Salt Lake Tribune | 1919-06-24 | Page 6 | Support Lacking

! SUPPORT LACKING. i It .now appears probable that the' 1 senators will attempt to pass some important im-portant bills before the end of the fiscal year, after wasting five weeks in fruitless and acrimonious discussion of a peace treaty which has not yet been presented to them for ratification. But, after all, this is merely following a time-honored senate custom. Important measures aro rarely passed until the final hours of the session, and quite frequently some of them fail on account of a filibuster, tho spectacle presented on' the third of March, last, not being an uncommon occurrence. Plans change with dramatic suddenness in Washington these days. Saturday night a letter from ex-Secretary Boot to Senator Lodge was made public, and Chairman Will II. Hays issued a statement. state-ment. It was asserted that the Knox resolution, supported by the influence of both Koot and Hays, would be pressed for passage today, and its success was confidently predicted. On Sunday night the wholo project was abandoned by Senator Lodge, chairman of tho senate foreicn relations committee, who made the discovery that not more than ten members, Republicans and Democrats combined, would vote for the resolution. resolu-tion. The present plan is to amend the treaty and league of nations covenant in accordance with tho views of Mr. Eoot, who seems to be acting as adviser extraordinary to Chairman Hays and Senator Lodge. The fight is rapidly J degenerating into a farce. Fortunately, the levelheaded Republican senators could not be induced to make a partisan parti-san issue of the leaguo covenant, and the party will not suffer to any considerable consid-erable extent by reason of blind leadership lead-ership up to this point. There are plenty of grounds upon which the Democratic Dem-ocratic party can be successfully attacked at-tacked without risking the future peace and happiness of the whole world, and it now begins to look as though t lie senate will ratify the covenant and then turn its attention to the work of reconstruction. There will bo some radical speeches, of course, but exhibitions exhibi-tions of fanaticism excite 'much more disgust than alarm, now that Chairman Lodge has discovered that his following follow-ing is too small to have any other effect than to engender bad feeling. Former President Taft, who has supported sup-ported tho league from the beginning and was one of the originators of the idea, has good reason to chuckle. He has been abused in season and out of season for his manly stand. Kvcry effort to nullify his influence has been made, Senator Smoot going so far as to prevent the printing of an address bv the former president in the Congressional Con-gressional Record. Such exhibitions of pettiness no doubt amuse Mr. Tat't greatly, for, not being a candidate for office, he is free to make what comment com-ment ho pleases upon the issues of the day, and he has been doing this very thing. No doubt lie has made political enemies, but it mav turn out that history his-tory will repeat itself, and that instead of being cast aside as unworthy, someone some-one will ri-s in the next Republican convention and deelare ' we love him for the enemies he has made," the answer of General Kragg of Wisconsin when Tammany declared its opposition to Grocer Cleveland. Wo do not take seriously the announcement an-nouncement of Senator Knox that after the appropriation bills have been passed he will attempt to obtain a vote on his resolution expressing unwillingness unwilling-ness to accept tho league of nations covenant as an inseparable part of the P"ace treaty. Why not allow the whole incident to piass into oblivion?