The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1911-03-10
History of Sixty.first CONGRESS.

History of Sixtyfirst Congress.
Washington, March Am the retro
spect, the Sixty-first congress. which
expired by constitutional limitation at
noon today, appears to have been dis
tinguished by three things: The re-
vision of the tariff in the so-called
Payne-Aldrich bill, which was passed
at an extra session in the summer Of
1909; the large amount of important
legislation, much of it upon the recon-
mendation of President Taft enacted
at the regular session OF 1909.10, and
the exceedingly small product of the
short session" so.called. now closed.
The interval between the last two
sessions was marked by the political
upheaval registered at the general
election last November which chang
ed large republican majority into a
still larger democratic majority in the
house of representatives; cut the re-
publican majority in the senate al
most to the vanishing point and Incl
dentally effected striking changes in
the senate personnel.
The failure Of this session to enact
much important legislation has result.
ed in the practical certainty that the
new SiXty-second congress will be
called almost Immediately in extraor-
binary session, especially by reason
OF the strong desire of President Taft
to secure action upon the pending rec.
iprocity agreement With Canada, to
the contamination of which the con.
tracing parties pledged the utmost
efforts of the two governments.
In strong contrast with the support
which the Taft administration receiv-
ed from the republican majority in the
matter of legislation in the regular
session of 1909-10 is the fact that at
the present session the majority has
been anything but united; the reci-
procity agreement was passed In the
house by the aid of large portion of
democratic votes, while in the senate
the rift in the majority between the
regulars" and the insurgents" has
been an important factor in its side
tracking and in the consequent sum.
moning OF the extra session.
To this division in the majority was
largely due the most dramatic feature
of the previous long session-the pro-
tracted and sensational conflict last
spring which ended in material
changes in the house rules generally
interpreted as 'the overthrow Of the
speaker" and which, after a bitter
fight lasting many hours and including
one all night struggle, stopped only
just short Of the actual unseating of
Speaker Cannon.
While the acrimony between regu-
lars and insurgents neither began nor
ended with the battle over the rules,
that was its most conspicuous cpl
sode, and there has been little peace
between the factions since in either
house.
In the senate the most sensational
feature of this session was the un,
availng effort, in which the insurgents
were most active, to unseat William
Lorimer as junior senator from H.
linois, on the ground of alleged brib
cry in connection with his election by
the legislature of that state in the
spring of 1909. The echoes of that
battle are still reverberating, and its
bitterness adds friction TO the closing
hours of the senate session.
Another important recent action OF
the senate was the defeat of the res
olution embodying a proposed amend
ment to the constitution of the United
States to provide for the direct cleo
ton OF senators by the people.
This resolution received more than
majority OF the senate, but it needed
n two-thirds vote, and fell short by
only four. Had the senate passed il
the house almost certainly would have
| done so. The friends of this propo
sition entertain little double that il
| will pass the next congress, and go t
/ the states for ratification or defeat.
The output of this session In tn,
way OF general measures l2Sa con
sists chiefly Of the appropriation bill
and several of them have seemed t,
be in danger more than once in tn
tense situation OF the last few day
when long hours passed away in Al
clustering on one side or the other.
Thousands of bills were introduce
and thousands more came to the clio.
ing session as heritage from tn
first and second sessions. In all, Their
are between $4,000 and $4,000 mea
ures before congress as II comes to