Bird Watching

Looking down from the U.S. Senate gallery, bird watchers often observe that Oregon's Senator Wayne Morse has a notably ornithic look--a sharp beak, darting, saucerish eyes, a tufted head. Since he became an independent last year, Senator Morse has been the busiest, noisiest jay in the Senate; he interrupts his chatter only to hop over to the press ticker to see what kind of coverage he's getting.

Last week Morse was at full voice. One day he blocked unanimous consent on an emergency bill making a technical change in the officer strength of the armed services. He didn't understand the bill, he said. After Armed Services Chairman Leverett Saltonstall patiently explained the bill, Morse could see no emergency, thought the change could wait for permanent legislation. Finally, Majority Leader Robert A. Taft rose and rammed the bill through on a voice vote.

When the Senate met for the next time two days later, Wayne Morse had his reply ready. Taft made the usual motion to dispense with reading of the journal, a lengthy synopsis of the previous day's proceedings. Morse objected, insisting that the journal be read aloud. Under Senate rules, the rarely made request had to be complied with. For 26 wasted minutes the clerk read while Morse slumped in his specially built chair (it has an extra-long seat to accommodate the Morse slump). Next day, Morse "suggested the absence of a quorum," forced the Senate to adjourn a few moments after it had convened. The day after, he again forced the useless reading of the journal (22 minutes). Then he rose and yammered for two hours on what the New York Times politely called "a variety of subjects."

For years, Morse and his fellow liberals have been objecting to the filibuster as a wicked, minority-rule device. Now Morse was using typical filibuster tactics, not against any specific piece of legislation but simply to call attention to Wayne Morse.

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