The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-11-20
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 effort to do. 1t will be at the expense of duty" declared Representative Joseph W. Byrns, of Tennessee, rank ing Democratic member of the House
 Appropriations Committee today.
 'oThe necessity for Congress re- maining on the job and attending to
 the business that is pressing for at
 tention is just great or greater now than 1t 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 passed very , little legislation said MT. Byrns. "It passed some amenoments 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 recess before en- acting the needed legislation. And even though the President asked i last August that the amendments to | the Food Control bill be passed, so | that the government might deal with | the high cost of Ii Ing problem in an effective way, and incidentally persecute those who had been guilty | of profiteering, 1t was late in October 1 before they finally reached the Pres ident and only within the last ten days that Congress made available l 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- | ton by committees that has continued | over six months that a railroad bill l has been reported out, to be called I up in the House on Tuesday of this I week. I think Congress ought to stay
 in session and, if possible, enact the | needed railroad legislation before the 1 special session must end in December. i If the adjournment the leaders have
 been trying so hard to reach were or 1 dered according to their plans, this 1 legislation couldn't be enacted, be- 1 cause the Senate hasn't shown signs 1 of finishing with the Peace treaty at 1 a very early date and the railroad bill i can't oe taken up ever there until the | Treaty is out of the way. And the ! Senate ought to give the railroad bill l very deliberate and mature consider ation, for it is certainly for too im- portant a matter to be rushed | through"
 l Figures, that MT. Byrns as rank 1 ing minority member of the Appro- priations Committee, have prepared
 show that the Republicans claim of having saved the country money in the annual appropriation pnIs are
 base1ess. The to appropriations for the current fiscal year approxi-
 mate seven and quarter billions of dollars The departmental appropria-
 .ions such as army, navy, District of
 Columbia, India, Sundry Civil. and
 others were passed by the present Congress almost identica1ly as they
 passed the House in the last Con-
 gress, which was Democratic only to be killed by the Republican fih- buster in the Senate MT. ByrnS fig .1res show that, as matter of fact, the Republican Congress h--s increas- ed these appropriations by S6..00o,- i 900, instead of the $20.000.000 in-
 crease shown sixty days ago, so th>t j the extravaganza is growing. That,
 said MT. Byrns, is tho cost Of the
 Senate filibuster of last March to
 the national treasury. Some of the
 alleged savings, to which the Repub-
 Iican House leaders laid claim, were
 made by cutting down the depart mental appropriations, and then to make up the difference in what is
 known as a deficiency bill, which has just been passed and which appro-
 priates S150,O00,00o not to mention
 the appropriation of $750.oo0,ooo for l the railroad administration, against
 which Republicans protested in the Democratic Congress, only to make available, after they had come into ! the control of Congress