The Columbus commercial. (Columbus, Miss.) 1893-1922, 1917-03-08
EXTRA SESSION
APPEARS LIKELY
is PROBABLE THAT PRESI-
DENT WILL CALL SEES
SION IN JUNE.
MANY MATTERS TO
BE DISPOSED OF
Unless Supply Bills Are Passed
Government Will Be With
out Operating Funds.


session Of Congress not later thar
June is now generally conceded
among officials here to be conclusive
Although President Wilson has
given no definite indication that he
has finally abandoned his hope tina,
an extra session might be avoided
there is an almost unanimous senti.
ment among senators, representa-.
tives and officials Of the executive
department that one must be called
They declare that even if the inter-
national situation does not demand
it, it will be necessary to come back
to complete the legislative program
and fill up gaps in the governments
financial scheme caused by failure
Of some of the more important ap-
preparation measures.
So certain are many members of
Congress on this point that they are
specializing only on the probable date
of the session. The general expecta-
ton among them, said to~be based
on word passed out by officials close
to the president, that the end Of May
or sometime in June will be selected
as the time for the converting Of the
new Congress.
The progress made by senators yes
terday toward carrying out the presi-
dents recommendation for rule
limiting Senate debate generally was
regarded as strengthening the likeli-
hood of special session within q
few weeks. 1t is pointed out that in
his statement Sunday night the presi-
dent conveyed the impression by i'm
plication that such a revision of SEN
ate rules would be step preliminary
to bringing Congress back to finish
it's program. After enumerating the
important measures which had failed
the statement continued that ''it
would not cure the difficulty to call
the sixty-fifth Congress in extraor-
ulnary session unless the parliamen-
tary barrier to action in the Senate
were removed.
Should the Senate limit debate and
the presidents legal advisers decide
he has no authority to arm ships with
out congressional authority, the
armed neutrality bill undoubtedly
would take place among the measures
to be pressed by the administration
at an extra session. 1t might be
urged even if it were held unneces-
sary from legal standpoint, in or
der to line up Congress behind the
president and wipe out the adverse
impression which Mr.. Wilson believes
has resulted in some quarters from
the Senate's failure to act in the ses-
sion just closed.
But aside from the international
crisis the breaking down of the ad-
ministration's legislation program is
regarded by many officials as Of i'm
perative reason for an extra session.
There will be many flaws in the gov
ernment's financial and defensive
schedules unless some emergency ac-
tion is taken because of failure of
the big supply measures, particular
ly the army and general deficiency
bills.
How the war department can con-
tinue at all with its preparedness
plans is in fact problem for which
officials generally believe an extra
session offers the only practicable
solution. There have been runors in
Congress that some special agree.
ment might be made by treasury Of
ficials to avoid calling Congress to-
gether by an emergency allotment Of
funds to the army establishment un-
der executive authority, but so far
as have been revealed none Of the
sort has taken definite form.
For lack Of the $50, 900 to have
been provided in the great deficiency
bill, departments and bureaus all
along the line will suffer. Here, too
however, the war department will be
hardest hit, for it had counted on
$38, 900, 900 from the measure, q
large part Of it to have gone to pay
debts incurred in purchasing equip
ment for the national guard while
it was on border duty. The navy's
share of the bill was more than 81,
900 900, asked for to meet miscel
'aneous items Of expense not men
toned in the regular naval bill.
Another measure that lost ont II
the race against time at the end Of