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Show CONGRESS ILL CONVENE TODAY AT WASHINGTON Democratic Leaders Hope Necessary Legislation Will Be Passed Before Be-fore March 4 REPUBLICANS MAY BLOCK PROGRAMME Annual Message of Prcsi dent Eagerly Awaited; Agitation Over Preparedness Pre-paredness for War. WASHINGTON Dec t U noon tomorrow to-morrow bj convened the third s slon of the Mity third congress, for which members ft both bouses flocked to Washington toda) ending their holiday recess ot six weeks. Democratic leaders tn informal confer ences before the opening of the session. hlci la destined to be devoted chiefly to appropriation measures have been unanimous ta expressing the hope that the legislative programme of necessities couM be concluded by March 4 next hen the present congress automatically wtl end Many Republican leaders however have! stated that there -sere manj Important measures which they wouU urgs for pass age, and some indicated that supply bills might be delated to such an extent thai an extra session next spring and summer would be ne-eseary Am ait Message Administration leaders awa)t eagerly the annual meseage of President W Upon, I which wi 1 be delivered tn joint session Toesdav tor a definite outline of the pres ldent wishes for legislation. Alread however tfeejr 4ia presateeV-foc some things generally expected to be pressed before adjournment. Conservation mess ures Include the general water power and land leasing blHa. dealings on tuen are to begin before the senate committee on public lands darjng the week. Before the senate committee on Philippine Islands the bill to pave the way for Philippine Independence, which passed the house at the last session, is pending. Other important measures pending In the f era to are the immigration b 11, with the literacy test tor al ens, which passed (Continued on Page Tb-t.) CONGRESS WILL COM TODAY (Continued from Page One.) tiie house at the lat session, and rural credits legislation. At least seven of the great annual supply sup-ply measures of congress are to be rushed. mo as lo report thorn to tlie house hefoto the Christ mus holidays. These are the legislative, executive and 'Judicial, the Pitstrlct of Columbia, fortifications, pensions, pen-sions, military, postofflce and rivers and harbors appropriation bills. When the house convenes the bmdneps before It will lie tlie proposed financial relief for the cotton Mates, under an agreement reached at the last session. Uepresenta tive Henry, chairman of the riils committee, tays he if prepared to renew his flyht for tlie $2r.0.f"'0,u00 cotton cot-ton currency bill, as a substitute for currency measure for enlarging the amount of currency that can be bused on commercial paper, a niea:nin tiat the federal receive hoard and administration leaders in congress ha ve agreed ia no , longer necessary. Will Hold Conference. Chairman Glass of the house currer.cy commtti.ee, who pree.ced this commercial paper bill :if tlie last session, has abandoned aban-doned his effort? for It. The indications are that the cotton proposition w III he defeated and a conference of senators and representatives from the cotton stares will he held tomorrow night or Tuesday morning to dcut -s the subject. Members a heady in Washington hnve informally discupsed the military situation, particularly the agitation started by Representative Rep-resentative Gardner of Massachusetts in behalf of Ms resolution for an Investigation Investiga-tion Into the preparedness of the United States for war. Th resolution to Investigate Inves-tigate lias been pending in the house since the latter part of last session, and Senator Lodge oi Massachusetts plans to introduce q similar resolution In the senate. sen-ate. The subject is certain to precipitate precipi-tate lively discussion, but administration leaders nnd the president are understood to be opposed to the passage of the resolution, reso-lution, arguing that a!! facts relating to the condition of the army and navy are; known or available without such an inquiry in-quiry In this connection, too, the oppropria- 1 tions for the army and navy will further : open debate or. the military situation. Bo tli the military and naval committees of the house have been at work on the supply bills and will continue daily sessions ses-sions beginning tomorrow morning. General Gen-eral Crosier, chief of ordnance of the army, is to appear before the military af- fairs committee Wednesday to discuss ; appropriations for national defense. In the naval committee: the battleship 1 construction programme Is the chief pub- ! iect of interest. Secrets ry of tlie Navy Daniels will aprar before the committee during the week to die-cuss the building, programme and naval requirements. , Champions of increased naval construe- tlon are certain to urge a three or four- , battle.-;!! Ip programme, the erection of more torpedo boats and submarines ana Increased outlays for aviation work. Rivers and harbors appropriations, which were greatly curtailed at the last session, ere to be pressed again, but it is not likely, according to party leaders, that any new projects will be urged. Ship Purchase Bill. Another measure which will occupy much attention of the session, will be the shin purchase bill, which, it is un-d'-rstood, will be Included in the administration admin-istration legislative programme. A conference con-ference on th subject will be held this week. Constitutional amendments for suffrage and national prohibition also are pending. "President Wilson Is for my cotton warehouse bill ar.d it will pass the house." declared Representative Lever of South Carolina tonight. He added that Chairman Chair-man Henry of the rules committee would report tomorrow a rule to consider it. that committee already having agreed to It. The bill is a substitute for a similar measure that already lias passed the senate sen-ate and is designed to make tho purpose of the legislation more clear. "I have no doubt," Mr. Lever said, "that the estimates to the various congressional con-gressional committees show large increases in-creases over last year. The increase in the estimates of the secretary of agriculture agricul-ture to congress tomorrow, aggregating 20.700,000, constitutes $8-10,000, and this increase is probably the lowest low-est of the big appropriation drafts. The agricultural bill probably will not provide pro-vide the money needed for the suppression of the livestock foot and mouth disease epidemic, but a separate bill probably will be reported to the house, with an appropriation appro-priation aggregating J2, 500. 000." |