The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1917-03-07
SPECIAL SESSION PLANNED.
PRESIDENT SANS 1T rs NO USE
TO CALL EXTRA SESSION
UNLESS SENATE RULES
ARE CHANGED.
Adjournment of Congress Leaves
Wilson Without Power to Act as
He Deems Best in Meeting Subma.
rine Menace-COuntry in Pcrilous
Situation by Reason OF Minority
Act-Cannot Limit Debate in Up
per House.

'AAoeois NudISu 81 TcSlQont
Wilson tonight informed the country
in q statement that he may be without
power to arm merchant ships and
take other steps to meet the German
submarine menace. in the absence of
authority from congress
An extra session Of cons sss, the
president says, is required to clothe
him with authority but it is useless
to call one while the senate works
under the present rules, which per-
NIT a small minority to keep an over.
whelming majority from acting.
The president proposes therefore,
that the special session of the senate
which he has called to meet tomor-
row revise the rules ito supply the
means Of action and save the country
from disaster"
"A little group Of wilful men" says
the president in his statement, rep
resenting no opinion but their own,
have rendered the great government
OF the United States helpless and con
temptible.
The presidents statement In full
follows:
1.-THE termination Of the last ses-
sion OF the Sixty fourth congress by
constitutional limitation discloses a
situation unparalleled in the history
of the country, perhaps unparalleled
IN the history Of any modern gov.
ernment. In the immediate presence
Of q crisis fraught with more subtle
and far-reaching possibilities of ma
tional danger than any other tho
government has known within the
whole history of it's international re-
lations. the congress has been unable
to act either to safeguard the coun-
try or to vindicate the elementary
rights Of it's citizens. More than 500
of the sal members Of the two houses
were ready and anxious to act; the
house Of representatives had acted,
by an overwf Ginning majority; but the
senate was unable to act because n
little group of II senators had de-
termined that it should not.
"The senate has TO rules by which
debate 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 action if he has but the physi-
can endurance. The result in this case
is complete paralysis alike Of the
legislative and executive branches Of
the government This inability Of the
senate to act has rendered some of
the most necessary legislation Of the
session impossible at a time when the
need for 1t was most pressing ana
most evident. The bill which would
have permitted such combinations Of
capital and of organization in the eX-
port and import trade of the coun-
try as the circumstances of interna-
tional competition have made imper-
ative--a bill which the business juds-
ment of the whole country approved
and demanded-has failed.
'The opposition Of one or two SEN
ators has made 1t impossible to in
crease the fnemberShip NJ rho inte--
state commerce commission or to give
It the altered organization necessary
for it's efficiency. The conscrvatio,
bill which should have released 70!
immediate use the mineral resources
which ate still locked up in the pub
lie lands. now that their release i.
more impcratively necessary thar
ever. and the bill which would have
made the unused waterpower of the
country immediately available for in.