The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-09-27
By our staff correspondent.)


 Washington, Sept. 26.-Before one has been in Congress very long, he discov- CTS that practically all legislative work Is done in committee or in caucus. The proceedings on the floor which prove so interesting to the occupants of the crowded galleries are frequently only the fireworks to celebrate the achieve 1aent-
 It is because of this that Represent a tiYes Donovan and Reilly have been insisting that all caucuseS and com zilittee meetings shall be open to the press and the public. They want the breezes Of public opinion" to blow through the places where the course Of public business is fixed They have with many other men of progressive tendencies been fairly successful in their fight. Practica lily all of the com 1nittees hold open meetings now, and while the Democratic caucus is held 5sehind closed doors, the journal of it's proceedings is carefully kept and, to- gether with record Votes,. is given to the press
 There is a disposition in some quar- ters to condemn the caucus and to de- lnand it's abolition. The Progressive Democrats cannot all be brought to share this view. They do not believe they have anything to fear from the open caucus, and on the contrary are convinced that it can be made a most cnective engine to work the peoples will
 This is a government of parties, and yill probably continue to be during cur time. The great political parties in convention formulate governmental program-or platform pledges of that party It is seIf-evident that the indi- vidual, however able or brilliant he may be, cannot hope to execute the program to which he is pledged with out the aid of other individuals who 4I,.- .r,T,1
 Such a situation leads naturally to 2 caucus or conference of those who gree on certain principles. There is no reason why such 8, caucus should not be binding on those who particl-4 nate in it-unless it's findings outrage the conscience of the individual, and then as a matter of course he should withdraw
 The tendency of the Progressive Democrats is not to have the caucus go beyond questions of party policy. They would differentiate between the pledges made to voters by the party and those made by the individual. By way of illustration, the Democratic party. promised to revise the currency and tariff laws. They did not submit to the people the exact form of the laws which they hoped to place on the statute books. but they laid down clear cut. easily understood principles. The details were left to the party's repre- sentatives in Congress, and they en- tered a caucus and fought out their differences When they secured a tar if bill which, to their minds, substan- tiaIly redeemed the party's pledges fhey went to the floor of the House and put it through. They have now decided upon a currency Dill and they are going to put that through. The members who are supporting the ad- ministration of President Wilson do not believe that the people are so much concerned with the method adopted asI the results achieved
 If the members of Congress had re- fused to caucus and had attempted to frame the bills on the floor of the House. their terms of office would have expired before they concluded their task and then, probably, no one would have been willing to acknowledge the patchwork product.