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MARCH 8, 1907
The Commoner.
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BATTLE ROYAL ON SHIP SUBSIDY
. . DEMOCRATS FINALLY KILL THE BILL
The house passed the ship subsidy bill Friday,
March 1,'by a vote of 155 to 144, eleven republi
cans voting .with the democrats against the bill on
"the final ballot. Referring to what it ca'lls "the
.battle' royal on ship subsidy," the Associated
Press says:
"It has been years since .the house was the
scene of so royal a battle between the two great
parties as it witnessed there today over the ship
subsidy bill. The bill was passed, but not until
after it had been once defeated, and this fact in
itself shows how close the alignment was. When
Hie first vote disclosed a majority against the
measure the democrats and their republican allies
made the house ring with their cheers. There
were several roll calls before the final favorable
result was secured. The vote on the Littauer sub
stitute was defeated on the first vote ayes 151,
nays' 161.
"The democrats could not retain their lead,
however, for on a vote to lay on the table a mo
tion to reconsider the opponents of the ship sub
sidy were defeated 15G to 159 and the vote to
reconsider the first vote was adopted 1G4 to 151.
"Immediately after the first ballot desertions
began and on the final voteto pass the bill as
amended the work done by the republican leaders
during the battle was made manifest. The bill
was passed 155 to 144.
"The following republicans voted with the
democrats in opposition: Burton of Ohfo, Camp
bell of Kansas, Chapman of Illinois, Cooper of
-Wisconsin, Darragh of Michigan, Davidson of
Wisconsin, Davis of Minnesota, Fordney of Mich
igan, Foster of Vermont, Fulkerson of Missouri,
Gillham of Indiana, Graff of Illinois, Gronna of
North Dakota, Hamilton of Michigan, Hinshaw
of Nebraska, Ilolliday of Indiana, Jenkins of
Wisconsin, Kinkaid of Nebraska, Knopf of Illi
nois, C. B. Landis of Indiana, Fred Laudis of Iu
, diana, Lawrence of Massachusetts, Lowe.n of 111
4iX()Bi McCarthy of Nebraska,. McGavin oil Illi
nois, McKinney of Illinois, Mann of Illinois, .
Marshall of North Dakota," Miller of Kansas,
Mouser of .Ohio, Murdock of Kansas, Nelson of
Wisconsin, Perkins of New York, Stafford of Wis
consin, Steenerson of Minnesota, Stevens of Min
nesota, Volstead of Minnesota, Webber of Ohio,
Weems of Ohio, Wilson of Illinois, Woodyard of
West Virginia.
" Fifty-two republicans voted with the demo
crats on the first roll call. On the motion of Mr.
Williams to lay the motion -to reconsider on the
table, fifty republicans voted with the democrats.
On the vote to adopt the substitute there were
forty-three' republican 'insurgents,' and on its final
passage there were forty-one.
"Only Sour steamship lines are to be subsidized
under the measure in the form finally agreed
upon, and all of these are to sail for South Amer
ican ports. One of the lines will be from the At
lantic coast to Brazil, a second from the Atlantic
coast to Argentina, the third between the Gulf
of Mexico and 'Brazil. The fourth line will be
from the Pacific coast to Panama, Peru and Chile.
The annual subsidy for each of these lines is to
be $300,000 for a monthly mail service, or $G00,
000 for a fortnightly service, excepting the Ar
gentine line, wnich is to have $400,000 for a
monthly service, or $800,000 for a fortnightly
service.
"No American cities are named as ports from
which any of the lines are to start, and the bill
is so worded tha the line in the Pacific to South
America can touch at any number of ports in the
United States. The same is true of the Atlantic
lines. The bill provides that vessels profiting by
the subvention must have a speed of not less than
sixteen knots. It has been repeatedly stated on
the floor of the house that no ships now engaged
in the South American trade can make any such
sneed.
"An amendment by Mr. Sulzer requiring ships -to
stop at Mexican Pacific ports, which developed
the fact that several members of the house do
not Know the names of Mexican ports, was nect
offered. By tills time the interest in the bill was
intense. The galleries were crowded and the
leaders on both sides of the chamber were rally
ing their forces for the final battle.
"It was near 3 o'clock and there was still pend
ing Mr. Fordney's amendment substituting a ton
nage tax measure. The advocates of the Littauer
bill did not desire to vote on that proposition, and
they began to filibuster by forcing a vote on the
Sulzer amendment, which was overwhelmingly de
feated. "Tellers were demanded by Mr. Littauer to
kill time, notwithstanding the chorus o. 'noes'
that went up from the democrats. When the
count was finally taken there was found to bo
only one vote for the provision. The vote was
slow in the extreme. The democrats- became
highly indignant. Mr. Sulzer rose to have the vote
by tellers abandoned, but Mr. Currier of Now
Hampshire, in the chair, hold that the vote could
not be interrupted and the farce was continuGvl
until 3 o'clock arrived, when the regular order
was demanded.
"The bill was then reported from the commit
tee of the whole to the house and much to tie
chagrin of the supporters of the Littauer bill,
Speaker Cannon held that there must still bo a
vote on the Fordney substitute.
THOUGHT BILL WAS KILLED
VThe result was unfavorable to that measure,
and a ballot on the Littauer substitute was im
mediately announced. The ayes and nays wen
ordered and the vote as announced showed the
bill defeated -ayes 154, nays 101.
"Mr. Littauer moved to reconsider. Mr. Wil
liams of 'Mississippi, the minority leader, moved
to lay the motion on the table. Then the repub
lican leaders determined to undo the former action
and pass the bill if possible. The motion to lav
on the table was defeated 35G to 150. The re
publicans had won victory in the very Jaws of
defeat.
"Again the ayes and nays were called this
time on the motion of Mr. Littauer to reconsider
the first vote and the house decided to reconsider
by a vote of 1G4 to 154.
"Mr. Littauer then moved that the substitute
tp the senate bill be agreed to and the substitute
was adopted ayes 1G2, nays 150. The third read
ing of the bill was authorized ayes 101, nays
351, and then on its final passage there was ayes
155, nays 144.
"Mr. Williams realized that it would bo useless
lo continue the contest, and the motion to recon
sider and the motion to lay on the table were
perfunctorily agreed to." .;.
The ship subsidy bill after leaving ttie house
met with a filibuster on the part of the senate
democrats. They adopted a plan of talking the
bill to death. - The speakers on the bill were in
terrupted frequently to permit the passage of
minor bills, the adoption of conference reports and
the transaction of other business incidental to the
closing hours of the session. Senators Carmack,
Dubois, Overman, Newlauds, and Tillman made
speeches for the purpose of killing the bill. Both
houses remained in session during Sunday and
about midnight took a recess until 9:3Q o'clock
Monday morning. The following is taken from
the report of the Associated Press:
'Never before has the senate appeared to relish
so much an attempt to kill legislation by fili
bustering methods. Mr. Carmack, director of the
minority movement against the bill, at no time
tried to hide the fact that his effort was a filibuster
pure and simple, ne came into the openJ)y ad
dressing himself principally to the term "filibuslcr
ers" which Mr. Gallinger only yesterday applied
"to the democratic senators who have undertaken
to defeat the measure.
First Mr. Carmack devoted himself to an en
dorsement of Webster's, dictionary as an author
ity on orthography and definition and said if the
senate had any doubt that tills work was an au
thority, he would bring it in and ask that passages
from it be read from the desk.
After rending Webster's definition of "filibus
terer" with its varying uses and synonyms, Mr.
Carmack said that the remark of Mr. Gallinger
had branded him as a "marauder, a pillager, a
bucanneer, a sea robber, a freebooter and a pirate
.upon the seas," in fact, hp said, "I have been ac
cused of almost everything except appendicitis.
So branded I am to be retired from this body and
sent to my home for I cannot defend myself by
attacking the character or the credibility of the
senator from New Hampshire. I cannot discredit
him truthfully and therefore cannot discredit him
at all." When lie had spoken for about forty-five
minutes witli the obvious' purpose of killing time,
Mr. Carmack looked at his watch, and remarked:
"Well, I see 1 must be hurrying along."
At thjs the senators on the floor shouted their
amusement.
To give Mr. Carmack a rest, Mr. Dubois asked
to be permitted to read from a very interesting
document on tlie subject of ship subsidy and Mr.
Spooner protested that as Mr. Carmack was in so
great a hurry to conclude it would not be fair
to interrupt him. The Tennessee senator, how
ever, said he was sure that any contribution from
Mr. Dubois would be valuable and he should be
glad to permit it to bo read and incorporated in
the body of his remarks. Mr. Dubois then read
at length and when lie had concluded a very tech
nical paragraph to which few senators paid any
attention, Mr. Carmack asked that the last para
graph be repealed, as ho regarded it of great im
portance. Laughter followed and as Mr. Dubois
sat down Mr. Gallinger interrupted to reply, ne
said, to what he thought had been an unwar
ranted attack upon him.
At this juncture, a colloquy occurred between
Mr. Gallinger and Mr. Carmack over the defini
tion of the word "filibuster" as given by different
dictionaries and the latter charged Unit Mr. Gal
inger had sTmply been frying to "filibuster accord
ing to Ills own definition of the word."
Charging that Ihe pending measure was for the
purpose of "looting the treasury," Mr. Carmack
referred to the bill as voting a "subvention" an
Mr. McLaurin asked the difference between "sub
sidy" and "subvention." Mr. Carmack answered
subsidy by any other name smells as bad."
Mr. Carter added to the spirit of levity by In
terrupting the reading of letters from shipbuilders
by Mr. Overman, who was giving Mr. Carmack
a respite.
. "I want to know," said Mr. Carter, "what, IE
any, dictionary is used in Tennessee, and what, 1C
any standard or spelling exists and if it is uni
formly applied V
This gave Mr. Carmack an opening which h
took advantage of to taunt Senators Carter and
Gallinger with being parties to a filibuster. "Ob
serving that my question embarrasses the senator," "
interjected Mr. Carter, "inasmuch as lie probably
is not willing to admit that the dictionary is un
known in that state, I will withdraw the question."
"If the senator wants a direct answer," said
Mr. Carmack, "Tennessee stands by the constitu
tion and Webster's dictionary."
After Senator Tillman luis asked "now much
steal V" there is in ship subsidy, Senator Frye re
buked the whole proceeding as unseemly and un
dignified. For Uie senate to hold a session on tho
Sabbath day, for the sole purpose of frivolous de
bale for the amusement of the galleries was about
the most unseemly proceeding he had ever wit
nessed. While he spoke, Mr. Frye turned so as
to face Senator Carmack who was seated. lie at
once arose and replied:
"If the senator refers to me, I will say that I
am not responsible to him for my conduct and T
shall conduct myself according to my own notions
of propriety. If the senator from Maine does not
like my manner ho has my permission to leave the
chamber and go where ho can attend church, If he.
would prefer."
"I would much rather bo in church," retorted
Mr. Frye.
"If the senator wishes to take a recess until
tomorrow morning I shall not Interfere witli it,"
suggested Mr. Carmack.
"The senator knows I cannot," was the reply.
"Well," continued Mr. Carmack, "the senator
Is evidently much more concerned about the de
feat of this bill than anything else."
Mr. Carmack then declined to yield further to
Mr. Frye although the latter attempted to inter
rupt. Shortly after this the Incident was closed by
the restoration of amity.
Senator Carmack expressed regret that the In
cident had occurred. He had spoken he said, on
the impulse of the moment and withdrew what had
been said. Senator Frye too expressed the samo
sentiment and explained that he had not meant
to address the senator from Tennessee personally
in his criticism.
At 5:30 p. in. the senate took a recess until
8:30 o'clock.
The filibuster against the ship subsidy bill was
continued when the senate resumed Its session at
8:30 p. m. Sunday. Senators Dubois and Carmack
made an appeal to Senator Gallinger to withdraw
the bill but he did not comply. The debate was
interrupted by the passage of a resolution for the
printing of a document on horses which brought
out from Senator Carter the remark: "That's a
horse on the democratic side."
This, sally aroused the venerable. Senator Pet
tus of Alabama, who remarked: "We accept the
rebuke from the senator from Montana, because '
of his wisdom afa long experience and we do not
fail to recollect that he has the record for speak
ing for more than twenty hours to kill a river and
harbor bill."
When on Monday morning it was plain that
the democratic filibuster would succeed Mr. Gal
linger (republican) withdrew the measure and the
ship subsidy bill died so far as this session is concerned.
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