Show I fGHT OVfR THf CANAl mll MAY DEFEAT RIVER AND H I BaR APPROPRIATIONS I Senates Nicaragua Amendment I Too Heavy a Load For the Appropriation Appro-priation Bill t Carry Washington Feb IS Chairman Burton Bur-ton of the house river and harbor committee stated today that he feared the river and horbor bill would fail to become a law as the result of the acton ac-ton of the senate commerce committee in adding the Nicaragua canal amendment amend-ment I a not opposed to the Nicaragua I canal said Mr Burton but it is a vast project to be approached with due deliberation and not carried along asa as-a rider with perhaps only a few minutes f r PsE utes consideration Every item of the I original bill was carefully scrutinized by the committee but i will be impossible im-possible if this amendment aedment comes I hack to give it like scrutiny In the few remaining days of congress or to reconcile rec-oncile it with the original character of the bill Viewed from a practical standpoint stand-point the amendment creates a combination com-bination of opposing elements the opposition op-position to apy rivet and harbor bill the opposition to any Nicaragua canal the opposition to this form of dealing with the Nicaragua canal the opposition opposi-tion of such men as Mr Cannon to heavy expenditures and the opposition to the senate increase In the river and harbor items Altogether I a seriously se-riously apprehensive that these combined I com-bined elements of opposition will defeat de-feat the river and harbor bill and the Nicaragua amendment a well I is expected thata test will be made on the biy If the senate retains fhe Nicaragua canal paragraph when it reaches the house The usual procedure would be to disagree to the senate dislec amendments as a whole and ask a conference con-ference But in this case friends of the Nicaragua canal say there will be a motion either to concur with the canal ca-nal amendment orelse to instruct the house conferees to substitute the Hep burn canal bill Chairman Hepburn and otner members of the commerce committee do not approve the form of the senate canal amendment as it is said to recognize private concessions They therefore will endeavor to preserve pre-serve the Nicaragua feature in the river and harbor billand yet substitute strict government control as embodied in the Hepburn bill The precedents are being be-ing examined and under these it is said the motion to concur with an amendment substituting the house proposition pro-position for that of the senate would take precedence over a motion to non concur The most recent ruling washy Mr Payne who while I In the chair held that a motion to concur with an amendment amend-ment took preference over a strict motion mo-tion tp concur and the latter over a motion to nonconcur J |