The Washington herald., 1913-10-20
By GRIpLEY BEpE,

More than 1900 public and private bills
and resolutions. Of every size and degree
OF Importance. have been introduced 80
far in the present extra session of Con-
gress-a session that was called together
to pass some needed appropriation bills
and two other great measures afrectins
the nations revenues and the nations
banking.
Not more than fraction OF the bills
that enter the hopper Of the Congress
law mill ever come out as finished
product, yet the effort 10 produce keeps
up. In the Sixty-second Congress. at
about this time last year. and after
one regular session. 8,sSS public and pri-
vate bills and resolutions had been In
trodueed; $50 public laws passed.
Sarcastic Treatment Easy.
It would be easy to grow sarcastic
over such fruitless effort at $500 per
year per man per struggle. 1t is easy to
show that here and there iudolent men.
wishing to make q strong impression Of
activity at home, will deliberately du-
plicate one another's bills. depending
upon the Congressional Index to prove
how active they are. and on the SIM
plicity OF the home folks never to COM
pare the list OF one man with the list OF
another.
II is also easy to show that many bills
are introduced in complete ignorance OF
acts already passed, SO that proposals
are frequently made to correct things al
ready corrected.
Easiest Of all is IL to show that men
introduce bills without attempting to find
out what may already be in committee
for consideration, and thus the committee
mill becomes clogged with bills carrying
the same Idea in many different phases
or expressing fifteen or twenty variations
OF the same in as many forms Of phrase.
Sarcastic Treatment Wrong.
But the easy way Is frequently the wrong
way. To dispose Of the activity in bills
in few words as q sign of Ineffective
ness in our government machinery is TO
look on the surface only. Something
more important lies very much deeper.
In theory each Of our more than 400
Congressional districts is a sovereign leg
islative unit Its ideas on national mat
ters-admittedly rather hazy at times and
expressed through a very. carelessly
chosen messenger-have a right to ex-
preston. To repress the free introduc-
ton of bills Is to assert that the man
from one district may choke on the free
dom Of a man from another, which In
contrary to the safe purpose of Congress
sional representation. 1t is not wise to
despitefully use some of these messen-
gers who snort and cavort like wild
asses Of the desert" Such is akin to the
unwisdom OF one kingdom sizing up an
other by whether the courier is bandy-
legged or has q hatchet face.
Each District Sovereign.
No matter how poor the representa-
tive-tricky in bill-making and sly In
petty expense matters-the district from
which he comes is a sovereign and all
the dignity and perpetuity of a great
free government is involved in his pres
ence here and in his right to introduce
bills that are expected to correct or i'm
prove public matters.
Introduction does not mean passage.
The Congress mill is in a measure self
corrective; for reminding ourselves of the
equal dignity of each district 1t must be
apparent that when a Congressman has
introduced a bill that moment every other
man is tacitly an opponent, and his bill
has no more chance than a celluloid cat
In the cellar furnace unless what he
proposes can win the minds of more