The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1912-11-21
RIGHT OF REPRESENTATION.

! iTpgIcSSiNc or any OtUcr minority party
10 representation on The committees Of
the House and Senate, and on the Vari-
Gus non partisan governmental boards
and commissions, is Que that is carly
raised. But that raising is futile for
| there is no provision OF law nor is
there any political precedent, which re
Quircs that any particular minority
party shall hc represented on uou.par
tisan boards or commissions. The law
merely requires that those bodies shall
not be composed of moro than a major
| ity Of any ono party. aud the ma iority
party always takes this majority, AS
TO the minority representation, thcro is
no requirement that il shall be appoint
ed from ono party or another. The Pro
gTcssivcs herein arc, therefore. appeal
ing for something that they have no
right in the law TO demand.
With respect to the committee ap-
pointments in the National Senate aud
! House of Representative the plea is
equally futile; for the majority party
takes the chairmauships and Il majority
Of the members of all the committees.
1t docs not admit that it is obliged to
give representation TO all Of The MI
uority parties in Congress. When there
were Popnist members they received
but scant recognition IN either tho
House or the Senate. and this for the
very practical reason that there were
not enough Of them to so around. Dur
ing the past Congress there was I'm tho
House one Socialist, Mr.. Victor Bcr-
ger. of Milwaukee. To claim that Mr..
Berger. in order 10 have his party fairly
represented, must he member Of all
the House committees would be abb
surd. lie received the usual rccognl-
ton, and was appointed a minority
member on few of the committees.
This is all that he could expect, The
makeup of the committees, both OF The
Senate and the House, is exclusively IN
tho hands Of the majority party, with
concessions TO the next strongest. There
is no rule requiring the division Of the
committeeman among tho minority par
ties / n any particular way, and the Sen
ate committee which makes up the Sen
ate committees viii proceed IN the usual
course, by giving the chairmausbip aud
tho majority Of the committee member
ships to the Democrats. It VIII appor-
tiou minority positions precisely as 1T
sees fit, without regard TO any split in
the Republican party or any claims OF
tho Progrcssives, Tho Socialists, or any
other faction.
Under the new rules Of tho House,
tho Speaker no longer has the appoint
ing Of the committees, but II committee
OF The House that makes up these com
miftecs makes these Selections precisely
az the Senate has always made tho com
mittee selections for that body. This
House committee will proceed on pre-
cisclv the old lines. II will give the
House committee chairnanships 10
Democrats, and the majority OF the
committees VIII he Democrats. The MI
uority parties will be represented as
nearly as possible in proportion to their
strength, rs heretofore. lt the Fro
grcssive representatives, who are very
few in number, choose to make them
selves r separate party from the Re
publican party, their representation
will be cut down correspondence, while
they win stand a better chance for com
mittee positions if they make no such
separation, for with separation they
arc liable to lose the priority they
might retain as Republicans The same
would be true in the Senate The Pro
| gressive Senators are few in numbers,
although active aud energetic. 1t is
possible that they would stand better
chance for committee positions In the
Senate as n divided party, than the
| but they would still be in worse case
than If they made no distinction be.
tween themselves and the other Rcpub-
| licans, For in fact they were all Of
them elected as Republicans and not
as Progressiyes; and they hold rs Re
publicans preferred positions which as
Progressives they might lose. There is
not a single Senator who holds his Of
| flee through election as a Progressive,
and there are very few States in the
Nation, If any at all, who have Pro
sressiye legislatures that would elect
distinctly Progressive Senator.
Thus. in making division such as
suggested, tho Progrcssiycs would
presently fud themselves out of posi-
tions. Doubtless. the suggestion for
such division comes from Senator Dix
on Of Montana. who has been noted as
the wild freak of optimistic suggestions
and Imaginative claims all through the
lste campaign. This suggestion Of MS.
IL is 4 clear case, would be III direct op-
position TO the true interests OF the Pro
gressivcs themselves. as is easily seen
6y review of the situation. The Pro-
2rcssives, as matter Of fact. have no
distinct partisan representation in the
House. II they chose to hold them