Evening star., 1925-03-07
PREDICTS DAWES
WILL CHANGE MIND
Senator Walsh Says All New
Arrivals in Senate at First
Become Angry.
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.


Predictions that Vice President
Dawes will eventually change his
mind about the iniquities of unlimited
debate are made by the man some
times called the best legal mind in
Congress-Senator Thomas J. Walsh,
Democrat of Montana. "All newcom-
ers to the Senate" said Senator
Walsh. in an interview with this
writer, come with strong views on
the subject of discussional time
wasting. They are seldom in the
Senate long before their views under
go revision. They learn that un-
limited debate has its practical uses,
though it's privileges are some etimes
abused
Senator Walsh. exactly eight years
ago today, March Z, 1917, made
powerful speech in the Senate on the
very issue now raised afresh by Vice
President Dawes. 1t was directed
against the filibuster system, where
by" Mr. Walsh said. "one man may,
by his physical prowess alone, de-
feat a vote, invite calamity unspeak-
able and expose the Senate to the
we'll deserved contempt OF mankind
Senator Walsh strongly favored Sen
ate rules fixing A time at which de-
bate on any subject could be closed
Realization Comes With Times.
"AIost men elected to the Senate" ="
continued Senator Walsh. discussing
Vice President Dawes inaugural ad-
dress. are lawyers They are
trained in the art of relevancy. They
have been accustomed. before judges
and juries, to confine themselves
more or less strictly to the issues
before the court. They are shocked.
during their early DAYS in the Senate.
TO find that irrelevancy, not
relevancy. is often the rule. But
when new Senators have been in
Congress a while they begin to
realize the desirabilty. and fire.
quentiy the necessity. of prolonged
discussion, even at the cost of what
strikes some Of them as futile
repetition.
THE general public little realizes
how much legislative action in the
United States Congress is preceded
by skillful and comprehensive propa-
gandist preparation. Instances are
numerous where interests with axes
to grind have so shrewdly educated
the popular mind in advance that a
given bill or project seemed destined
to win ongressional approval almost
without opposition worthy of the
name. On occasions such as | have
in mind, one or two Senator'S take
the trouble to study and inform
themselves. They discovered that all
is not as rose tinted a 8 it seemed to
be on the surface of things and as
the country at large was led to
believe. These Senator'S, when the
time comes, rise in their places and
point out what they consider to be
the iniquities or deficiencies of the
measure proposed and the action
contemplated.
Sometimes they consume good
deal of time in hammering home their
points. Quite often their fervor and
arguments produce what externally
looks like an organized flibuster of
'willful men, In fact, it is only the
effort of conscientious men to do what
earnestly strikes them as their duty"
Revenue Bill of 1892 Cited.
Senator Walsh was asked to give
a concrete example of a Legitimate
use of the right Of unlimited congress
sional debate. We'll" he replied,
1.-The original revenue bill of 1922 is
a case in point. Had not Congress
availed itself of the privilege of dis
cussing that measure in detail and at
length a very different sort of law
would have been enacted than that
which was finally passed. The fate
of the Mellon tax plan in 1924 is
more recent and an even more graph
ic example of the advantages of the
system of free and unrestricted dis
cussion. We ought not to forget the
circumstances under which the fill
buster, as we now know it, really
came into existence. The occasion
was the monotonous force bill during
the Harrison administration.
"It was introduced in the House by
Henry Cabot Lodge, then young
Representative from Massachusetts.
1t was due entirely to the filibuster-
ing tactics of Southern Democrats
in the Senate that the Force bill was
killed. Remembering the strategy
that saved the South from the horrors
of the Force bill, / think Vice Presi-
dent Dawes may be very sure that
Southern Democrats in the Senate
would be found as ready today as
they were 35 years ago to oppose
amended rules that rob them of the
rights once so effectively invoked"
Senator Walsh recognizes that rule
%, which Mr.. Dawes assails, has it's
vices as well as it's virtues. He seems
to think that the rule might usefully
be amended so as to require Senators
to stick more closely than is the GUS
tom to relevant discussion. The Sen
ate often does this, Walsh contends,
even when it seems long -winded. He
cites the recent endless debates over
the Isle of Pines treaty as coming
within that classification, declaring
that almost every Senator who has
spoken on that ancient subject has
confined himself to legitimate phases
of it. The result has been. Senator
Walsh claims, useful campaign of
public educa ton on topic regarding
which ignorance hitherto has been
general.
fronyricht 1925