The Washington herald., 1921-04-09
Sullivan Points to Vast Power
OF COP. in Best Serving Nation
As Vital Legislation Is Needed

one from Rhode Island. one from
New Jersey. voted May" These
four were the. only ones who Gait
their votes In frank. accordance with
their convictions. II II had been
anticipated that there was any like
lihood of the bill becoming law,
several other Eastern Republican
Senators would have voted the same
way This condition is a forecast
Of what Is bound to come up in
the coming session to embarrass the
Republican leaders.
The strongest demand for a high
tariff now comes not. from the man
ufacturing communities OF New
England and the, East so much as
from the farming communities of
the Middle West and West. The
Senators from the farming States
have q greater degree of power and
solidarity now than In any previous
Congress. It Is occasionally said
that they will have the balance Of
power. Whether this Is true re-
mains to be seen. t
In any event, out of this situation
will come a<division among the Re-
publicans and other conditions SO
chaotic as to make 1t impossible to
predict anything about the outcome
Of the tariff debates except to say
that the developments win be sur
rrising.
So much for the main outlines Of
the Republican program.
There are a number of isolated
measures which will come up from
time to time.
One will be the immigration re-
:. - =
the last Congress by q majority of
30 to in the Senate and over Z to
l in the House. but which was
vetoed by Wilson. .
Sees No shift In sentinest.
There is no reason to anticipate
that the preponderance of sentiment
in favor of this bill will be less in
the new Congress than in the old.
The only possibility of this bill not
becoming q law would seem to lie in
an enmity to It on the part of the
Republican leaders so great as to
lead them to deny It place on the
program. Such an enmity would be
SO stubborn and would so far fy in
the face, of the rank and file OF. the
membership that II Is not to be an
ticipated.
Another important bill will be the
reapportionment Of Congress. based
| on the last cepsus. The Issue in this
bill is whether the Lower House OF
Congress shall be kept at its pres
ent size of 435 members or whether
1t shall be increased 4s members
II the size is kept at 435 1t will
mean that in the shifting Of popula-
tion revealed by the last census
-
| and certain other States. notably
Missouri, Iowa, and Indiana, will
lose members. ...-
State to have a smaller number OF
Congressman than 1t has heretofore
had and q fraternai dislike on the
part Of members of Congress to
| exile some of their Associates that
constitute the only argument for
increasing the membership.
Cutting Members q, Dasfavsr.
On the part of those who advo-
cate the increase, the basis of the
increase Is to give to every State al
least as many Congressmen as il
now has and to- give additional
members to those States whose pop
| ulstion has increased
This reapportionment bill was de-
bated in the last Congress and was
passed In the form of keeping Con-
gress where 1t now is, at 42s mem
bers. In the Senate, however, an
opposition developed sufficient to
keep the bill from coming to a vote
in that body.
One other important measure
that will come up early in the new
session Is the bill approprfatjns
s25,ooo,0o0 to Colombia to cover
damages alleged to have been done
that country by our action in rec
| ognizing the Republic of Panams
when 1t seeded from Colombia In
connection with the building of the
Panama Canal.
To this bill there will be strong
opposition. 1t was probably a mere
incident that led President Harding
to choose this measure as the FIRST
that he has asked the Senate to
accept as a part of his program
In the field of foreign relations,
President Harding's earliest reque ST
to various Republican Senator's 10
Withdraw their opposition to the
bill was met on the part of several
Senators with refusal. :
May Have Acted Hastily,
II President Harding had antici-
pated this he would probably have
let the bill hang on, as 1t has bee
hanging on already for seven or
eight years.
The motive which led him tn
bring 1t up was probably one OF
mere housecleaning, matter of
getting out of the way a tyeatv
which had been hanging over "a
long.
Nevertheless. as it has turned
out he is now in a position at the
very outset of his administration
Of pressing for the passage Of :
treaty which is going to have de-
termined opposition. -
Two things will come up in the
coming Congress which are in The
nature of unfinished business. They
are the army and navy appropfia.
tion bills.
The army bill passed the last ses.
sion but was vetoed by Wilson
probably because Congress had chi
the requested appropriation in hall
and reduced the army to $50, 900.
The navy appropriation bill. pass.
ed the House, but the Senate wished
to raise 1t from $4oo. 1000. 900 to $500.
100000. When this question come,
up now. we may have q renewal OF
the enort of Senator Borah am
others to bring about some deRre,
OF disarmament This as we'll ..