The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1900-12-30
OUR CONGRESS.
1t Is the Most Interesting Body of
Men In the World.

It Is the Most Interesting Body of
Men In the World.
''The congress of the United States is
the most interesting body of men in the
world" writes L. A. Coolidge in Aims
lees. at comes nearer to being a rep
resentative body than any other that
ever existed. 1t is the microcosm of the
republic, presenting in concentration all
the extraordinary peculiarities of the ma
ton whose work it is selected to perform.
Its average of ability is higher than that
of any other parliamentary body on
earth. Each of it's members represents
a larger constituency than is represented
by any single member of a European
parliament, and with very few excep-
tons each member is a good representa-
tive of the constituency for which he
stands. Those who sheer at congress
and congressman sneer at the voters who
selected them. Luckily that sort of thing
is going out of fashion. People are be-
ginning to appreciate congress for what
it really is, and it is getting better all
the time.
There are very few members either
of the house or of the senate who are
not of native birth. To be exact, there
are just 16 representatives and 6 sena-
tors who were not born in the United
States. In the Fifty-sixth congress, Curl
ously enough, one of the members is
Henderson, the speaker, who is Scotch
man. But he is as genuine an Ameri-
can as there is in the land. Considering
the proportion of foreign to native born
In the United States, the percentage is
insignificant, especially when it is re-
membered that the average member Of
congress is one who has been given to
moving about the world and shifting his
environment. Out of 352 members of
the present house only PIT represent the
states in which they were born, and of
this number only a few live in the con-
gressional district where they first saw
light. The average congressman is
hustler. He has been ambitious or else
he would never have found his present
place. That he has been successful in
some measure goes without saying, and
the fact that so many Of them have bro
ken away from their early surroundings
and have gained new successes in new
fields simply goes to show something OF
the energy and force that have helped
to make the American congress what it
is.
THE average length of a career in con-
Rress is four years. At the beginning Of
every congress about one-third Of the
members of the house are new to the
business. II is a rare thing for a mem
Der to make any sort of a mark in legis-
lation before he has been in the house at
least two full terms, and those who have
forced themselves above the surface be-
fore the close of a single term can almost
be counted on the fingers of one hand.
The ordinary congressman comes and
goes and leaves 10 trace behind him, ex-
cept on the salary vouchers. The man
who stays in the house for more than two
terms has fair chance of welding lit
tie influence, He gets his name into The
Congressional Record once in awhile, he
is recognized by the speaker occasionally,
and II he is unusually lucky the newspa-
pers take him up and sometimes give him
a headline all to himself. There are 134
members of the present house who are
serving their third term or better. OF
these %, at a generous estimate, are so
we'll known that their names might carry
some meaning outside their own state.
The work Of a congressman is thanklesa
enough. 1t brings nothing In the way OF
money, little in the way of reputation.
except In rare instances, and a vast
amount Of drudgery. A man must be In
the harness for years generally before he
amounts to anything, and by the time he
begins to count in legislation he has lost
his enthusiasm and spirit and becomes a
pack horse. Once in awhile, at rare in.
tervals, there is a fash across the duh
legislative sky like meteor, and sud.
den reputation Is made for a new man.
= That was the way with Bryan when he
first came to the house In the Fifty third
congress and sssSrans Into Instant n6toFi:
! ETY. with a speech on the tariff that daz-
T zled everybody. Little6eld Of Maine
made an even more effective stroke last
winter with bis argument against the I'M
seating Of the Mormon Roberts. These
| are the most striking examples in recent
years OF reputation quickly made. Away
back 10 the Fifty-third congress LATE
Pence caught the house in the first week
after he took his seat with free silver
speech. 1t is significant that those who
] thus make dramatic entrance in the
house rarely count for much in legislation
/ afterward. Bryan never had any influ-
/ ence, and all the while he staid In con-
gress he was looked on as 4 good talker
and nothing more. Towne frittered him.
self away after his silver speech, and as
for Late Pence, who had black type in
the newspapers for. few days after his
maiden effort, 1t is hard nowadays to
find anybody who can remember his
name