The New Filibusterers

By the end of last week U.S. Senators had poured forth half a million words during three weeks of debate on the tidelands bill. This was too much for Majority Leader Robert A. Taft, who had a word for the tactics being used by opponents of the bill: filibuster.

He was "shocked and surprised," said Bob Taft, that such fervid Democratic opponents of the filibuster as New York's Senator Herbert H. Lehman, Illinois' Paul Douglas and Minnesota's Hubert Humphrey are now obviously engaged in one. He was not shocked but was irked at Alabama's Democratic Senator Lister Hill, a veteran filibusterer. At one point, Hill, who had held the floor for three days, strolled down the aisle, clapped a hand on Taft's shoulder and called him "my sweet, good friend from Ohio, whose shining virtue is the virtue of integrity." When Hill later began to move toward Taft's desk a second time, Taft called a point of order. Said he, with a wry smile: "Mr. President, the Senator must speak from his chair. He cannot approach me and pat me on the head."

While the talk droned on, 20 opponents of the tidelands bill petitioned Taft to set the bill aside while other issues were considered. "Ridiculous," said Taft. When the opponents pointed out that federal rent control will expire April 30 unless the Senate acts, Taft had a rejoinder that was enough to give Lehman, Humphrey, Douglas & Co. a chill on behalf of their big-city constituents. Said he: "I don't care if rent control expires or not."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.