_The President of the Senate_ is little more than a moderator; indeed, he may belong to a different political party from that which is in control of the chamber--a situation that never happens in the house. He does not appoint the committees of the senate, and so has no power of predetermining the character of legislation. Moreover, he has no power to control debate through the power of recognition. The traditions of the senate require that he shall recognize the first senator who rises to speak, and that he shall treat the members of both parties impartially in according recognition for purposes of debate. _Unlimited Debate._--Until 1917 one of the usages of the senate was the right of unlimited debate. Owing to the small size of the senate, much greater freedom of discussion is possible than in the house of representatives, where there are more than four times as many members. Debate can also be conducted with much more ease and is much more effective, since the size of the hall is smaller and members are not under the necessity of speaking at the top of their voices. While a member of the house can rarely get an opportunity to deliver a speech and then only for a few minutes, a senator may usually speak as long as he pleases. Advantage of this privilege is frequently taken by senators to deliver long speeches, not so much to convince their colleagues, as to get their views before the country at large or to make an impression on their constituents at home. Under the rules as they were before 1917, there was no limit to a senator's right to debate. The privilege was made use of occasionally near the close of a session for "filibustering" purposes. Thus a few senators with strong lungs, large vocabularies, and a liberal supply of documents from which to read, might consume the time of the senate for weeks and prevent it from acting on measures to which they were opposed. Many times in our history a single senator has forced the senate to abandon the consideration of important measures, by threatening to consume the remaining time of the session by speech making. In the last days of one session of Congress, a senator from Wisconsin spoke continuously for more than seventeen hours in an effort to prevent action on a currency bill. Near the end of the 64th Congress (March, 1917) a small group of senators filibustered to prevent the senate from taking a vote on a bill to give the President authority to arm American merchant vessels for defensive purposes, notwithstanding the fact that nearly all the other senators desired to pass the bill. Shortly thereafter the senate adopted a new rule which makes it possible, by a two-thirds vote, to limit the debate on any measure to one hour for each senator. The rule was applied in November, 1919, to bring to an end protracted discussion of the treaty of peace with Germany.