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Show TURNING BACK OF RAILROADS Senate Cannot Agree and President May Be Called on to Act WASHINGTON, Dec. 11 Hope of enacting railroad legislation bj Janu ary 1, the date on which President Wilson has announced the roads would be turned back to private control, vir tually was abandoned today by senate leaders. Stronge and unexpected opposition developed during consideration bf the Cummins bill, designed to meet conditions con-ditions with the end of government control and it was by a slim and narrow margin that its advocates defeated de-feated a motion to set It aside and take up the sugar control measure In view of the short tlm remain inp before the Christmas recess and ih fact thnt the Cummins bill, if passed, must be sen1 to confer, nro With the Esch bill recently passed b the house, Republican and Democratic senators predicted that it would not be humanly possible to frame a law by the end of the month, even if congress con-gress kopt le;-ilih and continuously at work The day s upturn was keenly disappointing disap-pointing to friends of the Cummins bill which would have been pi Monday, with less than a score ol ators voting, except for a demand by spnator LaFollette Republican, Wisconsin, Wis-consin, for a quorum. On an aye and nay vote the bill was passed and Vice President Marshall was ready to ;m nounce the result when the obvious absence of a quorum upset the whole proceeding and reopened discussion. During an address today, in which he made a sharp demand for immediate immedi-ate action. Senator Underwood, Democrat, Demo-crat, of Alabama, took notice of widely wide-ly circulated rumors that the pri I dent would not return the roads to their owners January l. Senator Underwood Un-derwood frankly announced thai be did not know what President Wilson intended to do. "Put,' he added, "the president ha-said ha-said that he would turn them back the first of the year and it ha.; been my ob-J .nervation that when he said he would do a thing he did it ' Taking up for the time being the minority leadership, Senator Underwood Under-wood fought off attempts to sidetrack' the railroad bill, and defended it against attacks by members of his own' party. While he did not approve all of its provisions, he declared it protected the financial interests of the roads and did not unduly burden the public. The principal attack on the bill was made by Senator LaFollette, who al , ready had spoken two full days and who has not yet approached the end of his long address. .After he had been steadily opposing the measure for! two hours. Senator LaFoll t mp rarily yielded the floor to Senator M Kellar, Democrat, w ho was proct to demand elimination of certain pro-visions, pro-visions, characterized as "bolshevistic" "bolshevis-tic" when he halted suddenly and an 1 nounced that he did not intend to speak to empty benches In the long snarl which the senate found Itself while trying to decide whether to continue with the railroad hill or take up the sugar bill, the lack Of interest In pending railroad legisla- j tlon was bitterly attacked from both sides of the chamber. Almost an hour was lost today in quorum calls which Senator Smoot, Republican, Utah, denounced de-nounced as inexcusable, with a vitally vital-ly important question before congress But in the two-hour wrangle not on the sugar bill itself, but the question of taking it up Republicans and Democrats had on their fighting clothes, with the discussion running! far afield. In his argument against the bill, Senator Lafollette declared Its enactment enact-ment would add to the cost of living because an increase in freight rates would come with the end of government govern-ment control, which, he Insisted, had been eminently successful. Senator Lafollette said he had been assured I "by competent men in the railroi d administration" that the crest of the bill had been reached and that government gov-ernment operation "would show a profit prof-it from this time on, and thai tlu rr would be no need for an increase , i rates." Senator McKellar's objection to the Cummins bill was that it would take a part of the earnings from a railroad properly managed and rendering efficient ef-ficient service, and give it to a road poorly managed and of little b. aefil to the public He characterized the provision as "indefensible." There was a suggestion from a number num-ber of senators after adjournment tonight to-night that it might be necessary to defer de-fer the Christmas recess. It also was suggested that the senate endeavor to obtain from the president a statement I as to his plans for the turning back of the road, in view of his silence on j that question since his message to the; extraordinary session of cohgTese last May. |
