The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1919-12-05
Congress Duty to the Nation.

Confronted with the most import
ant domestic problems the country
has encountered since the Civil War
reconstruction, the Sixty-sixth Con-
gress opens its first regular session.
1t convenes without the confidence
of the people either in it's sincerity
or its ability to make statesmanlike
record, and with the handicap of a
leftover special duty confronting
one of the houses.
Nevertheless, congress can redeem
itself within the first two weeks of
it's session, if it chooses to do SO. 1t
can clear the slate for constructive
legislation by ratifying the peace
treaty, and proceed with the great
legislative tasks that have come in
the wake of the war. An imperative
duty confronts congress, and a few
would predict q failure to meet it if
the country. had not gone through
full year of continuous failure by the
members of congress to measure up
to their responsibility.
The first and most important duty
treaty must be disposed of as the
first step in a statesmanlike legisla-
tive program, and the only tolerable
method is ratification. To ratify the
treaty is Americas duty to the world
and the senate's duty to America.
Congress can do nothing until the
senate completes its treatymaking du
ties. The treaty is too important to
be postponed until after the legisla-
tive program is carried out. The le-
gislative program is too important
to be held back by another useless,
bitter, partisan period of fighting
over the terms of the treaty. The
senate should pick up the treaty
where if left off in November, and
proceed to an immediate compromise
and final affirmative vote.
The House of Representatives,
which has no share in the treaty rati-
fication, is far ahead of the senate
in it's work on reconstruction bills.
The house has completed its commit
tee work on half a dozen measures
of Importance, and can vote on them
and send them to the senate at the
very outset of the session. If the
senate will ratify the treaty before
the Christmas holidays, it will be
ready in January to take part in the
work of national reconstruction.
The second duty of the senate is
to make use of the work performed
by the lower house during the extra
session of congress. The measures
passed by the House of Representa-
tives last summer and fall, and soon
to be repassed in regular session,
should not be subjected to the long
delays in committee which occur
when the houses work simultaneously
in the framing of the legislation.
The railroad bill, the budget bill, the
land leasing bill and other measures
which have been considered at length
by the House Of Representatives
should be sent through the senate in
record time.
1t is scarcely possible to over-es-
innate the psychological value of an
early demonstration that the Sixty
sixth Congress means business. The
country is perplexcd and harassed,
torn by industrial strife and easily
moved to passion. It's stability is
endangered by the conflict between
radical labor and reactionary capital.
Where there is no spirit of co-opera-
tion between powerful elements in
the citizenship of the country, tits
particularly essential that the gov
eminent shall be fair, firm and ac-
tive.
Congress has an unequaled oppor-
tunity to restore the confidence in our |
legislative government that has been
dashed by the past years exhibition
of incapacity. Will it prove equal to
the opportunity? Can it rise above
partisanship and personal feeling in
to clear conception of public duty? |
The answer must come in deeds, and |
for the answer the country is wait
Inc CT Tos,ia Ctar