The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-04-11
CRITICISM OF THE
NEW CONGRESS
A Verbal Photograph Of
Its Personnel
NEW MEN ARE NUMEROUS

Of 4 OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES Begins
His Fifteenth Term-Unique Fea-
lures of Present Session-Never Has
the Lower House Had ST Many
Raw Hands"-Democratic Ma
jority Labors Under Disadvantages.
(By FREDERIC J. HASkINS.)
Washington, D. c., April 5.-With
Representatives and sixteen new Sena-
tors. the new Congress began yes
tcrGay its active career IN the
capitol at Washington. The proper
ton Of strange. faces is greater than
has been seen at any opening Of Con
gress for q score of years; the alb
scnce of familiar faces in the legisla-
i've halls is more marked thar at
any opening session since the Civil
War. Hale, Of Maine, the erstWhile
ncStor of the Senate is not there, and
in his stead is Charles T. Johnson,
the first Democratic Senator elected
in Maine since 1S47. This is the most
radical of all the changes, perhaps,
lut it is indicative of the. nature Of
l3,tst OF them,
notwithstanding the great changes
that become apparent today, it is a
fact that the Congressional genera
ton is gaining in years. Many States
and Congressional constituencies have
learned the truth that long service
usually is the most useful asset OF a
member of either house of Congress,
and therefore they keep their men in
Washington year after year. Occa-
,S,T,anv npa hoaf.S In m nntatinn he.
tause the modern ami Of Con-
gresS is not given the opportunity to
stay in Washington for a full gen.
Grafton. as We're the statesmen OF the
early days OF the Republic. An ex-
animation Of the record does not bear
out this assumption.
Begins Second Decade Of goth Century.
For instance, the Congress began
yesterday the second decade of the
twentieth century. The Twelfth Con-
gress began the econ decade of the
nineteenth century on November 4,
1911. That was the Young Amer
ica" Congress, elected by the radical
element that was crying out for a
secI,od war wAh Englsnd. Henry
Clay. who already had served IN the
Senate, was d new member OF the
House and was elected Speaker, the
only time in the history of the Re
public that a Representative without
previous experience in the House has
been elevated to the position in which
Champ Clark today snceeeded
America Congress of 1911 represent
ed the concrete result Of q land
slide" election. It had but three Sem
ators and sixteen Representatives who
had q record of ten years service be-
hind them; that is. there We're only
nineteen members Of the two Houses
who had survived the political storms
OF the first ten years Of the century.
Today there are fifteen Senators
and fifty-nine Representatives who
we're in service at the beginning Of the
present century. That means that
three hundre and thirty-two Of the
three hundred and ninety-one Rep
feSentatiVes and seventy-seven OF the
TlnetN-tWC Senators composing the
present Congress have begun tl1ei,
careers since the beginning of h pres
emit century, now just ten years old.
The First Congress.
The First Congress met in 1889
The last Congressional survivor Of thai
body, in continuous service, was Sen
.{tor theodore Foster. of Rhode Is
i@hd, who went out of office at the
end Of the Seventh Congress, after
4 total service of fourteen years. Ir
ne twelfth Congress, III Young
america body that met just a Il
aFed years ago, the Oldest member
was Nathaniel Macon, of North Caro-
' WHO mao served Two terms a.
o~peakef and who came first to tn
second Congress. This was his las
lrFn III the House, rounding out F;
service in that body OF twenty-five
ears. He went to the Senate il
The next Congress and stayed Their,
Ioi hlteen years, making a total Con
SFeSslonal service of thirty-sevel
Years. a record which stood for hal
IT century without equal. In that sam,
MeIith Congress the next most Ven
Sfaole mtmber of the House ha
'hlE fourteen years service Ito hi
credit.
yesterday Former Speaker Canno
psSaa his nineteenth term in tn
i'ooSe' Yesterday began the duties G
'Hoous service was broken when h
NSh' down in the general Democrat
SH'shoe Of 1890. He already ha