Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1914-12-07
SAYS YOUNG MAN or ENERGY
HAS NO .susINEss TRYING
TO LEGIsLATE.
EVERYTHING DONE BY SLOW,
IRRESISTIBLE SYSTEM
Years Required to Put Thru consrsss
Needed Laws, Which in Turn Be-
como Obsolete Before Written Into
tatutss-Individual Effort Limited
by cumbsrsomsnsss Of House.
Especial correspondence.l

Especial Correspondence.1
Washington, Dec. lit isn't half 80
bad to be lame duck as the general
reputation Of the term implies. The
lame ducks who are coming back to
Washington Just now, ready for their
last session of congress, their last trip
at the profitable rate Of 20 cents .
mile. their last fraction Of those COM
Portable $500 salaries are. on the
whole, looking great deal more
cheerful that the mere outsider might
conjecture. OF course the regular
role Of the lame duck is to look COM
pletely chagrined and IL smiling at al.
smiling bravery in order to conceal .
broken heart. According to tradition.
the lame duck is always looking for
federal job in which he may continue
to render services to the public, ana
il he fails to land such job he In
technically speaking, no longer lame
but dead. AS far as Washington -
concerned he has passed beyond the
horizon and IL he ever shows up above
! ~
explanation that he Is a has been"
who is trying to come back"
Your correspondent had the pleas
ure Of interviewing a lame duck the
other day, member of the house not
belonging to the democratic party, who
after hard fight in his district has
been defeated. This man has to his
credit one term in congress. during
which he was member of an import
ant investigating committee. mem
Der of one of the most important OF
the standing committees Of the house
and, before his defeat, one of the few
who really stood out from the crowd
of 434 others, few Of whose names had
ever got across TO the public thru the
headlines. This man has no prospect
| whatever. of a federal job, and Will
probably return to his home town and
take up the practice Of law which IN
his case is doubtless less rernunerative
and more difficult that the Office OF
| member OF congress. Had he been re-
elected he would have been able to
! do more effective work In the house
along the lines In which he - interest
or. and it Is quite possible that the luck
| Of politics would have run him up to
| a more prominent n not q more useful
position.
| Glad 70 Be Out Of Il.
| Asked how he felt about it, how ne
liked being a lame duck. this man an
swered somewhat as follows:
well, to tell the truth. have a
feeling Of relief feel as II now
| might be able to get out and do some
thing. AS you know have been OPP
pressed during my term by the same
/ thing that holds down and Expresses
| many of us here. namely, the feeling
| that the Individual man. strive as he
may is under tremendous handicaps
| unless he absolutely conforms and sur
| renders to the powers that be. NOW,
| while have been on perfectly good
| terms with the leaders OF the house.
and while I cannot complain OF their
| personal treatment OF me In any way
! have nevertheless suffered from the
sense of being restricted, OF being held
down whenever anything that was not
on the regular program came my way
In other words, the average man in con-
gress has not the liberty Of effective
action which the outsider might I'm
agine-in spite Of himself he becomes
good deal OF politician and prob
| ably at the same time good dea
more useless to the country than he
| would be were the house Of representa-
tives really representative and demo.
cratic body.
Individual Effort Limited.
/ II was interested in lot Of things
outside Of the regular routine OF con.
gress as imposed upon 1t by the presi.
dent went to work with all the In
nocence and energy Of new man. In
troduced my bills. prepared my sub.
jects, and tried to get hearings before
the committees. found my colleagues
generous with their time and patience
and willing to do everything they coult
for mle-but within. the limits OF Il:
/ system. And as the years progressed
and one session melted into another.
discovered that the limits Of the legis
4 lative system here are 80 narrow tina
literally scores Of the simplest ant
most necessary measures must be pu
over year after year it'll finally whel
they become laws they are practicell.
out Of date. In short, congress is stcl
clumsy body that 1t IL necessar.
decade or so behind the actual need
Of the country. Take, as single ex
ample the revision Of the fedora
workmen's compensation act. This re
vision is absolutely necessary. Elk
perts are agreed upon It, and there
practically no organized opposition
that is worth considering. Still. the bi
does not pass and in all probabilit
4 will not pass for at least three or fou
years to come. have the feeling tina
it is a waste OF time for young an
energetic man like myself to han
around these halls with the mere hop
OF being able to Jump on . band
wagon some time before he dies.
think that the piace for men IKE N
is outside Of congress. 20 long AZ con
gress is organized In such . fashio
that 1t can do very little inside Of IT,
Netting TeaS1o.
OF course these ar0 tho views Of q
exceptional man. man who got int
politics for other reasous beside tn
desire to hold Job. Not all lam
ducks would share In these views, nc
would all be quite 70 frank In decla,
ing themselves. It Fl evident. howeve
from the most cursory sort Of CONVEX
sation with samples Of this specie
j.xhat there, IL IN the status of being