Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 98, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 March 1917 — GENERAL AND STATE NEWS [ARTICLE]

GENERAL AND STATE NEWS

Telegraphic Reports From Many Parts of the Country. SHORT BITS OF THE UNUSUAL Happenings in the Nearby Cities and Towns—Matters of Minor Mention from Many Places. ARMED NEUTRALITY MEASURE BLOCKED BY LA FOLLETTE Wisconsin Senator Prevents Vote on Armed Neutrality Bill, Opposing Will of Majority. Washington, March s.—Because its supporters were unable under the rules of fee senate, the armed neutrality bill failed of passage. The sixty-fourth congress came to an end at 12 o’clock noon yesterday with the senate still discussing the bill.

The saving feature of the sltuaiton was embodied in the manifesto to the people of the United States signed by seventy-six senators which stated that this number of senators certainly, or even more who could not be reached, favored granting the President authority to arm merchant ships and to take any other steps he may deem necessary for the protection of the rights of Americans. This signed statement was made a part of the official record of the senate. In spite of the failure of the congress to meet the obligation resting on it, there will be no extra session at this time. Later, if the tension between the United States and the German empire increases, if war seems inevitable, the President will call an extra session. If a crisis of that magnitude does not arise, the government will get along until June, anyhow, without the presence of the legislative body here. Such are the plans of today, though, of course, they might be modified 7 ’ at any time. The thirteen United States senators who refused to sign the manifesto declaring that they would vote for the armed neutrality measure, if possible, were: LaFollette, Gronna, Cummins, Kenyon, Penrose, Works, Norris, and Clapp, Republicans; Vardaman, Kirby, Lane, Stone and O’Gorman, Democrats.