The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-10-19
SESSION OF CONGRESS
LONGER THAN ANY OTHER
When It Finally Adtourns, 1t Will
Have Broken All Previous
Records.
ALREADY TOTAL or 800 DAYS

sA'bIeCADls IOEAL OF QUO Da a -
More Than $4,000 Bills and Other
Measures offered Since Opening
Day--Many Important Laws Put
ON Statute Books.
WASHINGTON. October .s-.fhrea
hundred and twenty-aae days have
elapsed since the second session ofAthe
SiSty-third Congress convened. Long
IN tho list OF important bills enacted.
this means that tho session has already
equaled In number of days the longest
session In the previous history Of tho
country that can properly be termed a
, single session. That was the .irst ses
sion of tho FIftieth Congress-. whlch
from December bs-1sS7. to October 20
1855. lasted precisely SCI days. Nom
I. iFaliy. the second session Of tho For
tleth Congress-. I'm which President
Johnson WAS fmpeached. lasted 3I5
days. from December Q. 1867. to Novem-
: Der 10, 1868, but as matter OF fact no
4 business WAS transacted after July 81,
and subsequent to that date both
houses~Wcre in. almost continuous re-,
y cess once for almost month at a
time, making the real length of that
2 session only 23S days.
Already this Congress has been in
session eco days, and without counting
tho days that may yet intervene before
adjournment by March 3. 1915. will
have been In session GAG days. with
out counting tho winter term vet to
come. this Congress has been in ses-
sion longer than any other In the
countrys history. except the Fortiet.l
which allowing for The 1o7 days of re :
cess I'm It's second session. was sitting
$50 days. In other words, this Con-
Sress. when IT finally diasolyes. will
nave been In session forty seven more
than any Congress since the foundation
of the government
Even the Congresses Of the great war
periods OF the past did not approach
IN length OF sittings the sessions OF
the present Congress. Before the pres
ent Congress, next to the Forticti,. thu
'irst Congress which took up the whole
work of organizing the government
was longest In its sessions The Twelfth
Congress. which handled the war OF
Sl2. was in session only 367 days. The
Twenty-ninth and ThirtieGI Congresses.
which shared responsibility for the
war with Mexico, were IN session, re-
spectively, $40 and 344 dayg. Even the
Thirty-scventh and Thirty eighth Con-
gresses, which. legislatively speaking
/ fought the Civil War were in session
only ESQ and 29s days. The Fifty-fifth
Congress. wpich sat through the stormy
days preceding the Spanish War and
saw that war 50 Its successfui conclu-
sion, Was I'm session 367 days.
The first session of tho Fiftieth Con-
gresa and the artincally extended Sec
ond session OF tho Fortieth Congress
have been mentioned RI the only rival.
In duration of the present individual:
session. Next to these wes the first
session of, the Fifty-first Congress,
which lasted 800 days, from December
:. 1859. to October /. 1890. covering the
struggle over tho Mckinley tariff Tho
next longest was the first session of
the Thirty-first Congress-. which lasted
302 days. from December 3. ISIS, tc
September 80. 1919
II might be mentioned for compart-
son that the shortest session in the
history OF the government was the ex-
traordinnry session In the Thirty
fourth Congress- That was ca He'd 10
meet OH August q, 1886, only three
days after tho end OF the first session
of that Congress and lasted only ten
daSs.
2.,s00 Hills offered.
Practically all of the work That Con-
sress doas is initiated by the introduce
ton of bills, and resolutions There
fore. an idea OF the vastness Of .he
transactions OF tho Senate and House
is furnished through the fact that more
than 2T.6o0 measures have been offered
in the two bodies since the Sixty-third
. Congress convened In It's first session
on April z, 1913. Few nf these cius
received any consideration in the spe-
cial session. when was called to enact
legislation OF specified character. and
most OF them were left for the session
now drawing to n close.
The House. having the larger mem
bershiD. received the larger mum bel, of
J. bills and resolutions. the total reaching
moro than 10000. In the Senate there
were introduced more than 1900 bills
and resolutions.
OF these, 20S up to the present time
have become public laws ~ virtue
of congressional enactment and the
Presidents signature There have heop
in the same time and through the same
process 146 ''privnte laws" written int o
the statute books, and fifty-one public
resolutions have beeu enacted.
The comparatively small number or
nnactments, as shown by tile figures is
not TO be tai:cn as u crit1rion OF tile
work accomplished, for many OF the
bills and resolutions have been complied
By committees into what was sometimes
called omnibus bills and other legis-
lation has been provided for by pro
posing tie subject matters OF other
measures us amendments TO the general
and appropriation bills.
1t is estimated that nearly two thirds
of the measures presented IN the two
houses were of the character of private
bills. mostly for pensions and claims
Tho session drawing to close has
seen the enactment OF an extreprtlinRr-
lily long list OF measures generally i'm
portant to hhe whole country But long
as that list is, 1t falls short in p,any
striking particulars OF the almost UNI
heard-of Legislative program mapped
out by President Wilson in his annual
address to tho two houses OF Congress
on December 9, the day after the con-
vening Of the session. More .ha,
enough has been accomplished. how
ever, to give the Democrats q standing
excuse that there was no time for such
other matters as have been ignored or
dropped.
Eight Over banking Act.
The most important enactment Of tile
session came first and marked the con-
clusion of the long struggle over the
banking and currency act. This $item
on the Legislative program, which the
President intended to have been passed
IN fine nxtrnordiparyy qaucio,,, {,,,,,o