70 to 0

One day last week the Senators wended out of their chamber tingling all over with virtue and generosity. To their own and many another person's great surprise they had passed a Flood Control bill; passed it so suddenly that they had had to make their speeches on it after voting instead of before; passed it 70 to 0, moreover, so that only a "love feast" attended the event, without partisanship.

Senate-leaders Curtis (Republican) and Robinson (Democrat) had put their heads together and determined that, after all, Flood Relief was not a thing to bicker and trifle over. They had agreed to ram Senator Jones' bill, all points of which had been settled in committee, through to a vote at the first opportunity. The opportunity came when Wisconsin's Blaine long and earnestly opposed Senator Norbeck's migratory bird bill, providing Federal bird sanctuaries to be paid for by Federal hunting licenses at $1 each. So long, so earnestly did Senator Elaine and one or two others talk, that it became apparent that migratory birds were being filibustered out of sanctuary. So the bird bill was deposed in the order of business and the Flood Control bill was called up.

Senator Jones, as Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, made the only major speech on the bill, outlining its provisions, which were:

1) $325,000,000 (an admittedly undersized amount for levees and spillways from Cape Girardeau, Mo., (near Cairo, Ill.) to Head of the Passes (Baton Rouge, La.).

2) A board of engineers--the Secretary of War, the Chief of Army Engineers, the president of the Mississippi River Commission, two civil engineers to be appointed by the President--to conclude differences in plans and supervise work.

3) Recognition of the principle of local contribution to the cost (as insisted by President Coolidge) but, since the flooded States have already paid some 300 millions to salvage themselves, no local levy.

4) Authority for the Secretary of War to survey the Mississippi's tributaries and report what flood-control works they need.

5) An emergency fund of $5,000,000 for immediate control or rescue work on Mississippi tributaries between Cairo and the Gulf.

In the House, where flood control hearings began last November with no result as yet, the Senate was congratulated and its work received with interest. The House Flood Control Committee approved the bill and prepared to report it without major amendments.