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Show I 'SHIP QUESTION OVERTOPS ALL Wilson Unshaken in His Atti- I tude and Chairmen Prepared to Explain Position Fully. REPUBLICANS AGRtE Majority Standing by Presi-j Presi-j dent Discussion of Warn-4 Warn-4 ing Americans Off Bellig- erent Ships Deferred. Washington, Feb. 24.Pressure for ac-f ac-f lion warning Americans off armed J ships apparently made little progress ? today in congress. In the senate a bill and a resolution Bfor that purpose offered by Senator Gore, Democrat, were Tor the day bar red from introduction by the objec-T objec-T tions of Senator Brandagee, a Republican, Repub-lican, tinder the rules. Senator Gore announced he would bring them up tomorrow. ' Chairman Stone of the foreign rela- lions committee, who was said to have privately told his colleagues ho would J stand against action of the majority, 1 issued a statement counseling against any congressional action until dlplo- 3 matic negotiations by the president I were exhausted. 1 In the house the agitation apparent- ly did not move forward, although its leaders declared no retreat was being I made. Its supporters were represent- ed as willing to give the president j time further to consider the situation ' before seeking to force action. ;' Partial Concessions Made. ' The foreign afairs committee made partial concessions to the proponents ( of action by asking the state depart- f ment to submit evidences of orders, to British merchant vessels regarding armament and war on submarines. ThiB withdrew support from Represen- i tatlve McLemore's resolution, which In addition to a warning to Americans to avoid armed ships, contained a re- ' quest for such papers. Support then t turned to Representative Foster's res- olution which only would authorize , the president to warn Americans off i armed ships. Mr. Foster said he J would not attempt to introduce it to- ' day. i President's Wilson's opposition to any action by congress at this time was unchanged. I Washington, Feb. 24. Congress as- j aembled today with the agitation for .' action warning Americans off bellig- erent 6bips overshadowing all other Questions. President Wilson's sup porters, apprehensive that the smould-j smould-j erlng sentiment might suddenly blaze up to embarrass the diplomatic negoti-! negoti-! ations with Germany, were working to hold tho administration forceB in line I and keep the question from the floor of both house and senate. The legislative situation In both houses favored the administration for- ces. The senate was in the legislative legisla-tive day of yesterday which prevented the subject from coming up without unanimous consent The situation in the house was similar but not so so-cure. so-cure. Wilson's Opposition Unshaken. Word went to the capital again today to-day that President Wilson's opposition to any action by congress was un- shaken and that Chairman Flood and ' Chairman Stone of the committees dealing with 'foreign affairs, could ex-I ex-I plain his position fully. Admlnistra- tlon officials out6ide of congress ex- pressed confidence that the presl-; presl-; dent's position would be supjxjrted. I The Republicans generally were opposed op-posed to action by congress and aside from the score of Democrats who yesterday showed signs of breaking over the administration restraint, the majority forces today apparently wore . IiqItio- lialri Viv tVia onnonl "Rtiinri hv thtt president." ' Revolt Is Denied. i Statements that the agitation had attained the proportions of a revolt against the president's policy were ! denied on all sides, t The possibility which stood out among all others was that the whole situation might be reduced to a pro- poBal that congress express the sentl- ment that Americans should not bring their country into danger of war by ) traveling on ships which Germany has -i announced she will sink without warning. 1 It was pointed out that such subject ') would be quite different than legisla-j legisla-j tlon prohibiting Americans taking pas-j pas-j sage on such ships and could not bo j viewed as a surrender of rights. j Element of Politics. The extent to the which the pollti- cal element enters into the present situation has not been disclosed. Ad-V Ad-V minstratlon supporters, however, re-i re-i call that former Secretary of State Bryan broke with the president and 1 left the cabinet over the question of i warning Americans off belligerent j ships. Among those, who are now supporting the agitation to put Mr. Bryan's proposal into legislative action, ac-tion, are some senators and representatives represen-tatives who have been numbered among Mr. Bryan's admirers, but It is tme that some of them alEo are classed class-ed as supporters of the president. Germany Has Not Replied. Germany has not yet replied to the latest request from Washington that previous assurances for the safety of unresisting liners apply to the conduct of the new submarine campaign. She has indicated she wants to discuss what properly may be defeuslve armament. arma-ment. There are indications that in Germany Ger-many the consequences of destruction of more American lives is fully realized. realiz-ed. Private Advices Received. Private advices from Germany tell tow the civilian element at court, headed by the chancellor, von Beth-mann-Hollweg, who has contended for preserving friendly relations with the United States, has been overshadowed by a newly risen political force headed head-ed by General von Falkenhayn, chief of staff of the army, who has Emperor William's fullest confidence. Von Falkenhayn, It is said, does not consider con-sider that a break with the United States would affect Germany's success in the war been communicated to President Wilson. Wil-son. As members of both houses assembled assem-bled for today's sessions, the situation appeared to have calmed considerably. Status of Situation. The exact status of the situation was as follows: Many members of -the house and some In the senate, being much in the dark as to exact facts in the negotiations negoti-ations with Germany, fear that it would lead to war if Americans are not kept off armed merchantmen and if Germany should actuate the determination deter-mination to sink armed merchant vessels ves-sels whether armed for offense, or only for defense. They feel that they should be informed in-formed just what the president proposes pro-poses should be done Yesterday they wore alarmed over reports that the president was insistent on yielding nothing to Germany, even if It should lead to war; that the president had declared another attack on a ship in which an American lost his life would immediately result in severing diplomatic diplo-matic relations and that the president had expressed indifference at the attitude at-titude In congress. All these served to arouse resentment amonc concress- men and fear that the country was headed directly Into trouble. A demand was made upon Chairman Flood and members of the house foreign for-eign affairs committee for an immediate immedi-ate report on a resolution to keep Americans off armed ships. Representative Repre-sentative Flood early today talked over the telephone to the president and told him that the canvass of the house agreed upon yesterday had not been made and that tho proposed warning resolutions would probably not get out of the committee. He was told Chairman Flood said he believed the situation had reached a Btage of calm deliberation. The fact that little opportunity was given to geC on the floor of either house any resolution today was counted count-ed by administration leaders to further furth-er check tho agitation. Canvass of House Begins. The canvass of the house has been undertaken by Representative Shack-leford Shack-leford of Missouri of the foreign affairs af-fairs committee and the opinion gathered gath-ered from several conferences, was that whosoever favored legislative action ac-tion might get behind a warning reso- lutlon proposed by Representative Foster of Illinois. Chairman Stone of the foreign relations rela-tions committee was resolute in his determination not to discuss the situation. situ-ation. Insofar as opinion can be gauged in the senate, a majority of Republicans and Democrats feel that tho presldont should not be hampered in diplomatic negotiations. Democratic senators, however, feel that the situation is critical crit-ical and delicate and that to oppose the president would be politically dangerous dan-gerous to the party Facing Most Critical Situation. One senator in t. . confir'?nce of the White House was quoted as saying say-ing he thought the situation the most serious that had faced the United States since tho European war started President Wilson was represented as calmly determined to steadfastly maintain the right of Americans to travel on armed merchantmen. |