100 years ago in The Saratogian
Sunday, March 4, 1917
In a stunning setback to President Woodrow Wilson, the 64th Congress ends its term today with a filibuster that kills the President’s plan to arm American merchant ships. “A little tribe of eleven Senators,” as the President describes them, block the legislation by exploiting Senate rules, or the lack of them. In a statement issued tonight, Wilson bemoans the fact that “The Senate has no rules by which debate can be limited or brought to an end, no rules by which dilatory tactics of any kind can be prevented. A single member can stand in the way of action, if he have but the physical endurance.”
A bipartisan coalition of Senators, including New York Democrat James O’Gorman, sustains the filibuster. After the Senate adjourns, another bipartisan group of 76 Senators issues a statement affirming their support for the “armed neutrality” bill, which passed the House by a 40313 margin last Thursday. Like most newspapers across the country, The Saratogian condemns the filibuster. An editorial for tomorrow’s edition warns that “The un-American act of the eleven United States Senators in talking the bill for ship arming authority to death because the rules of the Senate permitted such an opportunity leaves the country in a dangerous position.”
The country could remain in that dangerous position for months, since the 65th Congress isn’t scheduled to convene until December. The Saratogian calls on the President to call a special session as soon as possible, but Wilson himself says there’d be no point to a special session unless the Senate first reforms its rules to end filibusters. The President, whose second term begins tomorrow, sought authorization to arm merchant ships following an escalation of German submarine attacks on shipping bound for Germany’s enemies, France and Great Britain. The U.S. broke off diplomatic relations with Germany last month to protest the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare.
SARATOGA METHODISM
“It was the testimony of many of the oldest members of the local church that Sunday was one of the greatest, if not the greatest day in the history of local Methodism,” The Saratogian reports.
According to a “Contributed” article – most likely a press release – this “Red Letter Day in Saratoga Methodism” is “no mere happens, but rather the fruit of a wellplanned and directed evangelistic campaign.”
The highlight of the day is a mass baptism service for 72 new members. “The setting of this service was meet; the pastor as leader and shepard in the altar; outside the altar, the teen age converts, while immediately banking them stood the adults – a picture of youth under true leadership, safeguarded by maturity.”