The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1907-12-17
CONGRESSMAN AIKEN.
Led All His Colleagues In Bill Pass.
ing in the House Last
Winter.

pleasure by Congressman Aiken s
friends and constituents. The bills
referred to do not inciue his An
dersoa and Greenwood public build
ing bills, which were included in the
omnibus public building bill:
"Who is the most successful bill
passer in congress?' was a query
propounded the other day to Speak
er, Cannon by an inquisitive Repres-
eatative. AS rule Mr.. Cannon can
answer questions Of thi.~ kind with
out reference to reports and records,
but he admitted ne was Cup a
stump."'
eff I had two guesses.'' he said,
~ should guess Babcock, or .Sullo-
way"
Mr.. Babeock, Of Wisconsin, was
for many years chairman Ct the CON-
mittee on the District of Columbia.
Mr.. Sulloway, Of New Hampshire,
is the chairman Of the committee on
invalid pensions. BY reason of hold
ing these chairmanships Mr.. Bah
cock and Mr.. Sulloway had many
calls on their time from persons out
side their respective districts, and it
was natural that the Speaker should
have selected them as the members
who would be shown by the records
as charged with the passage Of
many bills: . "
Mr.. Cannon did not make good
guess, for it appears that Represen-
tative Wyatt Aiken, Of Abbevine, S.
c., led ali his colleagues in bill pass
ing last winter. Mr.. Aiken is De-
mocrat, and, naturally, rs ''agin the
administration Thirty bills intro
duced by him passed both branches
of the Republican Congress last
winter and we're signed by a Repub-
lican President. MY. Aiken: never
held political Office until his election
to congress four years ago. He has
not been active in the congressional
debates and probably not one, of nis
colleagues is aware of his success in
securing the. enactment Of bills in
which he is interested. None Of the
thirty Aiken bills is measure 9f
large public concern, most Of them
being private bills, or bills Of spe-
cial interest to the third district OF
South Carolina. Nine Of them pro
vide for the building Of bridges over
South Carolina navigable streams.
Representative Don C. Edwards,
Of Kentucky, was a close second to
Mr.. Aiken. Twenty-nihe measures
introduced by Mr.. Edwards found
their way last winter to the statuses
Of the United States. Mr.. Edwards
lis a Republican. The Ffty-ninth
congress was his first appearance in
Washington as a national 'awmaki
er i.,~>. .,..;:..: .. ,:-,:. I. -. ;,
Messrs. Aiken and Edwards COM
1pletely outclassed veterans and lead
e1s like Speaker Cannon and Repres
! eatative Payne, Dalzell, Williams,
and Clark. Only nine of Mr.: Dal-
zeil IS bills became laws last winter
Representative Rayre, the Repubi-
can floor leader, had twenty-one OF
his bills favorably reported, four
teen Of which became laws. John
Sharp Williams, the minority lead
sr, succeeded in having. Ave Of his
hills pass both houses and receive
executive approval. Nine bills offer,
eli by Mr.. Williams were favorably
reported from committees. Seven
bills fathered by Champ Clark be-
came laws. while thirteen Of Mr.
Cannon:'s> measures. were approved
by both branches Of congress and the
president. -" -. =. =
Representative :Brownlow of Ten;
nessee, introduced more bills in the
last congress than any other mem
Der of the body. In the first ses-
sion of that congress he proposed
nearly 400 bills, and in the second
session he offered about fifty more
Most Of the Brownlow bills were
private pension measures.
| Only two bills introduced in the
Fifty-ninta congress by Representa-
tive Bourke Cochran were enacted
into law. -. 49,.
Representative sulloway, who, the
Speaker thought, might lead the list
had twenty-fcur Of his bills. passed
last winter. Fourteen Of Represen'
tative Babeock's bills became laws
Representative jenkins, Of Wlseon'
/ y.