Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-06-14

ESPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE
Washington Bureaus Of the Courier,
Washington, D. c., June IL.
tinue to be dumped into the legislative
hopper In both senate and house. Their
Introduction Is waste of paper, time
and energy at this period in the ses-
Zion. There Is not the slightest chance
that any Of the bills now being intro
duced or that have been presented
during the past few weeks, will have
consideration at this session, unless
the measure should be an administra-
ton proposition of remedial sort re-
quiring immediate consideration.
The fact Is that not ten per cent OF
the bills introduced during session
ever are heard from after official no
tice Is given ID the congressional rec
ord that such and such a bill was In
troduced by such member. Some
thing like 10000 bills have already
been introduced into congress at this
session. OF course the largest percent
age Of these are bills granting pensions
to soldiers who cannot obtain what
seems to be fair pension under the
regulations of the Pension department.
Probably $4,000 are such bills. OF
these perhaps IL per cent will pass.
OF the remaining 5000 or 10000 bills
not four per cent will pass.
Lost In Committee.
Hundreds of good bills which, if ems
acted into law would serve useful phr-
poses, are never heard of after having
been introduced They are not even
considered by the committees to which
they were referred. 1t is physical
impossibility for the committees to
give the time to one-tenth of the bills
that come before them.
lajaR senate, for instance, there are
probably thirty committees that do
business. They are composed Of from
seven to fifteen members. It will there
fore be apparent that each senator
must be a member of all the
way from five to eight COM
mittees. It is the practice for each
week. The meeting is held at 10
o'clock end continues in session until
noon, when the senate convenes and
the scene of activities is transferred
from the committee room to the floor.
except that with membership of 1856 it
is not necessary that each member
should be member of SO many COM
mittees. However, the committees are
larger and have many more bills
dumped upon them.
Takes Much Time.
1t must be readily perceived that
considerable time must be required for
seventeen members to consider and de-
termine what action shall be taken
with respect to any sort Of bill.
Members have become shy of certain
classes OF bills and almost any kind Of
bill is bound to arouse opposition or
at least to inspire very searching
questions. If the proposition is one Of
Importance Of course hearings will be
required. These hearings consume a
vast amount Of time If the bill IL not
an important one and opposition devel-
ops, it is dropped. The committee Is
held responsible by the senate or house
for the legislation it reports. 1t is
supposed to have given consideration
to all features of the bill and when a
favorable report is made the senate OF
house takes the view that there is no
dynamite in It,. This assumption, how
ever, does not always relieve the COM
mittee of the embarrassment OF point
ed questions on the floor.
For instance, bill is introduced,
considered by committee and favor
ably reported to the main body. When
the measure is reached on the calen-
dar and called some member OF the
body will suddenly appear in opposi-
ton to it and will be loaded with all
manner of perplexing and pertinent
questions. He may point out several
blow-holes and weak spots which have
escaped the attention of the commit
tee Probably no member of the com.
mittee happened to be familiar with
the matter and of course if the bill
did possess weak points the member
who introduced the bill and who de-
sired it's passage would not take pains
to point out these defects. Therefore
committees are very careful with re-
spect to the bills they put the seal Of
their approval upon. 1t is literally
more difficult for camel to work his
way through the eye of a needle than
1t is oftentimes to make progress with
rience of many Of the most meritorious
and important measures bills that are
really without Objectionable features:
Thus it will be found that many
members, and among them some Iowa
congressman, have been diligently
working throughout the session to get
through certain bills. They are what
may be termed small bills. Perhaps
they cover some claim against the
government. There is absolutely no
question as to the validity Of the
claim. Probably the department un-
der which they come--the war inter.
Tor or treasury, as the case may be-
has officially certified to tha merit hf