Evening star., 1925-03-05
Of DAWES
TALK QUESTIONED
Regarded as Able to Lead
Senate, But Unable to
Drive 1t.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.


Vice President Dawes lecture to
the United States Senate is still the
"talk of the town" Does it mean
that he has begun a 1928 campaign
for the presidency? He knew in ad-
vance his speech would not sit we'll
on the Senator'S, but that he was ap-
pealing over the heads of the SEN
ate to the American people. His best
friends say presidential ambition is
farthest from his thoughts and that
what he did on Wednesday was
simply the Dawes way" of doing
things.
Viewed dispassionately there is no
doubt that many of the Senator'S real
lied Mr.. Dawes was striking at one
of the weaknesses of the Senate, the
ability of one Senator to block leg
islation and even defeat it by nli-
buster. But the true defect is not
in rule %, as Mr.. Dawes pointed
out. but in the leadership of the
Senate Itself which allows important
bills to drag along either in com
mittees or in the Senate and then
at the last moment a minority can
exercise a powerful influence.
CIoture Seldom Invoked.
Under the present rules it is possible
for l6 members of the Senate to invoke
cloture ending debate, but il is sell
dom done. Frequently. too, the ma
jority party is perfectly content to let
the filibusters of the minority kill
legislation so that the responsibility
for defeat of bills they themselves
dislike can be placed on the shoulders
of the minority. Mr.. Dawes will have
to reform the entire political morality
of Congress before he can get at the
heart of the trouble.
Talking with different Senator's, one
gets the impression that most of them
resented the Dawes speech for various
reasons. The Democrats. of course,
said he behaved like a clown" shak-
ing his fist at the Senate and shouting
in a high-pitched voice. Some Repub-
licans said privately they thought 1t
was in bad taste to make a contro-
versial speech on such an occasion.
when Senators themselves felt in duty
bound to remain silent. On any ques-
tion of changing the rules. the Sena-
tors feel there are two sides, and many
of them would have liked to point out
the safeguards in the present system,
but they refrained because it was
ceremony and not a time for debate.
Strong Leader Held Needed.
When Mr.. Dawes gets into the
cloakrooms and knows the Senators
we'll enough to slap them on the
back. he will find the resentment
against his speech disappearing. If
he is an impartial presiding officer he
will win the esteem of the Senate
but he will find that the Senate likes
to take the initiative in proposing
changes in the rules and that both
the Democrats and Republicans feel
that on occasion they have saved the
country from disaster" by talking
measures to death. The proposal to
have the United States enter the
World Court would not have been OPP
would have been filibustered to death
by a group of Republicans. What is
needed, first, therefore. is discipline
within each party and President Cool
idge in his inaugural laid before the
country his doctrine OF regularity
which caused much favorable COM
ment among both Democrats and Re
publicans. Next, the Senate needs
stronger or more effective leadership,
or perhaps vision.
Most of the bills which failed to
committee of the Senate week or
pass were abandoned by the stering
10 days ago. Some bills were
abandoned last January. The idea of
holding night sessions during the short
session of Congress, beginning those
night sessions in January. would have
been vigorously opposed, but the ma
jority party had 1t in its power to
hold them and cause the Senate to
have twice as much time as it did
have.
Whatever else may be said about
the unprecedented speech of Mr..
Dawes, 1t means that he as presiding
officer will take advantage of every
rule that permits him to expedite
business, and though he may be a
little amateurish in his tactics, from
the Senate viewpoint, they will get
used to the Dawes way" sooner or
latter only by personal persuasion
and disregarded or taken seriously as
an earnest advocate of change for
progress sake. He will accomplish the
later, and he will either be ridiculed
and not by disciplinary lectures from
the rostrum.
Copyright, 1921