Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-03-05
ILSON MOVES TO ARM CRAFT;
SUMMONS GREGORY AND LANSING

tion was paid to the effect upon the present
| situation Of the statute TO which Senator
| Lodge made reference When the armed
| ship bill went down 20 defeat several mem
| bers Of the Cabinet were Of the opinion
| that the President would give the order to
| have the Navy Department furnish guns TO
the vessels Of the American Line and such
| other vessels Of American register which
| applied for guns as means Of protection
! against U-boats.
HOT FROM THE PRESIDENT
The President went back TO the white
House from the Capitol as soon az he had
taken the oath Of office In the Presidents g
room u the Senate chamber lie went
driving in the Afternoon ami apparently had
no leisure Intll early IN the evening to pre-
pare the public statement afterward issued
from the White House offices. The copies
OF tho statement given to the press show
evidence Jf having been prepared under
hurry orders as II the original from which
the copies we're made had come hot from
the Presidents typewriter TO the copyists
sheet by sheet
Before issuing the statement the Presi-
dent had conference at the White House
with Colonel H. NJ. House. of New York
Vance Mccormick. chairman os the Demo-
cratic National Committee secretary Nc
AdoO Postmaster General Burleson and
Secretary rumuty.
Late last night the white House au-
thori2ed some changes IN the Presidents
statement which Indicate that doubt re-
mains as To the effect Of the old law on
the Presidents right to take step for the
protection Df American commerce.
In the statement as first given 10 the
press there was a paragraph IN which the
President speaking in the third person, as
serted that lit had been found that there
were certain Did statutes yet uurcpcaled
which raised insuperable practical obstacles
and virtually nulified his power"
Several hours after the statement was
given Jut the white House asked that the
change be made IN the sentence quoted
This change modified the dlrectness Of the
sentence so as to say that the Did law, as
yet unrepealed, may" raise obstacles and
may nullfy The Presidents power 20 arm
ships without the authority of Congress.
II is believed that these changes Indicate
that the President may have seen the ap-
plication If the old statutes in new light
after his statement was issued. At least.
they suggest that A doubt has been raised
in the Presidents mind as to his earlier i'm.
preston that ne was forbidden TO arm
ships unless the statute of 1919 was re.
pealed and authority given him to furnish
naval guns to vessels for the American mCr-
chant MARINE
FILIBUSTER IN SENATE
The ilbuster against the armed neutral
ity bill i'm the Senate was maintained to the
last minute, despite the fact that great
majority Of Senators were in favor Of bring
NJ the bill to a vote and had signihed their
rtention OF voting for II. During the night
friends Of the measure drafted a statement
intended TO show the public that the
passage Of the bill was only prevented by
4 small minority exercising their right to
free speech under the rules of the Senate.
This statement was signed by seventy-six
uf the ninety-six Senator's Seven Repub-
licans and five Democrats refused to sign
1t and eight other Senators could no: be
reached at the time, although it is believed
that several Of these nine would have signed
had they had the opportunity.
Despite this clear manifestation Of the
sentiment of the Senate. the fllibustcr held
sway until the hour of adjournment was
reached The closing hours Of this remark