Evening star., 1925-06-28
DAWES FIGHT ON RULES
GIVES g.. o. p. A SCARE
May Prove Adverse Deciding Factor
in Hard Battle to Retain
Control of Senate.

may be hard. A number OF these
ate. Among them, in addition to
Senator Moses. are Senator Watson
| of Indiana and Senator Wadsworth
of New York Senator Watson's
friends are anXiously watching to see
whether former Senator Beveridge
| is going to enter the primaries
against the Indiana Senator for the
| Republican nomination next year. If
| he does, the result might be serious
| for both Senator Watson and the
hopes of the Republican party in In
diana. In New York there looms
| the possibility of Gov. AL Smith en-
tering the race for the Senate.
A couple of months ago Vice Presi
dent Dawes, at a luncheon in Massa-
chusetts, called on Senator William
NJ. Butler. chairman of the Repub-
lican national committee. to say
whether or not he approved change
in the Senate rules, and Senator But
Ter said he did. More recently. how
ever. Senator Butler, who is even
now making plans for next years
campaign, is reported to have had
a second thought on the question, and
TO doubt seriously the wisdom of
raising it just now, when the Re-
publicans need votes to elect a Re
publican Senator in 1926. Mr.. Butler
himself is up for election, and his
Republican Senators have already
declared their opposition to cloture
or the limiting of debate in the Sen
probable Democratic opponent will be
former Senator David I. Walsh. 1t
happens that Senator Walsh, how
ever. has declared that he is opposed
to drastic changes in the Senate rules
proposed by Gen. Dawes. SO if there
is any virtue in the Dawes conten-
ton Mr.. Butler might reap the beneht
in Massachusetts.
Charges Against Senators.
AS the contest over the Senate rules
has become more bitter, the Vice
President has charged Senators who
oppose cloture with selfishness and
has declared that secret deals occur
frequently on legislation, made pos
Sible because of the filibuStering
power which now is possessed by each
individual Senator. On the other
hand. some of his opponents are
spreading the word that Vice Presi-
dent Dawes is merely seeking to keep
himself in the limelight SO that he
can be candidate for the presiden-
tial nomination in 192S-even against
President Coolidge. Their effort is to
hook up the Dawes attack on the
rules with an attack on Coolidge. But
it would be difficult to make the voters
believe that Gen. Dawes would seek
the Republican nomination if Presi-
dent Coolidge is to be a candidate to
succeed himself
President Coolidge so far has taken
no part in the debate over the Senate
rules-at least openly. He presided
over the Senate as Vice President
himself for two and a half years, and
knows something about the rules and
their working. He saw the Harding
ship subsidy bill virtually killed by
filibustering tactics, and other meas
ures go down to defeat by similar
process. Whether he will be drawn
out of a mastery. silence on this sub
ject remains to be seen. The chances
are he will say nothing. If he Joined
with Vice President Dawes he would
be criticized as seeking to dictate to
the Senate, and also he would be
aligned against some of the strongest
men of his party, upon whom he must
rely to aid in putting through the
administrators legislative program.
II he denounced the Vice President $
proposal, then he would be in i po-
sition of antagonism toward his run
ming mate in the last campaign.
The Vice President has correctly
gauged the situation. If there is to
be any change in the Senate rules
looking to ma ajority cloture it will be
forced by the demands of the people
who elect the Senators, and not by
the Senators themselves. The Sena-
tors can scarcely be expected to clip
their own wings-lessen their indi-
vidual power-which such d change
would surely mean.
Would Checkmate Dawes.
Probably nothing could lessen the
effect of the Dawes attack on the
Senate rules to a'greater extent than
for the Senate to act promptly on all
measures that come before 1t for con-
sideration at its next session.
Undoubtedly efforts will be made
however, to modify the Senate rules
at the coming session. Many sugges-
tionS are being put forward tentative
ly. Among those most frequently ad-
vanced is a rule to compel Senators to
talk to the matter before the Senate
certainly after it had reached the
stage where amendments are offered,
if not at all times. The most effective
cure for filibusterS. however. short of
actual majority cloture. would be
adoption of the plan of Senator Nor
ris of Nebraska to do away with the
so-called short sessions of Congress,
which occur every second year. Fill
busters are effective principally in
these short sessions, when the day of
final adjournment is always close at
hand.
Vice President Dawes is not by any
means alone in his discussion of the
Senate rules question. In a current
magazine article Senator Moses tells
at length why the rules, should not be
changed, and Senator Pat Harrison of
Mississippi in speech in Chicago
last week, denounced the Dawes re-
form plan, holding that unlimited de.
bate is essential. On the other hand,
Senator Arthur Capper of Kansas,
head of the farm bloc, is giving edi-
torial support in his publications to
the Vice Presidents demand for a
majority rule in the Senate