Evening star., 1914-10-25
The Long Session.

Yesterday came to close not only q
remarl,able session of Congress IN
point of length of time, but an un-
nr.cedeuted series of long and fire.
ouent sessions of the national lesis-
lature In itself the second ses-
sion of the Sixty-third Consress--that
which was with difficulty ofousht u
,dio,rnmept Yesterday afternoon-was
one of the longest on record eAeeeueu
only in few exceptional cases. But
inasmuch as it was lmmediateiS pre-
ceded by a session OF nnusuai pfo-
traction. which ended only at the mo-
ment the new one began, yesterday
adjournment becomes historical iof It's
closure of a continuous congressional
performance practically without prece-
dent.
For 5s6 davs Congress has been un-
interruptedly at work. from April 4,
1918. to and including october "A, 1914
Only once before has the session nag
flown so ur nterruptedly. That was
when the / ortieth Congress sat Tor
611 davs. converting March a. 1867. and
serving through to November lo, lsoe'
when it adjourned to December Z and
ran until il lapsed by law on March 4,
1869 This was the so-called Andrew
Johnson Congress-" which was marked
bv the dev pment of differences be-
tween the executive and the legislative
branches, finally eliminating IN the
Presidents impeachment. But in that
case, the two houses frequently took
long recesses. leaving members on
guard to watch proceedings, and trans
acting little or no business during
large part of the time while in
session.
In point of performance. regardless
of length this session and its lmme-
diate predecessor have no parallel save
perhaps during the early days of the
civil war These 566 days have re-
suited in more important legislation
than any similar period in the history
of the country in time of domestic
peace When a program of remark
able length and significance had been
completed an extraordinary condition
developed with the outbreak of the
European war and gave rise TO new
needs, which were met with speed
The session closes, however, with
problem unsolved, remaining doubtless
to veX the Legislators ON their reaS-
sembling six weeks from tomorrow
The gavers fall yesterday afternoon
did not perhaps put a definite period to
the series of remarkable sessions which
have marked the past five years, but
it is hardly to be expected that con-
ditions will recur to cause speedily an
other such prolonged succession of con-
gressional performances President
Taft called the SiXty-frst Congress in
extra session March 10, 1909, and it
| adjourned August ). 1909, after ses-
sion of 143 days. The second or "regu-
| lar" session began December 6, 1903.
| and lasted until June %, 1910. period
| of 200 days. The third session ran
| from December .. 1910, to March 4,
| 1911 or eighty-nine days. The first
! session of the SiXty-second Congress
| lasted 141 days. from April 4, 1911, to
| August -. 1911. The second session
ran 30 days, from December i, 1911,
| to August 26. 1912. The third session
| was short from December =, 1912, to
! March L. 1913. or ninety-four days.
Then came the first session of the
| Sixty third Congress, assembling April
| I, 1913, and running through to De
| cember ], 1913, when il automatically
| at noon became the second session.
which ended yesterday after '66 days
without adjournment.
| This series of sessions, not allowing
| for occasional brief recesses. totals
l468 days in a period of 2,090. In a
little less than five years and half
| Congress has been at work more than
| 70 per cent of the time, probably a
worlds record of legislative industry.