The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1909-04-01
O0INCS AT
WASHINGTON.
The Dissatisfaction Of Some
Minority Senators.
COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS.
Those Certain Democrats Have Re-
ceived Do Not Exactly Please Them.
The Question Whether or Not Speak
Se's Power f@as Been Curtoiled BY
Recent Revision Of Rules.

Washington. March 3n.-t Special. r.
Rad feeling is rt"ppinS out Oh ac-
COUNT Of the way certain Of the Demo
cratic senators are alleged to have
gobblcd up ,luP fat things allowed the
minority IN the way Of committee as
signmrnts The talk Is that some Of
the dissatisfied ones will try n the
winter session Ia force through q res
olut"n to have n fairer distribution
OF the good things. The basis of the
complaint was this: The Republicans
allow the Democrats ten small COM
mitteP ichairmamshilS Each minority
senator who has Il chairman ,ship also
gets an extra clerk. there Is n clerk Of
the committee besides. and he has q
secretary and Il messenger. or two
more han II minority senator who
does 4 ut head minor committee
The main complaint Is that these ten
clair,n:n likewise hold Oh to all their
places IN the more Important commit
tees
Dissatisfact;on With Assignments.
The friends Of Senator Newlan(ls do
not hesitate (" say they think he ought
to have been assigned to the minority
vacancy on the finance committee in
stead Of Senator Simmons of North
Carolina. That vacancy WAS caused
by the retirement Of Senator Teller Of
Colorado. The south now has all five
~
are conceded by the Republicans to the
Demo. rats Senator Foster uf Louisi-
ana when he WITS given place on ap-
preparations was entirely willing to re-
linquish his position on the commerce
committee. which has the handling Of
the river and harbor bills. hut Mr.. Sim
mons. other senators complain. not
only held on to commerce. but In ad-
ditiOn is member Of the water
ways commission Appropriations. CON-
merce. naval and military affairs are
the four senate committees which have
more power and prestige than any Of
the others. The finance committee Is
only very important when n tariff bill
IL to lie passed. and that does not hap
pen more than once in 81 dozen years.
curtailrnent Of Speakers Power.
To what extent power has been taken
from the speaker Of the house by the
adoption on the first day Ut the SEES
sion Of the Fitzgerald resolution can.
not he determined until congress meets
In regular session next December, 4
great deal of talk Is heard on the sub
ject at the capital just now. Some say
that Uncle Joe hasn't been checked a
bit. Others declare that the speaker Is
not grieving IL he has to- give W his
privilege Of recognizing members for
unanimous consent to call up bills In
which they are individually interested.
They say he never did relish that bust
ness anyway. AS long as the speaker
has the right to name the committees
his friends think he will exert all the
Influence over the body that any pre-
siding office could desire. There are
still mutterings that the fight Is not
yet over and that IN December the
Democrats and insuryent Republicans
may have new scheme to spring.
But this does not seem to worry the
regular organization Republicans
An important Measure.
Within the coming year the ques-
ton of one cent letter postage is likely
to come up and be settled in Congress.
Several bills on the subject have al-
ready been introduced this session.
Opinions differ as to what the effect
would he OH the government revenues.
But that IS not the main question. No
government expert expects that the
postotiicc department will ever really
he self supporting. AS fast as the re-
ceipts get up toward the expenditures
the necessities Of the times demand
that more money shall be put out to
extend arid better the service in order
that the business Of the country may
reap the advantage and not the gov
eminent. 1t is claimed by many that
II one cent letter postage were brought
about it would triple the business.
Not Local Issue.
Figurativcly speaking. Republican
PUt ALC uuA pOVu HHtV
Representative Langley OF Kentucky
when the latter got bold enough to
question him complaininyly because
the lumber duties have been cut in
half The lumber mill owners. who
ar. numerous in LangIcy's district. are
wild over the reduction. from all ac-
counts. and evidently rely upon him
as n Republican to help greatly in re-
storing the duty. Payne told him
practically that he lived in the back
woods and advised him I" get ny on
some tall mountain and discover. II
be could that there was more If this
country than he had supposed.
A Convenient Method.
The fashion these days Of passing
omnibus pension bills that contain
four or five hundred bills in que pre-
vents president from vctOing n claim
he thinks Is had one. It's a mighty
iine scheme Tor the applicants and ex-
pedites business very much In con-
gress. and NJ doubt the present meth
ri va.tl1 1nG, continued ~. 1nnxR