Unpatriotic Senators Filibuster Bill to Arm Civilian Ships, 1917

From the editorial page, March 13, 1917, Scotland Neck Commonwealth

The action of 12 United States senators in conducting a filibuster in the closing hours of congress that defeated the will of the president, an overwhelming majority of congress and a like proportion of the people of the nation, will have at least one beneficent result, despite the fact that the act will stand out as one of the blackest smudges on American patriotism. It will solidify the American people behind the president in his determination to assert the inviolability of American life and commerce upon the high seas. In every section of the country men of every political faith have denounced the disgraceful filibuster. Ministers, merchants, professional men, laborers, farmers, women, everywhere show a determination to assert for once and all American rights upon the seas, even if it leads to the war we so ardently desire to escape. The people do not want war if it can be honorably avoided, but they are ready to fight and sacrifice for the retention of their honor and their rights of life and commerce if it becomes necessary to do so. Today there is a grim set to the American countenance that means stern business.