naval and military outlays some revision of the fiscal system became imperative. Secretary McAdoo stated on Dec. 31, 1916, that under the existing revenue laws there would be a deficit of $279,000,000 for 1918 and that the Treasury would require another $100,000,000 as a working bal

also incorporated an amendment of-view of the extraordinary growth of fered by the Republican leader, Mr. Mann, declaring it to be "the policy of the United States to adjust and settle its international disputes through mediation or arbitration to the end that war may be honorably avoided". The Senate, besides striking out the Mann amendment, made a number of modifications. It increased the num-ance. He suggested raising substanber of midshipmen at Annapolis and, tially half the aggregate amount by for a period of five years, reduced the new taxation and half by a bond islength of the course; it provided for sue. The Democratic members of the 50 additional submarines; and it cre- Committee on Ways and Means, conated an emergency fund of $150,000,- ferring with him, drafted an emer000 (to be covered by a bond issue)gency revenue bill early in January. which should be applied partly to ex- It provided for an increase of 50 per pediting naval construction and cent. in inheritance taxes (expected partly to building submarines. Over to yield $22,000,000); an eight per the bond issue a controversy arose cent. tax on the net profits of corwith the House which refused to ac-porations and joint-stock companies cept this feature of the bill since in excess of $5,000 and of an amount revenue legislation must originate in the House. It adopted and communicated to the Senate on March 2 a resolution declaring that its privileges had been infringed; but although the Senate immediately repassed the bill without the bond is-ized the Secretary of the Treasury to sue clause, the conferees agreed next day to restore it. The other Senate amendments were allowed to stand, except that the number of additional submarines was reduced from 50 to

20.

equal to an eight per cent. return on invested capital (expected to yield $226,000,000); the sale of Panama Canal bonds to the value of $222,000,000 and of long-term bonds to the value of $81,418,000; and it author

issue $300,000,000 in certificates of indebtedness to meet temporary deficiencies. The Democratic caucus gave its approval on Jan. 26, the vote being 122 to 13. A number of dissidents, including Page (N. C.), Bailey (Pa.), The Army Appropriation bill Callaway (Tex.), Quin (Miss.), and passed the House on Feb. 22, carry. Sherwood (O.), made a vigorous ating over $247,000,000. An attempt tack upon the bill and reserved the to provide for universal military right to oppose it in the House; but training was defeated on a point of they did not persist in their first inorder. This bill, reported to the Sen- tention of asking the caucus to inate with an increase of $37,500,000, struct the military and naval comdid not reach its final stages. The mittees to reduce appropriations. Mr. Military Affairs Committee of the Kitchin, chairman of the Ways and Senate, after gathering information Means Committee, strove to reassure through the earlier part of the ses- opponents of the bill by observing sion, reported a Universal Service bill that the taxes would fall on those on Feb. 10. It provided for six "who have been clamoring for premonths' training at the age of 19. paredness" and for the most part On Feb. 23 Secretary Baker trans- north of the Mason and Dixon line. mitted to the committee a bill drafted "You have been crying for preparedby the War College and looking to- ness", he said on Jan. 30, addresswards a longer period of service; 11 ing the House Republicans. "The exmonths in the first year and two cess profits tax will be paid in large weeks in the second and third years. part by those who were loud clamorThe Secretary was not prepared to ists for preparedness, who, in every say that the country needed so great shape, fashion, and form, demanded an establishment or that the means of their representatives these imsuggested were the most appropriate. mensely increased appropriations.' The Emergency Revenue Bill.-In A spirit of sectionalism showed itself

and advocated the appropriation of only $25,000,000, which should be spent at the discretion of the Secretary of War on such authorized projects as he believed of pressing im

in the debates. Republicans asserted | amount; but in a minority report five that the Democrats were using the Republican members of the Commitpreparedness issue to lay unjust bur- tee condemned the bill as wasteful dens upon the wealthier communities of the North. Gardner (Mass.) went so far as to threaten that the representation of the South would be reduced in conformity with the Fourteenth Amendment. The House, hav-portance. They also recommended ing made no changes in the bill, passed it on Feb. 1 by a vote of 211 to 196. The Republicans, presenting a solid front in opposition, were joined by one Socialist, London (N. Y.), and by four Democrats, Page and Doughton (N. C.), Callaway (Tex.), and Caldwell (N. Y.).

that a permanent commission should be established to have general charge of waterway improvements. This bill also failed in the Senate, not through lack of support, but through lack of time for its consideration. The Senate did pass, however, a Flood Control bill which had passed the House in the The Democratic caucus of the Sen- previous session (A. Y. B., 1916, p. ate made only one important change 557); and this was done notwithin the bill-the Underwood amend- standing the attacks made upon it as ment reducing the tax on oleomarga- a pork measure. Senator Kenyon de*rine from 10 cents a pound to two.clared that it would reclaim 18,000,But when the revised Treasury esti- 000 acres of land mainly held by mates, submitted early in February, speculators. indicated a deficit of $333,400,000 for 1918, the Finance Committee recommended an increase of the bond issue and other changes. Ultimately the Democratic leaders found it necessary to drop all amendments; for the Republican filibuster which began on Feb. 23 entailed a delay of some days, and so near the end of the session any further delay might prove fatal. On Feb. 28 the Senate passed the bill, exactly as it came from the House, by a strict party vote of 47 to

33.

"Pork" Bills.-Notwithstanding the congestion of business in Congress and the obvious need of rigid economy, the so-called pork bills made their appearance as usual. On Jan. 19 the House passed the omnibus Public Buildings bill by a vote of 234 to 92. This bill carried more than $38,000,000, distributed among 400 items. In the debates, which lasted four days, a determined opposition developed; in the case of 308 post offices it was shown that the new buildings would cost a million and a half to maintain as against a quarter of a million now paid in rental. Fortunately no progress was made in the Senate. On Jan. 26 the House passed, by a vote of 221 to 132, the River and Harbor bill, carrying over $38,155,000. The Senate Commerce Committee added $137,000 to this

Prohibition.-The spread of sentiment in favor of prohibition found expression in several important measures: (1) Giving effect to a local popular vote held in November, Congress made Alaska "bone dry." (2) It established prohibition in Porto Rico subject to popular approval in a referendum vote. (3) The sale of alcoholic liquors, as well as their importation or manufacture for sale, was forbidden in the District of Columbia, only importation for personal use being permitted. The bill passed the Senate on Jan. 9 by a vote of 55 to 32 and the House on Feb. 28 by a vote of 273 to 137; party lines were completely ignored. Senator Underwood sought to incorporate in the bill a clause allowing the people of the District to accept or reject it in a referendum vote. The Senate first modified his amendment so as to permit women to take part in the referendum and then rejected it by a tie vote. In the House a referendum motion was beaten decisively. (4) In the Senate, on Feb. 15, a rider was attached to the Post Office Appropriation bill. This provided: first, that liquor advertisements should not be carried in the mails to states which had enacted laws against such advertisements; and, second, that liquors should not be shipped into states which had forbidden their manufac

ture and sale for beverage purposes, | the form of government. Under the

this provision applying even in cases where the state law permitted importation for personal use. The rider carried in the Senate by a vote of 55 to 11 and in the House by 319 to 72. (5) In both Houses a constitutional amendment providing for national prohibition was reported from the Committee; but no action was taken upon it.

terms of this bill the President is authorized to appoint a governor, who may be a military or naval officer, and other officials, who shall be natives of the islands. The local courts are left in their present form. So far as compatible with changed sovereignty all taxes and customs duties now levied shall remain in effect until Congress enacts appropriate legislaPorto Rico and the Danish West tion; but an export tax of eight dolIndies. On Feb. 20, responding to the lars a ton is laid upon sugar, this tax, urgency of the President, the Senate along with import duties, being exat last passed the Porto Rico Citizen-pected to defray the cost of governship bill which had passed the House ment. While the United States will, in the preceding session. This bill as a general rule, treat imports from admits residents of Porto Rico collectively to American citizenship, establishes universal male suffrage, and imposes prohibition on the island, unless, in a referendum vote, the islanders reject it. Late in February both houses passed a bill which appropriated $25,000,000 to carry out the treaty provisions for the purchase of the Danish West Indies and fixed

the islands exactly like imports from foreign countries, no duties will be imposed upon products and manufactures which do not contain foreign materials to a higher value than 20 per cent. of their total customs value. Sugar, the chief product of the islands, will for this reason escape the American import duty of $20 a ton.

and Sherman, who had favored it. The Senate, after confirming the numerous nominations, proceeded to debate the treaty with Colombia; but on March 16, when it became obvious that no agreement could be reached, the special session was brought to an end. The Senate, as modified by the election of 1917, included 51 Demo. crats and 43 Republicans. (See IV, The National Administration.)

THE SIXTY-FIFTH CONGRESS SPECIAL SESSION OF THE SENATE Closure Rule Adopted. The Senate | who had opposed the Armed Ship bill, met in special session on March 5. The President convened it for three main reasons: first, because it had failed, in the preceding session, to ratify the treaty with Colombia; second, because more than 1,400 nominations awaited confirmation, the controversy over the advancement of Dr. Cary T. Grayson to the rank of Rear-Admiral having delayed action upon these; and third, because the President had urged, after the failure of the Armed Ship bill (see supra), the necessity of adopting some form of the closure. In amending the rules of procedure the parties acted in harmony. A committee of 10 (half from each party) drew up an amendment which provided that on petition of 16 Senators supported two days later by a two-thirds vote debate on a pending measure should be brought to a close, each Senator being limited thereafter to one hour's speech and no amendments being permitted except by unanimous consent. The Senate adopted this new rule on March 8 by a vote of 76 to three, the three being Gronna and La Follette,

The War Congress: The Sixty-fifth Congress, Special Session.-The Sixtyfourth Congress had come to the end of its term without any definite understanding that a special session of the new Congress would be called; for while the Democratic whips had indicated the probability of a session beginning on March 6, the President was reported in the papers as having no intention of calling one. The very serious aspect of foreign affairs, however, and the necessity of securing action upon certain bills (especially the Army Appropriation bill) which the Senate had not passed, led the President to summon Congress to meet on April 16. On March 21 a

new proclamation fixed the date two | 000,000 for the aviation service alone. weeks earlier, public interests re- In the Espionage act and the Food quiring the assembly of Congress on Control act it entrusted the governthat day "to receive a communication ment with broad powers over persons concerning grave matters of national policy which should be immediately taken under consideration".

and property. President Wilson said: "The Sixty-fifth Congress, now adjourning, deserves the gratitude and Great interest was manifested in appreciation of the people whose will the organization of the House of Rep- and purpose I believe it has faithresentatives because of the almost fully expressed. One cannot examine equal strength of the two parties. the record of its action without being The decision seemed to rest in the impressed by its completeness, its hands of six "independents"-Fuller courage, and its full_comprehension (Mass.), Kelly (Pa.), London (So- of a great task. . . . It seems to me cialist, N. Y.), Martin (La.), Randall that the work of this remarkable ses(Cal.), and Schall (Minn.). Five of sion has not only been done thorthese swung to the support of Champ oughly but that it has also been done Clark, giving him the Speakership by with the utmost despatch possible in 217 votes against 205 for James R. the circumstances or consistent with Mann. The Republican forces were a full consideration of the exceedweakened at the moment by the res-ingly critical matters dealt with." ignation of one member, the absence Nothing about the session imof four others, and a secessionist movement (by way of protest against Mann's leadership) which gave Gillett and Lenroot each two votes. The Democrats were thus enabled to dispense all the capitol patronage (some 490 places) and to appoint the chairmen of 59 committees. In spite of the protests of Gallivan (Mass.) most of the chairmanships went to Southern members. It might be noted that on Sept. 24 the House created a new committee on Woman Suffrage by a vote of 181 to 107, this step having the express approval of President Wilson. For the first time a woman took her seat in the HouseMiss Jeanette Rankin (Mont.).

on

pressed the public more than the confidence which, in a great emergency, was placed in the President. He did not get everything he asked; a press censorship was refused. There were minority protests and delays due to cumbersome legislative machinery. But on the whole executive ascendancy has never been so marked. Many Congressmen agreed with Gardner (Mass.) when he declared: "What the President says he needs that shall I vote to give him"; and the Democratic House caucus, April 19, decided to consider only bills recommended by the President. After Speaker Clark had asserted that a conscription bill could never pass the House of Representatives, the President, persisting in his course, secured an overwhelming triumph. He successfully insisted upon a single head for the food administration. Perhaps no case was more significant than his persuasion of Congress to abandon the idea of erecting a joint committee to supervise executive expenditures on the war.

When this first War Congress adjourned on Oct. 6, after sitting for six months, it had accomplished a remarkable legislative task. First came the declaration of a state of war with Germany, adopted with little delay and, in view of the pacifist sentiment displayed earlier, with little opposition. Most of those who did vote in the negative fell into line as soon as the step had been taken. While the members of Congress Congress proceeded at once to au- stood well together in a determinathorize a series of war undertakings tion to prosecute the war with vigor, on a scale of vast magnitude. It es- a very small minority resorted to tactablished a new national army of a tics which suggested pro-German symmillion men to be raised, not on the pathies. This was particularly the old voluntary plan, but by conscrip- case with Senator La Follette, whose tion. It appropriated nearly nine- constant criticism of war policies and teen and a half billion mainly whose utterances within and without for the purposes of the war-$640,- | Congress brought charges of disloy⚫

alty and demands that he be expelled | entering this war. It was not with from the Senate. In the House Mr. their previous knowledge or approval. Heflin (Ala.) created a sensation, late in September, when he said: "I could name 13 or 14 men in the two bodies who, in my judgment, have acted in a suspicious manner." This remark was made after the publication of von Bernstorff's note to Berlin asking authority to use $50,000 "to influence Congress".