The Washington herald., 1921-09-13
SENATE'S INACTION'
|IRKS REPUBLICANS;
WANT new LEADER
Sullivan Writes Whips
May Soon Do Some
thing.
ny MARK SULLIVAN.

There Is some evidence of a dis
position among the Republican
leaders really to do something
about the Senate.
The stagnation OF the more i'm
portant business in that body is the
heaviest burden the Republican
leaders have on their minds. They
blame the trouble on a lack OF
party solidarity. lack of party dis
cipline and other defects. under the
general head of lack of stern and
aggressive party leadership.
The Republican majority has all
the machinery of leadership. bu,
the machinery doesn't work. 1t has
the streeing committee, which does
not steer successfully. and 1t has
the. caucus. which, in the words OF
rather far-fetched. doubly-ply
pun committed by. one Disguised
Republican. docs not cav and doe.
not cuss" enough. A little EN-.
phatic discipline is the thing which
in the mind Of this Republican, 1.
needed.
Lodge .Out 10 Lunch.'
The official Republican leader oi
the Senate is Lodge. Lodge is about
all there Is in the way of leader
ship. He Is the Republican fiooi
leader; he Is chairman Of the Re
publican steering committee; he l:
chairman of the Republican caucus
and he Is chairman Of the Senate
most important committee. Tha
Lodge was a most acceptable leader
during the league Of nations figh
is the testimony of every Repub
lican who looks upon that igh
| from a party point OF view.
That 1t was Lodges quality o
temperament and personality tina
saved the party from flying int
fragments Is accepted by everyone
But for one reason or anothe
Lodges leadership this session ha
lacked his former success.
Muff Two Points.
1t is true. the Republicans hav
put through an amount OF legisia
ton which, in ordinary crcum
stances. would be a fairly full rec
ord. But the Circumstances aren'
ordinary. The two things whicI
the Republicans wanted to pu
through and promised to pu
through-the tariff and taxation
are nto through yet. From the poin
of view Of the administration, thi
is pretty bad. President Harding ha
pointedly made 1t clear that thes
two things alone constituted tn
administrations program and wer
the"only things as to which he fel
| II proper to exert any pressure o.
his own initiative.
The proposed remedy. as IL I
tentatively discussed. is to ALLOW
| Senator Lodges coming member
ship in the disarmament conferenc
to serve as a reason for him to alb
dicate formal leadership or at leas
working leadership. The sugges
tion is that his place will be takel
by Senator Watson, OF indiana. Il
Ian Informal way, Senator Watson
has been exercising n quasi-leader
ship He is generally looked upo
as a second string to Penrose; an
when Penrose is away. watson 1
frequently regarded as rejecting tn
PennsyIvanian's mind.
/ = Ansther Change.
| 1t Is also suggested that Senate
Cummins, Of Iowa, who is presiden
pro tenn of the Senate, may wish t
shift this position over to Senate
Curtis, of Kansas.
| Whether this change will cure tn
situation, or whether. indeed, thes
changes viii take place, is SO far
matter of discussion. Watson ant
1 Curtis as successors TO Lodge an
Cummins would not mean much, 70
example, to the so-called farmers
bloc" which has been responsible
for preventing most OF the part
discipline so far. 1t is this farmers
bloc" and others outside of the OIL,
Guard, who. on several occasion
! of which two were conspicuous
have run away with the machine
They pushed the farmers relic
bill and the soldiers bonus bill t
a point where the leaders were 8
embarrassed that they had to cal
on the President for personal he'll
in side-tracking them. Uhder goo
party discipline. with a strong part,
leadership, these bills would hav
been stopped before they got SO ia
as to be an embarrassment.
This whole question of makini
the Republican Senate majority
more business-like body is movini
slowly. 1t involves party and per
sonal problems of much delicacy
The one certain thing is that tn
Republican leaders are moro con
cerned about it than about al,
other thing.
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