The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1913-01-07

SNtN-thlrd congress make interesting
reading and make clear what is pro
posed
|. Abolition of the rule of senior
ity and limiting tha elder statesmen
to membership ON only one of the
five big mmittees-finance, appro
idTiations, foreign relations, judiciary
aud interstate commerce. This will
provide important committee Places
for forty-five separate democrats,
hereas at present the older mem
bors have two or three big commit
tees.
.. Election of the committee on
committees by thd caucus rather than
their selection by the chairman Of
the caucus.
3. Election of a chairman of each
committee by the majority members,
thus further diminishing the power
of the elder statesmen who claim
these places by right of seniority.
Limiting Term of Chairman.
A. Limiting the term of chairman
of the caucus to period OF two years
This position carries with it the title
CT leadership of the party in the SEN
ate and is now held by Senator Mar
tin of Virginia.
Thus it is seen that Senator Smith
is seeking to frame the organization
of the senate upon the principle that
Was adopted by the democrats when
they came into power in the house
of representatives. In that body the
party caucus elects the members
of the ways and means committee
which is the committee on commit
tees. The present steering commit
tee, or committee of committees
in the senate consists ot
Senators Martin, Culberson, Clark
of Arkansas, Simmons, Bankhead
Fletcher, Kern, Williams and Hitch
cock. Pretty fair representation there
already for the progressive or new
seuators.
Progressive Demands.
1t is predicted strongly that the
new senators will fall down on prop
ositions and 3, but for the sake Of
harmony propositions and may be
adopted Careful inquiry has failed
to develop tie case of a single sena-
tor among the older members who is
hot willing to step aside on all COM
mittees except the Craftsmanship, to
meet the needs of any new member.
The fact is, few of the senators are
C'amoring for work or for member
ship on three or four big committees.
Senator Chamberlain OF Oregon,
elected as a progressive democrat, and
q member who has not pushed him
self forward as aggressively as men
like Smith of Georgia and owen Of
Oklahoma, represents the most COM
promising spirit among the demo
cratic senators and he has declared
there is no disposition to defeat Mar
tin for reelection as leader or to
keep Simmons from the chairmanship
OF the finance committee, or Bacon
from the head of the foreign relations
committee nor Culberson from chair
manship of judiciary or Tillman from
this head of appropriations. He says
the progressives de demand that the
rules be liberalized and that new
method of selecting members of the
committees be adopted rather than
have the steering COMMITTEES named
by the democratic leader choose the
of al the committees. AL
though they have made no statement
it is understood that Senator Lea,
BRYAN, Reed and others of the new
share this view.
Start Ball Rolling.
All of this might be most discon-
certing TO dreams of party harmony In
tie senate were it not for the fact that
the old members are not disposed 10
become greatly excited, regardless OF
The stories to that effect that have
gene forth from Washington. When
the time for reorganization comes,
it is now predicted that there will
be evidenced that spirit of concilia-