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Show H THE RECORD OF CONGRESS. B There has never been a congressional session in history " that approaches the record of the extraordinary session of tiie sixty-fifty. Not merely has it made preparation or war on' a huge scale, but it has far surpassed the rec- ords made by the parliamentary bodies of other democ-M democ-M racies on their entrance into this war. Conscription, for H instance, was not adopted by Great Britain for two years M after' the war began. The United States certainly had B tho advantage of beginning late and of profiting by mis-m mis-m takes, both of delay and of commission, which other de-& de-& mocracies had made. It is much to the Congress s credit, V however, that it had the sense to profit by these mistakes, M for that has seldom been the way of Congress in the past. H Congress has recognized that this war is like no other H war, that the country is entering on an untrodden path, M and has behaved accordingly. No surer proof could be H given that the country is back of the war than the unhesi-H unhesi-H tating and confident way in which Congress has heaped H necessary burdens upon it; for Congress is keenly sensi-H sensi-H ' tivo to public opinion. The noise made by the pacifists H and malcontents in the Capitol has been out of all pro-H pro-H portion to the results they haw achieved, for on import-1 import-1 ant war measures they have never been able to muster H more than a handful of votes. The great machine has H gone steadily grinding on; steadily, and rapidly, despite H the impression of tflelay created by such incidents as the H discreditable attempt of a few men to defeat the food bill. M "Within six weeks after the declaration of war, which B 3iad been made within three days after the President in-B in-B iformed Congress that a state of war existed between the B United States and Germany, the selective draft act was M passed. It took North and South a year to understand B the necessity of conscription in their war. Congress then B enlarged the navy and authorized a strength of 162,402 B 7uen, and of 30,000 enlisted men for the Marine Corps. B .Within a month of ter the declaration of war it had author-B author-B i'e(l tne President to seize all vessels belonging to enemy B nations. A month later it passed the Espionage bill, giv-B giv-B nff w President authority over all ships and full control B ovor exportation. It authorized the expenditure of $750,-H $750,-H 000,000 to construct a merchant marine and $6-10,000,000 H for the construction of aircraft. It passed the Food Con-H Con-H trol bill and arranged for the insurance of soldiers and H sailors. It authorized loans to allied governments amount-H amount-H to $7,000,000,000. It authorized the embargo. It adopted H a $2,500,000,000 Revenue bill, disfigured here and there H by the marks of haste, as in the case of Section 209, which H penalizes professional and salaried man by the unjust H imposition of an additional income tax, but which in most H other respects bears the imprint of good intent. It au-H au-H thorizd tho greatest bond issue in our history. The total B of its appropriations was $21,390,730,940. It adopted a H number of other measures which in any other time would H Jiave seemed of great importance, but now are overshad ows owed by the immensity of those we have here selected 1 for illustrations. B "What must especially be remembered to the honor of H Congi vss is that all this unprecedented work, done at a m dangerous crisis, has been performed without any sign m of partisanship, without either the playing of party poli- m ticsor any display of old partisan antagonisms. In this H again Congress has reflected the spirit of the country. m a here are men in Congress, such as Senator La Follette H and oenator Stone, who have roused against themselves m a bitter hostility throughout the land; but we do not re- H call a single comment which has alluded to the fact that H ii ' Follette is a Republican or Mr. Stone a Democrat. H ' f he lase has been one of Americanism. That has been H the country's temper, and in that temper Congress has H acted. There has been no party line; There have been H new and deep-cut lines, but the old line between Republi- H c'?,n anni Democrat has been not only obliviated, but actu- H ally forgotten, so far as the work of saving the country H as concerned. The Sixty-fifth Congress, in its first ses- H sion, has won a place in history beside which no other B session since 1789 can fairly stand. |