Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-01-12

ten by the committee on ways and
means. IT may be known, therefore,
as the Fordney bill. Going TO the
Senate committee on finance, it win
be changed in many Spects--such
bills always are. APPROXIMATION will
Immediately occur. and the bill as
well as the law, il there should he a
law, may be defensively and often
sively called the Fordney -Penrose
act
Efeminacy cannot be charged
against the Pennsylvania senator nor
the Michigan representative. PEN
roses pastme is shooting grizzly
bears. Much of Fordneys life has
been spent among loggers with
They are gladiatorial characters
and protection is@ the doctrine they
cherish the most~--cherish not supine-
ly and cautiously, waiting to see out
of which quarter the wind may blow,
but bravely and vigorously, as
though they were cavalrymen. riding
hard and swinging heavy sabers over
their heads. Their ears are never
cooked forward. like a rabbits or a
foX's, but lay back, as do a lions or
q tigers.
And so the whole matter of the
committees again is to the front.
Washington, the same as New York
or Beaver Dam. is parochial, The hub
invariably Is within the parish.
boy eXultingly writes home from coll
lege that he has been voted into the
Purple Spats, the Kit-Cats or some
other fraternity. The old folks are
proud but mystified Sammy they
say. lis making good"
Committees are tremendously I'M
portant in Washington. although Of
little real interest anywhere else. Mr..
Dagger of the TIL district, through
his local newspaper organ. let's his
constituents know that he has been put
on the great" committee of this or
that. Occasionally the committee is
powerful" as described by Mr.. Dag
ger himself, or his journalistic Bos-
front" exclaim his friends. without
knowing exactly what they are talk
ing about.
And Dagger is. Legislation. prac-
tically. is done by committees. Thou
sands of bills In the course of each
Congress are submitted by senators
and representatives. Many kinds of
bills. an ounce of them wise and Il ton
Of them silly. All are sent to commit
tees, which are groups OF specialists
supposed to have expert knowledge
concerning such subjects as the Army
and the Navy. the post offices and the
agricultural industry, the tariff and
the pension policy. the rivers and the
harbors. the finances and the public
lands. the Indians and the merchant
HidFlflc anu ASueIIeS.
-. n
1t was discovered. back in the reign
of Queen Elizabeth, which began in
1858 and ended in 1903. that legisla-
ton by the house of commons could
be better done and done more prompt
ly with the aid Of committees. The
idea was brought to America by the
Puritans and spread through the colo
MES and then through the states as
they were organized. All Legislative
bodies now--local boards of educa-
ton. city councils and state legisla.
tures--have committees to pass on
such matters as may be referred to
them.
Most of the bills introduced In Con-
gross. going to committees. are never
screen and onto the rubbish heap
either by the action OF the chairmen
themselves or of the members voting
in a body. A bill reported back to
the House or the Senate and recon-
mended for passage by a committee
ordinarily becomes statute.
Committees then, are. it might be
said, legislation's first instrumentali-
ties. A new lawmaker believes that
his influence In Congress and his
standing at nome VIII be gagged,
pretty largely. by the committee
places that he may obtain. If he rep
resents q dominant class. such as
workingmen or farmers or a business,
as. for instance. banking or manufac-
turing, he desires an appointment to
the committee on labor or agriculture,
or to the committee on ways and
means or commerce.
There are seventy-fve committees in
the Senate and sixty in the House of
Representatives. Each has q chair
man. He is the captain OF his COM
pany. The chairmen as q whole con-
stitute what reasonably can be de-
nominated as the aristocracy of Con-
gress. They have special rooms and
an extra number OF stenographers
and clerks.
And many opportunities for public
ity. A public man without publicity
would be about as noticeable as a
brass band that had neither horns nor
drums. The chairman reports back
all OF his committees important bills.
This lac does on his feet and with a
speech. The fact is mentioned by the
press.
Then he manages" the passage of
the bill. or Its defeat, as sometimes
happens. This he does standing up,