Evening star., 1919-05-07
Congress Will Be Ready
, for Business When GaveI
! Falls, Says Party Leader!

Congress will be ready to organic
Z and do business promptly when th'
: gavel falls on May 19. Calls for tn,
members to return for party confer
I ences are already being sent out.
!. Members. irrespective of party. ex
pressed themselves as delighted tina
r the President had decided to call tn,
: extra session so soon, and the genera
:. comment was. 1T ought to have beer
: called before this"
The republican House conference
. will be held Saturday night. May II
and the notices to members were sem
out today. At this meeting all COM
mittee assignments are expected tc
be ratified.
The democratic caucus is to be held
on May Is or 16. and Speaker Clark
House Leader Kitchen. Judge Saunders
OF Virginia and other democratic
House leaders will meet tomorrow to
decide regarding the party course.
The committee designations will be
made by the democratic members of
the ways and means committee act
ing as committee on comittees and
Will be subject to revision by the
democratic caucus.
Clark for Minority Leader.
SEdHlp 1idTh Will De proposed DN
Claude kitchin as the choice Of the
democrats for minority floor leader
) and will be elected. The opposition
to him has dissolved until now there
are only about Twenty-Five who could
be mustered to vote against him.
The republicans of the Senate will
meet In caucus May IA at l am. for
the purpose of reorganizing the SEN
ate. In the absence of Senator Mar
tin, the democratic floor leader of the
Senate, no announcement was made to-
day of the calling of the democratic
Senate caucus.
Senator Warren, prospective chair
man Of the committee on appropria-
tionS of the Senate. and Representa-
tive Good of Iowa, who is to be chair
man of the House committee on ap-
preparations, are absent from the city,
but are expected to return to WASH
1ngton at once.
Speaker-elect Gillett of S1assachn-
setts and House Leader-elect Mondell
promised today that the republicans
will pass expeditiously the appro-
priation and other measures that
must be enacted before July 1.
Mr.. Gillett's Statement.
Mr.. Gillett, when informed by The
. Star of the date for the extra ses-
sion. said:
Il am exceedingly glad that at last
the President appreciates that there
. is need of immediate legislation. 1t
has seemed to me that Congress ought
to have been in session long ago. no
matter where. the President was.
There are obviously prodigious prob
lens for rearranging our industrial
activities. upon the decision Of which
business is waiting and upon which
Congress ought to have been deliberat-
ing. There are also very many ap-
proprtations which failed last winter
which are urgently needed now and
for lack of which many of the de-
partments are suffering.
The fiscal year ends on July l, and
any government activities which
have not been appropriated for before
then must Immediately stop, and yet
six of the great supply bills covering
the greater part of the national ex-
penses. were not completed by the
last Congress in the three months of
Its session. Now the new Congress Is
expected to investigate and prepare
and pass those bills in six weeks.
1T Is unjust to the Congress and
unjust to the country not to have al
lowed more time. OF course there
pe1ling reasons for not allowing Con-
gress to be in session. but l am not
aware of them, and / can only see the
pressing need OF legislation. and until
I am shown reasons why Congress
should not have been at work I shall
believe that the interests of the coun-
try have suffered greatly by the delay
in summoning u.s."