Perth Amboy evening news., 1919-04-10
WILL AMERICAN SENATOR'S ACT ON PEACE TREATY?
Foreign Relations Committed
Win Have, by Far, the Most
Important Work
BY A. T.. GELDHoF
N. T.. A. Washington Bureau, tf2S-
1884 Munsey Building


WASHINGTON. ID. c., April 10:-
BY far the most important commit
tee of the Goth congress, which viii
DO called in special session by Presi-
dent Wilson in May, will be the SEN
ate committee on foreign relations.
Not only will this committee be the
first to struggle with the peace treaty,
but IL viii have on its shoulders the
responsibility of deciding whether
the American people want to become
members of a League of Nations.
The committee Is composed OF
seventeen members. In the last con-
gress ten of these were Democrats
and seven Republicans, and the
chairman was a Democrat-Senator
Hitchcock of Nebraska. In the next
congress the political complexion of
the committee will be just the reverse
ten members will be Republicans
and seven Democrats. and the chair
man, by reason of seniority, will be
the ranking Republican-Senator
Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts.
In making up the new committee
the process will be simple. The three
Democrats who are lowest in rank IN
the committee rs now constituted
will be dropped, and their places viii
be filled by Republicans.
In addition to these three places
the Republicans are to fill, however,
there is another; that OF Senator VIII
liam Alden Smith of Michigan. whose
term of Office has expired. Thus tho
Republicans will have four new faces
on tho committee.
Three Democrats who'll be Dropped
The Democrats who will be drop
ped are Salisbury of Delaware, whose
term has expired, Thomas of Colo
RADIO. and Robinson of Arkansas.
A. go n -
won't be such an easy job as drop
ping the three Democrats.
From the way things look now
there's going to be q battle on the
part of the progressive element
among the Republicans for stronger
representation on the dominating
committee of the senate.
The Republican members who viii
hold over are Lodge. McCumber.
Borah. Brandegee. Fall and nor.
or these the only o~ut-and-out pro-
gressive Is Senator Borah. The pro-
gressives, therefore, will fight for at
least three of the four new assign
ments to the committee, which will
give them -four out of the ten places.
The Norris resolution. passed late
last session as a result of progressive
pressure. will enter prominently into
the fight. This resolution prevents
any senator from having a seat on
more than two important committees.
This, it is expected. will keep some
OF the standpat Republicans like PEN
rose, Smoot, Nelson and Wadsworth
off the foreign relations committee,
to give them the opportunity to con-
troll some of the other important
committees like finance and appro-
priations.
The chances are that one of the
four seats will go to the east, one TO
the far west and two to the middle
west.
Tho eastern member, from present
indications, will be Senator Moses OF
New Hampshire. He is one of the
newest members of the senate. He
was minister to Greece and Montene-
gro durins-PT5sident Taft's adminis-
ration, and his acquaintance with
Balkan problems will be valuable 10
thA committed.
The middle western members prob
ably will be Senator Kenyon Of Iowa,
staunch progressive. who was one OF
the Republican senators reelected
last fall, and Senator Harding OF
Ohio, one of tbs "Old Guard
The far western choice lies between
Senator Hiram Johnson of California
and the two Washington senators,
Jones and Poindexter. All three are
considered progressives, u the poll
tieians on Capitol Hill are saying that
IL Senator Johnson wants the place
he IAN have II. The chances are he
viii want it. for he mas a keen inter-
est in foreign affairs.
In which case the Foreign Rela-
lions Committee, first to deal with
the peace treaty, will be made up as
follows:
Itepublicans-Lodge, McCumher.
Borah, Brandegee. Fall. Knox. Moses.
kenyon. johnson and Harding.
Observation-Disclosures, Williams,
Swanson. Pomerene, Smith of AriZ-
ona. Pittman and Shields.