The Churchill county standard. (Fallon, Nev.) 1908-1920, 1911-04-05
BACK IN WASHINGTON, D. C.
Badly Disfigured Congress Has
Re-assembled To Tackle
National Problems.

4
Washington, D. c., Mch. 31.-With
! the opening of the extra session called
to act upon the reciprocity agreement
with Canada, senators and representa-.
tiyes from near and far arrived in
Washington today by every train.
Baggage trucks, overloaded W t h
trunks, proclaimed to the people of the
streets that law-making is about to be
resumed. The boarding house keepers
and the restaurant proprietors again
have put on smiles for they are pro-
missed good business during good part
of the summer.
AS this will be an altogether new
congress, the sixty-second, complete
reorganization will be necessary. The
swearing in of members and other
work OF similar character probably
will occupy the whole of the first day.
Wednesday is likely to be devoted in
both houses TO reading of President
Taft's message, whirh, according 10
common belief, will be confined to two
subjects Canadian reciprocity and the
Tariff Commission. After that the
lawmakers should be able to get down
to business Immediately, providing the
Democratic plans for The organization
of the house 20 through as smoothly as
the party leaders anticipate.
Apart from the Importance of the
prospective legislation, the session pro-
misses to be very important one, prin-
cipally by reason Of the fact that the
Democrats are to be the ruling power
in the house after sixteen continuous
years of control Of that body by the
r publican party. The dynasty f
r ed, Henderson and Cannon has pass
e ! and the seepter now passes to un-
tried hands. New rules of procedure,
the result of revolution in the last Con-
gress, are to be tried out and the ques-
tion of the movement is whether arbi-
trary power in legislation is to be cur
tailed still further.
The new congress contains 141 new
members-19 senators and l22 repre-
sentatives. The proportion of the two
parties in both houses has undergone
great changes. In the sixty-irst con-
gress the senate was composed of SO
republicans an 80 democrats, the
house of 2l9 republicans and 172 dem
ocrats. In the house this majority is
completely reversed. The democrats
now number 227, the republicans l63,
while there is one representative of the
Socialist p9rty. In the senate the
change was less sweeping, but even
there the democrats have gained nine
members, SO that they now number AZ
and the republicans so.
The changes in the membership of
the senate are the greatest that have
taken place at any time since the Sc
ceding Southern States sent new sena-
tors Immediately after the close of the
civil war The extra session will find
in the upper house a score of new faces,
or more than a fifth of the whole body.
OF these about one-third are republi-
cans and the remainder democrats.
Of the l22 members of the house,
seventy-eight are democrats, forty
three are republicans, and one is social
democrat. OF the republicans, thirty
five are taking the places of other re-
publicans, either regular or insurgent,
and eight are taking the places of other
republicans, either regular or insur-
gent, and held by democrats.
The attitude of the new senate to
reciprocity with Canada, since no action
on the matter was taken by the sixty
first congress, cannot be forecasted
with certainty. There is little doubt
however, that the lower branch of the
new congress will be as favorable to
reciprocity as it was under the old con-
gress. AT the last session when the
house voted for reciprocity, the vote
for it was 22l to 92. OF the 269 men,
bers of the old house who are also men,
bers of the new one, ia voted for
reciprocity and 55 against it, while the
remaining 40 were absent or not voting.
These ia do not form majority of
the 391 members of the house, but with
only % of the l22 new members that
majority would be attained. From all
indications the new majority for
reciprocity in the house will be as de-
dsive as the old if not more SO. 1t is
to be noted, however, that the five
democratic representatives who voted
against the measure, Estopinal, Brous-
sard, Pujo, Webb, and Hammond, were
returned while of the 81 republicans
opposed only so came back.