Evening star., 1918-08-30
CAPITOL DEADLOCK
ON
PR|NC|PLEB BROKEN
House Restores Plan for Dis
trict Financing
Today.
VOTE IS 217 to- %
IN DISTRICTS FAVOR
Will Do Away With Need Of Con-
tinuing Resolution by
Congress.

The half-and-half principle of A.
mancing the National Capital. which
has been in deadlock between the
House and Senate for more than two
months. was restored by vote of the
House today. The vote was 21i to
30 in favor of restoring the principle.
The District appropriation bill for
the present fiscal year. which carried
: the proposal to abolish the half-and-
half principle. is expected to be passed
this afternoon with the half-and-half
provision eliminated. This action
now waits upon the Senate.
With the hours drawing short when
a resolution continuing last year
appropriation for the District gov
ernment and the Department of Agri-
culture would expire. Representative
Byrns of Tennessee. acting chair
man of the House appropriations COM
mittee, endeavored again today to
have the House pass a continuing
preparation during the month OF Sep
tember. This failed of action when
Representative Gillette of Massa-
chusetts objected on the ground that
he wanted the same pressure to con-
tinue upon the Senate as had been in
hu6uLlol III h6hthS lto 13ooSo ~
cede on the half-and-half principle.
House Recedes
The House by its vote today recedes
from this agreement and concurs in
Senate amendment number one to the
District appropriation bill 1t insists
upon its disagreement to amendment 81
and So. Amendment No. 1 is as regards
the half-and-haf principle.
The House in consideration OF the
District appropriation bill several
months ago accepted an amendment Of
fered by Warren Gard Of Ohio to do
away with the hal-and-hah principle.
The Senate struck out this rider and re-
this action by the Senate became
amendment No. I.
Amendment No. 81 concerns = small
amount for damages in the case Of
has been before Congress for q NUM-
Der Of years. Amendment No. SO
provides for the payment Of funds for
the District Fairgrounds on the half
from the Districts funds. The House
by its vote today insisted that the
Senate should recede on these two lat
ter amendments. ...l
Procedure Discussed.
Much of the time of the House today
was taken up with discussion of the
proper parliamentary procedure as to
SOW motions should be worded so that
the House might recede from its stand
FOR abolition of the half-aEd-half
principle and should require the Sen
ate to recede from the two other amend
. ments.
AS the matter now stands. the House
has not asked for any further con-
ference, but left the way open to meet
Senate conferees If the Senate asks for
q conference
Representative Gard today caused the
ron call vote on the question Of half-and-
halt, but in doing this he did not appear
as an obstructionist to the Districts g
legislation The motions for the House
sisson Of Mississippi. chairman Of the
subcommittee on District appropriations.
who had previously made the moton that
the House should adhere, which caused
. deadlock for at least two months.
Does Not Concede soundness.
N q statement to the House today,
he said he did not concede that the
half-and-half principle Is sound. but
took the action to relieve a threaten
ing situation due to abnormal condi-
tions. He said he was reliably in
formed by District officials that un-
less the District employees are given
assurance of the increased pay car
ried in the appropriation bill the Dis
trict government will not be able to
retain them in service. He said 1.-The
District government is about to lose
an overwhelming majority of its en-
ployes. and am unwilling to take the
responsibility for anything like that
After the House had taken its ac-
tion in regard to the District appro-
priation bill. Representative Byrns OF
Tennessee renewed his effort made
yesterday to get the House to act
upon a resolution continuing last
years appropriation for the Depart
government He said there was dan
ger that even after the House had re-
ceded on the half-and-half question
that the Senate might not act today,
and that the House. having already
done all that 1t could toward passage
having taken action under stress
which many of the members were op-
posed to. he felt the House should re-
lieve itself from any onus of blame for
failure to provide funds for the next
month.
Gillette Objects.
Representative Gillette of Massa.
chusetts, acting minority leader, after
considerable debate objected to unan.
imous consent for consideration of this
resolution Representative Gillette
said he would not object to a separate
resolution providing for the Depart
uent of Agriculture. He felt that the
House, having taken decisive action
under stress against the Judgment OF
many Of the members in order to re-
lieve conditions in the District, should
not at this time pass a continuing
resolution which would relieve the
Senate of any stress He pointed out
that the House. having receded on one
amendment, expects the Senate to re-
cede on two other amendments, and
stated that nothing ought to be done by