The Benson signal., 1917-03-10
WILSON TO NATION
APPEALS TO PEOPLE IN CRISIS
CAUSED BY FILIBUsTER OF
TWELVE IN SENATE.
President Declares Situation at Close
Of Sixty-Fourth Congress to Be
Unparalleled In History of
Modern Government.
Western Newspaper Union News Service.

Western Newspaper Union News Service.
Washington, M March 5.-President
Wilson Sunday night issued the fol
lowing statement, addressed "to the
Nation:
The termination of the last session of
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 crisis
fraught with more subtle and far
reaching possibilities of national dan
ger than any other government has
known within the whole history of it's
international relations, the Congress
has been unable to act either to safe
elementary rights of it's citizens.
More than five hundred of the five
hundred and thirty-one members of the
two houses were ready and anxious to
act; the House of Representatives had
acted, by an overwhelming majority
but the Senate was unable to act, be-
cause little group of senators had
determined that it 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
moIuD0r can SLdnO III the way Ol az
tion if he have but the physical en-
durance. The result, in this case, Is a
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
such combinations of capital and OF
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 it impossible to increase
the membership of the Interstate Com
merce Commission or to give it the al
tered organization necessary for it's ef-
ficiency.
The conservation bill, which should
have released for immediate use the
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
available for industry, have both
failed, though they have been under
reconsideration throughout the sessions
of two Congresses and have been
twice passed by the House of Repre-
sentatives.
The appropriations for the army
have failed, along with the appropria-
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
serve of our national banking system
to meet the unusual circumstances of
the existing financial situation.
1t would not cure the difficulty to
call the Sixty fifth Congress in extra
ordinary session. The paralysis of the
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
moment, I venture to say, than 1T has
been within the memory of any man
now in it's 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 it's
leaders can obtain unanimous consent
It's majority is powerless, helpless. In
the midst OF a crisis of extraordinary
peril when only definite and decided
shield it from war itself by the ag
gression of others, action is impos-
sible.
Although as a matter of fact the
nation and the representatives of the
nation stand back of the executive
with unprecedented, unanimity of spir-
it, the impression made abroad will, OF
course be: that it 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 it's 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
ibIe. ~
The remedy? There is but one rem
edy. The remedy is that the rules OF
the Senate shall be so altered that II
can act. The country can be relied
upon to draw the moral believe that
the Senate can be relied upon to sup
ply the means of action and save the
country from disaster.
WOODROW WILSON.