Los Angeles herald., 1909-12-05

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work well and it may rati-
fly what they do. in order that tne
constitutional conditions of laWmaK-
ing may be complied with, but none
the less the laws that govern the
American people are largely commil-
tee-made. A proposition which seeks
to become law knocks at the door OF
the congress through an indlVlduai
member. as a rule. In the mouse the
member simply writes out ms propo-
sition and places it in a basket on tne
speakers table. That basket Is called
"the hopper and appropriately SO,
because from thence the proposition
goes into the mill that grinds out new
legislation In the senate, where thln6S
are done with a little more dignity u
bill is introduced by members rlslils'
n senator rises obtains the recognition
of the chair and formally introduces
the bill +. A. =
committee AS a rule public bills are
referred to the appropriate commit
tees hy the speaker of the house ana
the president of the senate, actlng
within the scope of the rules. But there
is a provision in the case of the house
that where the house chooses to do SO
IL can refer a bill to any committee II
may desire. 1t so happens thaI IN
many cases the mere reference or Dill
to the committee is tantamount TO
nlacing il in a pigeonhole forever since
the majority of the committee is
against the measure. Another commit
tee might be favorable in its attitude
toward the measure. So the house may
elect to send 1t to the committee whlch
is not packed against II, although II
would in the natural course go TO the
other committee. Here, then, Is the
first strategic point in legislation. 1t
is used only in rare instances, but when
It is there Is a hard fought battle.
After a committee gets measure II
has control of it's destiny. If the ma
tority of the committee votes against
reporting II it dies. The greater num-
Der are pigeonholed by the committee
chairman and are never considered at
all. even in committee. Perhaps forty-
nine out OF every fifty public bills IN
introduced die forever in commlttee
rooms. The committees are often
battle grounds of great political strug-
giles. A notable instance was the hght
on the Payne Aldrich tariff bill in the
finance committee of the senate. 1t
was plain to the leaders of the major
ity that they would not get their forces
into line on a given proposition at the
outset. So they served notice on the
Democratic members that the Repup-
licans had n little mutiny in their own
ranks and did not intend to fight 1t out
with the Democrats until they had
Strengthened out their own differences.
Then, by the APPLICATION of the majority
rule principle, the majority forced an
agreement But no Democrats were
admitted until it was settled. Then the
Democrats were invited in and given
their choice OF accepting or rejecting
the majority bill. Thus many parts
of the bill, which cor1a not have mus
tered g majority of the full committee
at any time, were incorporated into the
bill as favorably reported to the senate.
1t is not often that material changes
are made in bills as reported by the
committees. A notable instance of ad-
herence to committee recommendations
was that of the senate finance commit
tee on the tariff bill. Although every
member of the senate well knew that
not over half of the contested points IN
the bill could have passed the finance
committee If the majority of that COM
mittee had not caucused and bound
themselves by a hard and fast agree
ment, the senate lived up to its repu-
tation of standing by the findings and
recommendations of It's committees.
Sometimes, of course, the committees
are reversed, but these cases are eX-
Ceptional.
When an important matter comes up
committees grant extended hearings.
The hearings on the railroad rate bill
continued for months, and they fill as
many volumes as an encyclopedia. NO
one seriously supposes that every SEN
ator reads all this testimony, or that
even every member of the committee
does so. The aggregate of all the hear
ings of all the committees during
session Of congress often constitutes
tens of thousands of pages. There is
mudh inconsistency in the extent at
which different matters are heard by
congress. When the simple question
of whether Reed Smoot should be
awarded a seat In the senate or un-
seated was being considered, the senate
committee on privileges and elections
spnt many times as much money, ana
took many times as much testimony as
was taken by the finance committee IN
the consideration of the last tariff bill.
On account of the importance or the
committee, seniority means much IN
congress. In the majority Of cases me-
dlocrity with long service counts more
than great ability with only a rev
years of service behind it. The tactical
position is, of course, the committee