The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-08-05
EMINENT AUTHORITY
 QUOTED BY DONOVAN
Evil of Pairing Off Process Shown Tn Striking
 Opinion
Especial to The Farmer,

l (OP6C1dl lO 1I1S5 2 dI4AlC4.J Washington, Aug. Representative
 Jeremiar Donovan. of connesticut. has
 contended on several occasions that
 members of Congress have no right to pair with other members and contin- ually absent themselves from the ses- sions of Congress. and yesterday he caused to be read into the record an l opinion of the late Thomas Hart Ben
 ton, senator and representative from
 Missouri and one Of the greatest statesmen of his time.
 Pairing-0ff 2 a chapter from ssThir- 1 ty years in the United States Senate, "s was the subjes
 At this time. and in the House of Representatives. was exhibited for the first time the spectacle Of members pairing off as the phrase goes that is to say, two members of opposite polit- fcal parties agreeing to absent them selves from the duties of the House without the consent of the House, and l without deducting their per diem pay during the time of such voluntary ab- sence. Such agreements were a. clear breach of the rules of the House, disregard of the Constitution, and a practice open to the grossest of abuses An instance of the kind was avowed | on the floor by one of the parties to
 the agreement by giving as reason for not voting that he had paired offs' l with another member. whose affairs
 reqdtred him to go home It was a strange annuncia ton and called for re- buke; and there was member present who had the spirit to administer 1t: and from whom it came with the lAgreatest propriety on account of his age and dignity and perfect to all Of his duties as a member, both in his att tendance in the House and in the com
 rnittee rooms. That member was MT.
 John Quincy Adams. who imnediate- ] ly proposed to the House the adoption lef this resolution; Resolved, Thar l the practice first openly avowed at
 the present session of Congress of pairing off, involves on the part Of 1 the members resorting to it, the viola ton of the Constitution of the United States, of an express rule of this House, and of the duties Of both par lties to the transaction to their imme- ldfate constituents. to this House, and to their country This resolve was I placed on the calendar to take it's
 turn, but not being cached during the
 session was not voted upon. That was
 the first instance of this reprehehsf- ble practice, 50 years after the sovern4s raert had gone into operation: and 1 since then it has become common, and I even tnyeterate. and is carried to a. I great length. Members pair off, and 1 do as they please either remain in the city refusing to attend to any duty
 CT go of together to neighbortng cities,
 Tor separate one going, and the other
 staying; and the one who remains
 sometimes standing up in his place. and telling the Sseaker of the House l that he had paired of. and so refusing Ito vote
 There IS no justiffeation for such Iconduct. and it becomes a facile way
 of sl1irking duty and eyading respon-
 s7bility. If member is under a
 necessity to go away. the rules Of the House require him to ask leave and 1.-the journals Of the early Congresses
 are full Of such applications If he
 Is compelled to go. it is his misfor- tune, and should not be com nraunicated I to another The writer has never seen an instance of 1t in the Senate i during the 30 years of his service there but the practice has since penetrated l to that body and pairing off, has become as common in that House as In the other, in proportion to it's num- bers and with an aggravation of the teVn. as the absence Of Senator is a loss to the State Of half it's weight AS consequences the two houses are
 faabitually found voting with deficient l mum bers-often to the extent Of third l--often with bare quorum.
 In the first age of the government Inc member absented himself from the service of the House to which he be I 1onged without first asking and ob-s taining it's leave: or if called off sud- denly, a colleague was engaged tt1 lstate the circumstances to the Ious.. and ask the leave. In the journals or I the two Houses for the first 3Ss years iof the government there is in the index I a regular head for absent without I leave. and turning ito the indicated page every such name will be seen That head in the index has disappear led In later times. recoIlect of no in stance of leave asked since the last of the early members- the Macons. ltEsandoIph Rufus Kings Samuef Smiths John TayIors of Carolina < disappearing from the Halls of Con .lgress.''
 MT. Donovan has been told by many members that his attitude on the oues- I ton of pairing off was wrong and he lsimply had the words of Thomas H. iBenton and John Quincy Adams read into the record for the sake of show ing that "pairing on'' is a cancer that is gradually gnawing away at the vi
 tals of the American Congress.
 Representative Underhiu asked Con-
 gress at the same session for leave of absence to visit Europe and Mir. Don- fovan entered an objection adding iocu-
 larly that sthe dogs of war might get the member.''