Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-04-06
GETS BUSY
Several Who Stand For Re-elec-
ton Trying to Make Good
at Home
ALLISON AN ILLUSTRATION
Gets Three Public Building Bills Thru
by Special Arrangement in Order to
Tickle Constituents Anti-Liquor
Laws Being Considered.

Especial Washington Correspondence
Washington, April 6.-The methods
by which the senators make good
with constituents, and thereby put
members of the lower house in en-
barrassing positions at home, have
been illustrated an unusual number OF
times this session; perhaps because
large number of senators are fac
ing political situations at home which
make it necessary for them to do
things.
An illustration will indicate. Re
Gently eSnator Allison introduced pub
lie building bills for three Iowa towns
-Ottumwa, Fort Dodge and LeMars.
They were promptly reported from the
public buildings committee, and on the
day they were reported Senator Alli-
son by unanimous consent got them
taken UP and passed, without ever go
ing to the calendar. 1t was heralded
as a distinguished achievement OF the
veteran legislator. The senator's fight
in Iowa. for reelection. is just now
at white heat. 1t is helpful to turn
such tricks.
Those three building bills involved
three districts in Iowa; two of them
are represented by anti-Allison cong
ressmen, and one by a democrat. Hav-
ing passed the senate so readily, the
bills will be expected by the folks at
home to be promptly pushed thru the
house in like form. But they Will
not be.
The public building bill is made in
the house. Any old public building
proposition that a senator wants to
pass can be put thru the senate; but
its passage there doesn't mean any
thing whatever, except a lift for the
senator with constituency that does
not understand the rules of the game.
AS likely as not the senate will pass
SIS, 00O,0 900 worth of public building
items this session; but everybody
knows that at the largest the public
building bill that comes from the house
committee will not exceed $20.OOO,O00.
Consequently, the house committee will
shipwreck most of the. items that pass
the senate. Every town whose bill
passed the senate will assume that it's
senator is a very active and hustling
statesman. ever on the lookout for
home interests; while the member of
the house, who fails to push the same
bill to passage, will be regarded as "a
failure to that extent. Yet in fact the
senato rial accomplishment represents
nothing except the fact that the sem
ate allows that sort Of thing, while
the house doesn't.
A good story is told about one repre-
sentative in a western state who some
time ago had trouble with a senator
in his state, about patronage. This rep
resentative, early the present session,
thought to solidify himself with Il
number of towns in his district that
were not very friendly, by introducing
public building bills for them, and get
ting interviewed about what he was
going to do for those towns. Well, the
unfriendly senator read the Congress-
ional Record, and saw his chance. He
introduced in the upper house a dup
licate Of every one Of those bills, got
them reported, and has passed every
one.
Now the representative finds that his
people at home expect him to make
good. They don't see why, if the SEN
ator can get a whole mess of bills
passed in a few days, the member
can't pass any of them in a whole ses-
sion. The result is likely to be that
a disaffected constituency, perfectly
convinced that that member isn't fit
for the job. will reject him for renom-
nation Yet if he were the speaker
of the house he couldn't get half those
bills into the omnibus public building
that will finally come from
the house committee and pass.
This public building incident Illus
trates one of the ways the senators
buncombe on the constituents 1t looks
good at home, helps the senators. and
Is an especially effective method for
recalcitrant members of the
lower house.
A senator can generally produce the
Of accomplishment: a
member Of the house must get the sub
stance or nothing. The substance is
mighty hard for him to get.
Pressure due to the prohibition sem
timent that has shown itself in many
Of the states, has forced the senate
judiciary committee to prepare a meas
ure which in some degree will pre-
vent interstate original package ship
ments from destroying the force of To-
cal prohibitory laws.
For weeks the committee has wres-
tied with the problem of framing a
measure which will stand the constitu-
tional test, and has decided that all
The bills referred to the committee for
six in number, are I'M
But, despite all this, the committed
will report out a bill next week. 1t
will not go SO far the prohibitionists