Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-05-29

mendous majority IN line and to in
sure the passage of the bill. Again
and again, IN all probability, the
party lines are frightened up and brok-
en- again, until the confusion becomes
irritating to everybody's nerves ana
everybody's temper. Finally, after the
measure is pushed through the euse,
il goes to the senate. There the trou'
be starts all over again. The sena-
tors are besieged, and, as somebody
has wisely said, the senate, when II Is
coming a tariff bill, is the greatest
deliberative, rather than legislative,
body in the world.
after celebrating, Eliminating, con-
templating, and debating, that august
and dignifed body passes the bill with |
new clothes on it; in fact, with SUCH |
a perfect disguise that 1t is hardly |
recognizable as ever having been a
product of the house.
The third step IS TO put the bill into
conference; which Is a more restrict
ed battlefield, where, the house is rep
resented by its men and the senate
by its conferees. The battles are now
fought all over again, salt is applied
thickly to the old wounds, and strife
and dissension stalk abroad in the
capitol.
After that, under the threats,
whips, and spurs Of the democratic
! leaders, the bill is passed by both
/ houses and sent to the president for
/ his signature, which will make it
/ law. or for his veto, which will nIlllfy
all the work that has been done, IN
! less it can be passed by the house
and senate again by two-thirds ma
jority.
That is enough to bewilder ana
load down with work any new con-
gresham. Strange TO his surround
ings unfamiliar at first with the work
Of the house, and extremely anxious
TO make good on his job, he frequently
is kept running about like hen with
hydrophobia. He hears of duties going
up and duties coming down. He gets
letters Of commentator and tele-
grams of threats from his constitu-
ents His dissatisfied colleagues urge
him to rebel against the leaders. The
leaders force him back into line. And
the result is that some time or other
he is apt to rush out into the moon
light, take one long breath of the
fragrant April air. and babble fool
ishly to the stars.
But that is not all. In his off mo-
ments at the beginning of this con-
gress he finds at his office door every
morning and every evening seekers
after jobs that have not already been
: filed by the new administration.
| Most of them are his constituents,
some of them residents of Washing
ton. Some of them are apparently
we'll to do, and others have upon their
faces the badges of adversely and hard
times. He deals with ali of them as
5 best he can-which means that not
many Of them get jobs. the sequel To
: it is that he will work for the nex1
two years to get the disappointed ones
into such a frame of mind that they
will not vote, talk, and work against
him when he is up for reelection.
l This thing of drawing down sever
thousand FIVE hundred dollars a year,
1
+ ways foremost at the stove, IS like
/ rcbbing US taxpayers. What on ear,
:. co you think man can do with al
= that money!"
5 IN the first place. the hotels anC
4 boarding houses in washington take i
T away from him in large slices. Som
boarding house keepers labor undel
e the delusion that members of con
s gress have only two things to do
t One is to get them jobs, and the othe
J is 10 pay them exorbitant prices fC
X everything Moreover, the peopl
l. back hCme take it away from him il
amounts varying from one to one hun
y dred dollars-for church fairs, fo
= philanthrcpic picnics, for flag raisings
: for new churches, for everything tina
=, mortal mind can imagine or graspin
avarice desire. After the Washing
tonians and the constituents hav
been satisfied, the representative ma
address himself to the task of feec
e ing, clothing, and educating his fan
ls ily-if he has enough left for thes
A. purposes.
All importan- work in congress Of
. igilates in committees General
: each member belongs TO two or tire
= committees, and each committe
q meets two or three times a week.
, q man does not shoulder his share c
the burdens in the committee an
does not familiarize himself with a
the bills referred to that committe
:, he soon is regarded as worthless an
- Of no account by his fellow member
y II is practically a necessity, if b
wishes to retain the respec. of h
. fellows, that he attend to his commi
tee work. And, when a new membe
realizes that several thousand bill
are in the committee room, and thi
- his voice is one of those which wi
decide what measures are to be T
- jected or made into law, ne feels
= il the weight CT the world had settle
20 suddenly and with great velocity upc
:. his untried shoulders.
:, 4 good comedy could be write
: about the variety and number Of topi,
:. on which the constituents write
e. their members. And a tragedy cou
- be bufI+ On the drearv noIiricaI daa-f