Republican farmer., 1919-11-21
CONGRESS HAS
 DONE LITTLE
 WRONG TO QUIT
Byrn of Tennessee De- nounces Purpose of Con- gress to Quit With it's
 Work Unfinished.

Washington, D. c. Nov. zo.-"If Congress takes a recess as the Re publican leaders are bending every of duty,' declared Representative Joseph W. Byrns, of Tennessee, rank ing Democratic member of the House Appropriations Committee today.
 ''The necessity for Congress re- maining on the job and attending to the business that is pressing for at- tention is just as great or greater ROW than it was last March and April, which Republicans were cla- moring for President Wilson to con- vene Congress" continued MT. Byrns Not only has Congress accomplish ed very little in the way of legisla- ton, so that it should remain on the job and enact such bills as ought to be passed, but the present disturbed condition of the country, by reason of the industrial unrest, is such that Congress ought to not only be will ling, but anxious to stay in session, for it is not possible to tell what may arise to demand speedy attention.
 This Congress has been in session six months now, but has Lassed very little legislation" said MT. Byrns. 'It passed some amenomenrs to the Food Control bill. but not without several months of delay and only after such amendments had been urg-
 ed by the President and Attorney General Palmer. And even then the President had to intervene to prevent
 Congress taking a recess before en-
 acting the needed legislation. And
 even though the President asked
 last August that the amendments to
 the Food Control bill be passed, so
 that the government might deal with
 the high cost of Ii ng problem in
 an effective way, and incidentally
 persecute those who had been guilty
 of profiteering, it was late in October
 before they finally reached the Pres
 ident and only within the last ten
 days that Congress made available
 to the Department of Justice, the ap-
 propriation needed to go after profit eers and also conduct a campaign
 against the Reds
 "It has only been after considera- tion by committees that has continued over six months that railroad bill
 has been reported out, to be called
 up in the House on Tuesday of this
 | in session and. if possible, enact the needed railroad legislation before the special session must end in December. If the adjournment the leaders have been trying so hard to reach were or dered according to their plans, this legislation couldn't be enacted, be- cause the Senate hasn't shown signs of finishing with the Peace treaty at a very early date and the railroad bill can't oe taken up over there until the | Treaty is out of the way. And the Senate ought to give the railroad bill
 very deliberate and mature consider ation, for it is certainly for too im- portant a matter to be rushed through
 Figures, that MT. Byrns. as rank ing minority member of the Appro- priattons Committee, have prepared show that the Republicans claim of having saved the country money in i the annual appropri;..lon p1I1s are 1 baseless. The total appropriations for the current fiscal year approxi- i mate seven and a quarter billions of l dollars. The departmental appropria- 1 tions such as army, navy, District of | Columbia, India, Sundry Civil, and i others, were passed by the present | Congress almost identfcally as they passed the House III the last Coil- gress, which was Democratic, only | to be killed by the Republican fili- buster in the Senate MT. Byrn's fig ures show that, as T matter of fact the Republican Congress h--s increas- ] en these appropriations by SCHOOL i 900, instead of the s20,o00,000 in- crease shown sixty days ago, so that ! the extravaganza is growing. That 1 said MT. Byrns. is the cost of the : Senate filibuster of last March to 1 the national treasury. Some of the ! alleged savings, to which rhe Repub-
 Iican House leaders laid claim, were
 made by cutting down the depart mental appropriations. and then to i make up the difference in what is | known as deficiency bill, which has i just been passed and which appro- priates s15O, 100000 not to mention l the appropriation of $750,000I0o0 for 1, the railroad administration, against 1 which Republicans protested in the Democratic Congress, only to make available, after they had come into the control of Congress
 DIR. DAY WILL