Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-01-19

subscribe to the new scheme and, con-
stituting two-thirds of their party caucus.
will put through a program of radical
reform.
First ON their program will he the re-
moval of the blight of seniority. In
stead of filing committee chairmanships
10y promoting the majority partys mem
Der q. longest service the majOrity
member, of each committee, according
to this : 'heme, will meet and elect their
chairman, nus making it as possible for
new senator AS for ore of long eX-
pericnce to receive this honor.
This method will he revolutionary. will
he departure entirely new to Senate
procedure. When the government was
organized, in 1889. the Senate and House
each adopted the method of choosing
committee members by ballot. and. al
though the House soon discarded the
practice the Senate chung to it for half
century. Plurality of the votes of all
members made the choice OF committee
men. and the man receiving the largest
vote for a committee became its chair
man. whether he belonged to the majority
or the minority party. During Monroe
administra ton the minority party not
only held the chairman Of commerce and
manufactures, but controlled the lmpor-
tant finance committee.
Understand that these first committee
chairmen We're selected by the ballots of
the entire Senate. and not by ballots of
the ma iority members of their respective
committees as now proposed by our
democratic 'progresslves. After the
scheme had worked Tor thirty-seVen
years new rule decreed that the ma jor
ity should choose all chairmen upon dis
tnct ballots. but that other committee
members should be elected by plurality
votes. Thus, in general way, the re-
Spective voting strengths of the parties
determined the ratio of committee men,
bership. But as the Senate continued to
grow in membership from its original
twenty-siX, this process of balloting for
chairmen and committeeman became
more ard more tedious. AS party or
ganZati ton became more and more strict
this system by which a minority senator
could gain Craftsmanship came to be
regarded as fraught with too much
chance. In other words. the leaders
awoke to the fact that the secret vote
was too independent of party control and
guidance.
So third method was devised. Dur
ing Monroe's administration John III.
Eaton of Tennessee. backed by Andrew
jackson. offered proposition that the
Senate should, by ballot. choose only the
chairmen of the five leading committees.
and should vest these five men with the
powers of committee on committees To
make all remaining committee assign
ments. But after considering this propo-
sition in committee of the whole the
Senate rejected the scheme. 1t adopted
in it's stead a plan by which all com
mittees should be appointed by the pre-
siding officer. So, for while thereafter
the Vice Presidents or the presidents
pro tempore named committees-a system
which proved unsatisfactory. and which
was interspersed with periods when the
old ballot method was resorted to.
A fourth method grew out of a crisis
during the agitation over the war with
Mexico. Some democrats. combining with
the wings. formed a bare majority of one
against the committees appointed by
Vice President Dallas. So the important
war committees. we'll that COM
merce. We're that year elected by ballot.
and unanimous consent was given for the
filing of all others by the two party
caucus leaders.
Thus came into being the two great
powers that'have since shaped the desti