Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-03-05
President Asks for
Change in the Rules
of the u. S. Senate
Extra Session Required to Give Him Needed
Authority, But Action Useless, He De-
clares, While Present Conditions
Continue

Washington, March 4.-The President s
statement follows in full as made today
10 the country following failure of the
armed neutrality bill:
The termination of the last session OF
the 6ith Congress by constitutional limi-
tation discloses a situation unparalleled
in the history Of the country, perhaps
unparalleled in the history of any mod
ern government In the immediate pres
ence of crisis fraught with more subtle
and far-reaching possibilities Of national
danger than any other the government
has known within the history of it's in
ternational relations, the Congress has
been unable to act either to safeguard the
country or TO vindcate the elementary
rights of its citizens. More than 500 OF
the 531 members of the two houses were
ready and anxious to act; the House OF
representatives had acted by an over
whelming majority: but the Senate was
unable TO act because a little group Of II
senator's 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 b. which dlatory tactics
Of any Kind can be, prevented. A single
member can stand in the way of action
II he have but the physical endurance
The result In this case is a complete par
alysis alike of the legislative and of the
executive branches of the government.
This inability of the Senate to act has
rendered some OF the most necessary leg
isiation of the session impossible at a
time when the need for it was most
pressing and most evident. The bill
which would have permitted such combi-
nations of capital and Of organization
In the export and import trade of the
country as the circumstances of interna.
tional competition have made impera tive
"a bill which the business Judgment of
the whole country approved and demand
er-has failed.
The opposition of one or two sena-
tors has made 1t impossible to in
crease the memberships of the Inter
state Commerce Commission or to
give 1t the altered organization neces-
sary for its efficiency. The conserya
tion Dill which should have released
for immediate use the mineral re-
0O"'tcS WHlCl are sui locked up In
the public lands, now that their releas Sc
is more imperatively necessary than
ever. and the bill which would have
made the unusual water power of the
country Immediately available for in
dustry have both failed, though they
have been under consideration
throughout the sessions of two Con-
crosses and have been twice passed by
the House of Representatives
1.-THE appropriations for the army
have failed, along with the appropri-
ations 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 pow
ers Of the shipping board to meet the
special needs of the new situation into
which our commerce has been forced
or to increase the gold reserve of our
national banking system to meet the
unusual circumstances of the existing
financial situation.
TT would not cure the difficulty to
call the 65th Congress in extraordi-
nary session. The paralysis of the Sen
ate would remain. The purpose and
spirit Of action are not lacking now.