The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1920-09-03
MIR. HARDING AT WORK

We have the information from a
gentleman of statistical bent who was
Industrious enough to dig through Mr..
Harding's senatorial record that the
astute Ohio gentleman "was absent
or lodged 1853 roll calls and quorum
calls" Admitting that it is far more
pleasant to lounge in a big easy
leather chair in the Senate office
building than take the underground
mono-rail car to the Senate and cast
a vote when a ticklish question is. up
for consideration, it nevertheless
would seem that Mr.. Harding has
been Just a little bit too much given
to missing roll calls. He entered the
Senate in 1914 and it now is 1920.
During these six years he has missed
upon an average Of 1874 roll or quo
rum calls annually. In other words,
he probably has absented himself dur
ing at least one call in each working
day of the Senate for six years.
Missouri has a representative IN
Congress who did not miss a single
call last session. Such faithfulness
is an exception to the general rule,
however, most representatives and
senators occasionally finding it neces-
sary to be away from duty because
of committee, departmental or out-of-
town business. Some few Congress
men have lodged votes on important
bills but this does not occur very fire.
quently. Certainly only very small
percentage Of them have such a rec
ord as Senator Harding who missed
1853 calls in the period of a single
term. Granting that some Of these
calls were of minor Importance, it
must be admitted that part of them,
at least, were of sufficient merit. to
demand his attention and that his SEN
atorial record would be of far more
value as a campaign document if had
paid more attention to the duties of
his office. -.
1t is to be hoped that the statisti-
clan will pursue his inquiries to the
extent of determining how many calls
on tariff questions Mr., Harding
missed; how many times he was out
of his seat when Mr.. Lodge was seek
ing to jam through amendments to
take the heart from the covenant of
the League of Nations; how many
times Mr.. Harding failed to be on
hand for Eastern capital when it was
asking for special privilege? Ans
wers to these questions might make
very interesting reading.
AS previously announced in this pa
per, Mr.. Harding, in 1916, was not
present on 144 calls for quorum and
was recorded 80 times as not voting.
In 1917 he voted with Lodge or PEN
rose IA times, took the opposite side
20 times and failed to vote 60 times.
In 1918 he voted with them 81 times,
against them 26 times and failed to
vote So times. During consideration
of the peace treaty from September
20 last to November 10, he was with
Lodge or Penrose 70 times, against
Lodge or Penrose 10 times and failed
to vote 81 times. AS time went on
his loyalty to the bosses increased.
From March Is to 10 last, when the
peace treaty was up, he voted with
Lodge % times, against Lodge but
twice and failed to vote 80 times. And
from November to June 4, he voted
with Lodge or Penrose 80 times,
against Lodge or Penrose z times and
failed to vote ~ times.
When one reflects on the blind way
in which Senator Harding followed
Mr.. Lodge, it is hard to decide wheth-
er Harding voting was not a greater
misrepresentative Of his constituency
than Harding not voting.-Mssouri
State journal. ~ y, :;