The Washington herald., 1914-04-06
Y z
Explaining roll
CALL ABSENCES
Members Of Congress Squar-
ing Themselves with
Constituents.
MANY EXCUSES FOUND
Average Attendance in House Is Fifty.
But Signal for Vote Brings
In Representatives.
MANY EXCUSES FOUND

This Is the time of the year when
thoughtful forehanded members of Con-
gress send out TO the journal clerks Of
fice for a list OF the roll calls that have
been recorded during the session. They
| dig out OF the files, also the list OF roll
calls they prepared at the close Of the
! last session, and the campaign pamph-
[ let In which their work for the preced-
| ing Congress is fully set forth. Then
| they make a rapid calculation Of the
| number OF important roll calls from which
| they were absent. and were recorded as
mot voting" II the list is long. a stenog-
rapher is called, and takes down a letter
in some such style as this:
| my Dear Committeeman:
Relative to your favor Of Tuesday. in
which you suggest that l emphasize in
| this primary campaign the important
votes which / cast for our party policy
on the tariff and other issues. let me say
that shall give that matter my earnest
thought / shall discuss during the cam
paign my attitude on every question
which has come prominently before the
House during this Congress. and shall
defend every vote cast by me at any
| time.
However. beg leave to call your at
tsntion TO the fact that II is almost i'm
possible for any member to be present TO
House may act When a man is recorded
as not voting he may have any one of a
dozen good reasons for absence from the
columns OF yeas and nays"
Explanations Are Given.
And the rest of the letter tells why the
member did not vote on other bills in
which his constituents were interested.
The member may be wholly right in his
contention. He may, for instance, have
been member OF an investigating COM
mittee, sent out to learn the facts con-
corning a strike. a railroad looting or h
shipwreck. or he may have been engaged
in committee work such as the formula
ton Of a currency bill. which would be
considered more important than his at
tendance on the floor OF the House at a
roll call which was sure TO be decided by
a large majority. He may have been
paired with some other member who is
absent He may have been III.
As a rule, the attendance in the House
is not more than fffy. which rises to 30
or more when a 81 iarp debate is closed
and the vote is to be taken on a bill
that may bring political advantage 10
one or the other side. The signal for
a roll call brings members hurrying over
from the Office building in droves. and
since the roll is called twice through.
and stragglers may line up before the
Speakers desk at the finish and get into
the recorded vote, every man who Is at
the Capitol and wishes TO have his say
on the legislation, can do so.
To the roll call which passed the tariff |
bill through the House. on May S. 1873 |
the yeas were 2Sl. the nays l59, the mem ,
bers not voting. Il. One member Copley, !
OF Illinois, Progressive. answered pres !
eflt" Thai was the largest vote OF the |
special session. because it was OF the |
highest political advantage. In great |
contrast was the Hetch-Hetchy water
supply bill. promoted on behalf OF the city
Of San Francisco and its tributary re-
gion. That bill involved the use Of part
OF the Yosemite National Park as a |
reservoir site. and the grant to a city
Of vast hydro-electric power which
would presumably eject the future Of
the municipal ownership movement
throughout the country. The yeas Were
only l8. the nays 43. and 9 answered
present" The members not voting
were 1874 Among these latter were both
of the Congressman from San Francisco,
as we'll as the member from Oakland,
v hich will benefit by the water develop
nent. Both OF the San FranCiscans had
good excuses for absence-one being
Ill. Other Western men who
had intended to be present were detained
by business elsewhere. But the great
majority OF the absent Congressman were
lot interested in either side OF the Hetch-
detchy controversy.
Another embarrassing roll call was that
AIKEN on September .. 1913, on an amend
nent to the urgent deficiency appropria-
ion bill aoolishing the Commerce Court
udgeships. There were ld names in the
not voting column on this occasion,
New York contributing . OF these: Penn
ylSan;a' u; Massachusetts,, II; Ohio. 10.
Ind Illinois, 9. The decision of the House {
vas made by $50 yeas and IS nays, and I
answering present" 7