The Colorado statesman., 1923-03-17
FATE OF BIG BILLS IN DOUBT
AND THOUSANDS OF SMALL
MEASURES FAIL
SENATE FlLIBUSTER RULES
Members Of Both Parties In Upper
House Fear to Change the Perniclous
Methods OF Procedure by Which
Action ls Prevented.
BY EDWARD q. CLARK

Washington.-Frigid weather CON
dltions have prevailed recently in
Washington. Ii hns been colder than
at any time during the season. but
the lawmakers are warm, some of
them hot in fact, particularly under
the collar. The day of adjournment
is at hand and the fate of some five
or six big bills hangs In the balance.
There will be some thirteen thousand
small bills which are certain to fail.
but as is the case every year nobody
except the originators of these bills
seems to know what they are and com.
paratively few seem TO care.
The situation In the senate has been
one TO attract the attention of the
country. UnquestiOnably majority Of
the senator's would like to see certain
legislation enacted before the end Of
the session, but the majority In. the
senate cannot have its way because,
and it is an old story, the minority is
able to block procedure and to pre-
vent a vote.
The latest bit of news concerning
the situation in the senate Is that
between now and its next meeting
ths1e may be some attempt on the
part of the leaders, through CORE
spondence or otherwise, to agree on
some means of curtailing debate in
the upper house. This is in no way
partisan question. When the Demo
Gratis are In control minority of
Republican senators can prevent a
vote, and when the Republicans are in
control minority Of Democratic
senators can prevent vote. or
minority of the majority party, which
a vote.
Afraid to Change Their Rules.
In legislative methods the United
States senate enjoys an isolation, but
1t may be that nobody, Democrat or
Republican, will be willing to affirm
tblt it is splendid isolation. The
senators of both parties fear to change
the rules SO that vote can be forced
because they see i'll such action
loss of prestige for the upper house.
and more than this, majority seem
TO fear apparently that any rule which
might be adopted to shut off debate
and TO bring vote night at some
later day be used to the detriment
of the men who today would like TO
see the rule in force.
Whether new plan can be formed
during the coming recess to be put
into operation at the next session of
course is doubtful, but men here say
that If things are TO go on as they are
the day will come when there will be
no legislation mt all outside of the
supply bills, and that even these, vital
as they are to the functioning of the
government, may fall into the dis
pleasure of two or three senators, and
thereby be denied the right of passage.
1t is to be wondered if the country
thoroughly realizes the amount of use
less talk that the senate has indulged
in at its present session or that it
INDUCED in at the preceding session.
Some of the senators seemingly are
beginning to realize that the United
States is bigger in these days than II
was in the yesterdays fifty years ago.
The demands for legislation necessary
for good government are greater fifty
fold than they were in the years which
are past, and yet the machinery for
enacting is no greater and no more
powerful than 1t was when virtually
all that congress had to consider out
side of the supply bills was one or
two measures of seeming great inr
portance.
Rambling Talks on All Topics.
When certain SENATOR now de-
ceased, used 10 bring one of his big
manuscripts into the senate and lay
IL on his desk as preparatory in
dication of an intention to read at
length, the other senators used to
sigh. Today the oldtime senator's
manuscripts by comparison are as
small scraps of paper compared to the
bulky bundles of records and equally
bulky bundles of other things which
some senators pile upon their desks
like unto mountains.
A senator who is supposed to talk
on a bill under consideration may men
ton 1t once and then he will read
off or talk off on another subject not
remotely akin TO the matter under
discussion and will do 1t solely to
nullify the will of the majority and
to prove TO his constituents that he Is
"a valiant warrior for the right" and
that not even the demand of the mil
lions that he cease activity can stir
him from his determination to serve
the few hundreds, or as usually the
case, to serve the interest of himself.
There are no longer any party ties
In the senate which have a binding
effect. Senators call themselves Re
publicans and Democrats but good
many of them are neither. There
are so many blocs representing that
or this, that discussion, instead of be-
ing as il was in the old days.