Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-02-04
Mistellanep,ls 8eaaing.
WHY CONGRESS LAGs.
Effect of New Office Building on House
Attendance.

Effect OF New Of1ce Building on F1ouSe
| Attendance.
| There Is little doubt that the grip Of
"the committee system" on legislation
will be strengthened in the lower
branch Of congress by the recently
completed office building Of the house
of representatives, says a special
Washington correspondent Of the New
York Post. The influence which this
building Is to have upon the daily at
tendance of the house Is already ap-
parent. From this time forward 1t
may prove difficult to maintain quo
rum, and work on the floor will be con-
fined to even fewer men than hereto
fore.
1t Is twenty years since James Bryce
pointed out what he conceived to be a
weakness of the American system OF
legislation in the house. The influence
of the standing committee has grown
since Mr.. Bryce's criticism Of 1888 In
1.-THE American Commonwealth" and
were he rewriting that work today
there Is little doubt that he would cite
the location Of the Office quarters Of
representatives as one reason why
members generally do not take a great
er interest in the proceedings on the
| floor.
Lack Of space in the capitol building
made 1t impossible to supply more than
limited number Of members with Of
flee rooms. There are now sixty-one
committees of the house, and the
chairman of each Of these committees
has had one or two rooms in the capi-
tol for Office purposes. The new office
building was completed q few days
ago, and now each member has at
least one room. Many of the standing
committees have been transferred from
the capitol to the office building, and
probably not to exceed thirty COM
mittees will have quarters in the CAPT.
tol. It is walk of nearly five minutes
from the floor of the house to the Of
flee building.
The new member finds out that the
measure under consideration has been
disguised at great length In the COM
mittee which reported 1t. 1t comes to
the house accompanied by an elabo-
rate report, in which Its merits or de-
merits are set out a great length. Pos
sibly hearings on 1t have been held
and those most interested given a
chance to speak their minds for or
against IT, The anxious listener, fresh
from his constituents and determined
to let nothing slip through that will be
inimtcal to the people Of his district,
discovers that the members Of the
! committee that reported the bill are in
sense specialist of the problem with
which 1t deals. He learns that in de-
Tending or opposing 1t these members
of the committee will be probably the
only ones entitled to speak. Unless 1t
is . a subject that specially interests
him or has a direct bearing upon some
industry or thing in his district he will
conclude probably that he does not
care to remain for the debate.
Thus his Indifference begins, and In
the end he will be found spending lit
tie time on the floor He will be there,
of course, when the opposing cham
pions clash in debate on questions di-
viding the parties. He will be there
when his own committee Is fighting
to sustain it's report. Probably he will
not be absent when particular clause
in an appropriation bill, In which his
| district Is interested Is reached. He
will be- on hand when appropriations
for rivers and harbors and public
buildings are being made. At most
other times he will permit his associ-
ates to see to 1t that the general pub
lie veal Is conserved.
A southern representative said re-
Gently that the new office building
would enable him to do twice as much
work as formerly. He had In mind the
writing Of letters and the sending Of
documents and seeds to constituents.
Many members who were always on
hand at the opening hour now spend
| that hour in their rooms. At 1 o'clock
they drift over to the capitol. If any
thing Of interest is up for discussion,
they may remain. but usually their
visit to the capitol is not to spend time
on the floor. but to visit the house res
| taurant.
Giving each representative an office
room has one advantage. 1t makes IL
reasonably easy to locate the
whereabouts Of representative.
Heretofore whenever there was a call
of the house the sergeant at arms sent
his men scurrying all over the city In
search of the absentees 1t was neces-
sary for the house officials to know
something about the habits of each
representative, where he was accus-
toned to loaf at q particular hour,
| who his intimate friends were, etc.
Now that every member has an office
it is likely that 1t will be easier to
round up the absentees. If the missing
representative is not in his room, 1t is
more than likely his secretary Will be
able to indicate where he can be
found. This applies not only to the
house officials, but to others who are
anxious to see representatives and who
heretofore have found it difficult to
know where to begin their search.
TRANsPlANTED EYELAsHEs.