Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-10
SHIP BILL CLOTURE :
IS SEEN AS LIKELY
Opposition Believed Ready
to FiIibuster to Prevent 2
Action on Measure.
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.


I'VE have met the enemy and our
flag is still there" Thus Senator Fred
erick Hale of Maine, chairman of the
Senate naval affairs committee, sum-
marizes the cruiser bill situation fol-
lowing this weeks bombardment by the
pacifist armada. 1.-THE anti-prepared-
ness crowd came. it saw and it failed
to conquer" is the rest of the Maine
Senator's metaphorical epitome.
Hale believes the cruiser program. of
which he has charge in the Senate,
has now successfully withstood its
toughest assault from without. But he is
not yet assured that it has clear sailing
in the Senate itself. The plans of the OPP
position, although in an acknowledged
minority, are we'll known. It hopes to
prevent action on the cruiser bill dur
ing the rest of the short session. 1t is
believed ready to filibuster endleSsly
for that purpose. If these schemes
materialize, it may be that the cruiser
proponents will have to resort to cloture
for the purpose of forcing the bill to
vote. AT present Senator Hale counts
safe majority for the measure. But
there Is admitted danger in an indef-
mite pCStponement of a roll call.
Under Common Head.
The most interesting revelation de-
veloped during "pacif1st week" in
Washington is that all the varied
groups opposed to national defense are
now leagued under common head
That fact was disclosed by DR.. Edward
I. Devine, dean Of the American Uni
versity at Washington, who presided
at the banquet which brought the anti
cruiser conference to a close on Janu- 4.
airy 8. DR.. Devine announced that the
Washington Council on International
Relations" which sponsored the confer
ence, had as its main purpose the
fusion of the diversified interests COM
monty battling for peace and disarma-
ment.
The two principal constituent groups
are the National Council for Prevention
of War and the Federal Council OF
Churches. Their respective leaders are
Frederick j. Libby and Bishop Francis
j. Mcconnell of Pittsburgh. DR.. De-
vine, in opening and closing the con-
ference banquet. declared that gun
toting on the high seas"-his descrip-
ton of the functions Of the United
States Navy-"must cease" and nailed
that slogan to the mast as the one
around which the assembled forces
should rally.
Capable Speakers Marshalled.
The anti-cruiser groups marshalled
for their purposes quartet Of extraor-
dinarily capable public speakers. 1t
consists of Bishop Mcconnell, Prof.
Parker T. Moon OF Columbia Univer-
sity, Rabbi James Heller of Cincinnati
and DR.. Reinhold Niebuhr of Detroit.
The National Capital in many day
has not heard so clever and interesting
a group of after-dinner orators. Yet
they made far less impression on
buttonholed Senators than they did
upon their highly entertained banquet
. auditors. MesSrs. Mcconnell, Moon,
Heller and Niebuhr argued along fairly
| Identical lines. They assailed the in
| consistency of American policy in Of
| fering the world the Kellogg peace pact
! with one hand and passing 15-cruiser
bill with the other. They branded such
action as qualification" of the Kellogg
"oIive branch"
Bishop Mcconnell, recalling mission
airy days in the Far East. said It re-
minded HIM of the. confusion Uncle
Sam always caused in the minds OF
Chinese by sending out on the same
boats soldiers to shoot Cinnamon and
missionaries to convert them" Other
speakers voiced the view that the prac-
| teal tangible way to arrest the naval
competition. which they claimed lis al
ready on" is for the United States to
stop dead still in It's naval-bu1ld1ng
| tracks and summon the world to Wash
| ington~"for another disarmament COIL
| ference"
Four Senators at Table.
Four members of the Senate were at
| the speakers table at the anti-crulser
banuuet-MesSrS. Brookhart OF Iowa.
Wheeler of Montana and Frazier ana
Nye of North Dakota. They compose
the inner bloc of the cruiser opposi-
ton. which includes, as we'll. Senators
Norris of Nebraska. La Toilette and
Blaine of Wisconsin. Dill OF wash
ington and five or six others not so
openly identified with the fight on the
cruisers. 1t was Senator Brookhart
who received chief credit for blocking
,uSsage of the bill at the previous ses-
sion of Congress. Cruiser supporters
appear to have singled him out as the
prospective organizer of preventive &C
ton on the bill during the rest Of the
present session.
One of the things the paciflst cru
saders discovered to their dismay. in
Washington is that they no longer have
a monopoly of the folks-back-home"
system of bringing pressure to bear on
Congress. They learned that Senators
have not for years heard more vigor-
ously from contitutents than they are
now hearing in pro-cruiser letters and
kilograms
Copyright. 1929