The Washington herald., 1917-04-19
FIRST sKIRMISH
over DRAFT BILL
ENDS IN DRAW
Senate Committee Accepts
Administration Plan Sub
stitute Offered IN House.
OUTCOME is DOUBTFUL
Lower Chamber Merely Would Permit
President to Order Consumption if
Volunteer System Fails.

The first round Of the legislative bat
tie for the enactment of a selective draft
bm providing tor the raising of an army
Of 10000 men for service in the present
war, and By the same system OF selec-
ton bringing the regular army and the
National Guard up to war strength ended
IN q draw last night
In the Senate the Committee on Mill
tary Affairs by 10 to vote accepted
me administration,s plan. while in the
House Committee a substitute provision
deleEating to the President the RESPONSE
bIlity Of applying the draft system In the
event OF the failure Of the voluntary
system was adopted by a vote Of II TO g.
The alterations in the administrators
plans By the House Committee are bit
terly resented by the President and his
advisers, to whom the substitute pro-
vision Is wholly unacceptable. So stanch
Is the opposition OF the administration
20 the sort Of a measure which the
House Committee desires to force upon
II that President Wilson yesterday took
occasion to visit the Senate and set forth
his views and the reasons upon which
they are based
Arrives at Capitol.
He arrived at the Capitol Just as the
Senate Military Committee was voting
on the paragraph of the proposed law,
and Chairman Chamberlain had the
pleasure OF Informing the Chief Execu-
tive that his wishes had been REGARDED by
the Senate.
The nght before the House Committee
Is by long odds the more bitter Of the
two confestE- Yesterdays vote for the
substitute measure 30 distasteful to the
President came after Representative
Caldwell Of New York, heretofore hard
and fast supporter OF the administration
and OF the eonscriptive system OF raising
an army for war. and Representative Da-
wilson, the newly elected Republican
member of the eommittee, had added
their votes to the opposition. The COM
uittee, IL had been believed, was tied on
the proposition OF the selective draft.
The Caldwell shift wzs uuexpectsd- The
Davidson negatiou Of the administration
wish had previously been prophesied.
Following the action OF the committee.
Representative Kahn. Of California,
tee and the most earnest supporter Of
the Presidents plan. spoke with great
bitterness OF the action Of his commit
tee colleagues. He SAID:
"ManifestIy Unfair.o
This action OF the majority Of the
Committee on Military Affairs is mani
stitute provision which they have in
serted in the proposed army law Is SIM
ply deliberate passing Of the buck" to
the President. It Is not hat-footed re-
fusal to enact a conscription Law. but a
studied avoidance OF the responsibility Of
bringing about conscription by legislative
enactment and forcing Of the Presi-
dent into a position where he has to take
the Initiative in the matter. In refusing
to accept the suggestions Of the experts
who have riade a study Of the questions.
and In ref sing TO accept the conviction
which the recent bloody experience OF
Great Britain in the present world war
conveys, the opposition Is seeking to
shield itself from possible criticism back
home
1T Is a significant fact that the only
four members Of the committee who have
actually seen military service in the
armies Of the United States. and they saw
II under the volunteer system. are sup
porting the administrators contention
for the passage OF the selective Graft law.
These members are . Representatives
Greene. OF Vermont; Crago, OF Pennsyl-
vania: Bunn. OF New York, and Tilson. of
Connecticut"
The bill as finally drafted by the COM
CONTINUED on PAGE TWO.