas a president openly aligned himself l m It's favor, nor has public attention generally been called to what he con slders fault in it's method of pro
 cedure The president is expected 10 ! continue his insistence for a change. but even optimistic champions of cioture think it will be difficult to
 Keep public interest centered on such a question: 4 majority can force open ueoate but to do so you'd offer oppnr- tunlty for public discussion of the present situation and possibly
 strengthen the European opinion that
 congress IS divided in supporting the ! president in his international policy.
 Lhe republicans, aside from any per
 sonal views they may have ahout the
 presidents statement and its intent 10
 lorce a change in the procedure of the
 ieslslatlVe branch, will oppose the pro-
 posed rule just as minOrities always oppose lt because unlimited debate IS one of their most potent Weauons Tho fDrOUrpES1Na
 pated In the killing of the armed neu-
 trallty bill are understood to be eX ceedlngly bitgfr over the presidenf's
 statement denouncing them. IL is
 pointed out, too, that they often have
 profited by filibusters and some of
 them were prepared to employ one this
 year against the river and harbor hin
 II It ever had reached the senate floor
 Dehiocrats who may oppose the
 change in rules remember that the
 tune may come when they will find themselves again in the minority. If
 was filibuster which Senator O'Gor-
 man, democrat, used many years ago
 70 defeat force bill on the negro en-
 franchisement and that fact never has
 been forgotten.
 some senators do not regard q fight over the rules at this time as particu- larly opportune because they say there | iS no one Tn the senate who actually
 can lead majority no matter what
 title may be given him and whether or
 not the president puts the power of his
 backing behind him.
 ; There are 16 new senators and how they will stand on a cloture rule mo- body knew tonight It is regarded as probable that, for the time being, they = will for the most. part line 0p with their l respective parties and apparently their
 coming will make little difference in
 a rules fight.
 If thirty or forty senators are op-
 posed to a change since the senate
 must operate under the rules that now
 exist until it can change them. they
 would be able to talk about as long as
 the senate cares to stay in session. in voking the very tactics which the pres
 ident wants barred in the future
 Unless the rules fight comes up at tcnce, the senate probably will proceed
 when the president returns for confir-
 nation most of the HOO nominations
 which failed last session. Few of them
 will lead to prolonged discussion eX- :, cept that of Dr. Cary T. Grayson the , presidents naval aide, to be medical n director and rear admiral which was a fought in the last session. The treaty . to pay Colombia sl5,000, 900 for the separation of Panama will lead to long : discussion, if taken up, and since f treaties must be ratified by two 6 thirds vote. there is not a great deal of hope that it will go through.