Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-11-06
SENATOR'S HOPES
FOR COMMITTEES
MAY Be BL|GHTED.
Sad Awakening Awaits Some
Who Will Seek Big
Assignment.
RULE ALREADY ADOPTED
CUTS NUMBER TO "a
Republicans Will Be So Numerous
Many Will Lack Posts
as Chairmen.

as Chairmen.
A sad awakening is awaiting SOM
of the senators who will compose tn
Senate in the Sixty-seventh Congress!
and who are hoping for assignment
to powerful committees. Instead o
there being seventy-four standing
committees of the Senate, with mem
bership of some of the more importan
committees ranging as high as TWEEN
ty. in the new Congress which come.
in with the Harding administration
there will be only thirty-four stand
ing committees, and none of then
with membership of more than f1f
teen.
This is the result of an amendment
to the rules of the Senate adopted
just before the last session of Con.
gress adjourned. applicable with the
beginning of the Sixty-seventh Con.
greSs.
VIII Cut Down Assignments.
1t means that many of the republi.
can senators. as well as democratic
who have held places on several i'm.
portant standing committees, musI
relinQuish probably all but one. In.
stead of each senator holding mem.
them are members of only seven OF
eight-they will have to be conten,
with membership on say three OF
four, or even less.
OF course, in elimating more than
half of the standing committees, only
those which were not really needed
were stricken from the list. There
have been committees of the Senate
which have held no meeting for ten
year., or more, but which have been
carried on the list, with chairmen and
clerks and stationery, etc. These in
active committees have been a stand
ing joke at the Capitol for years. They
have been continued merely so as to
give the senators additional clerks
But all that was changed when there
was included in the Legislative, execu-
tive and judicial appropriation act
more ample provision for clerk hire,
and it was no longer necessary to re-
tain the polite fiction regarding these
defunct committees.
Claims Of Revolutfcn,
Whoever heard OF . meeting of the
committee on revolutionary -o3ktfne of
the Senate? Or of the committee to
investigate trespassers on Indian
lands, or of the committee on Pacific
railroads1 Yet these are just samples
of a considerable number of Senate
committees that have long since
ceased to operate.
The Senate rule providing for Sem
ate standing committees was amend
ed in the hope of bringing about
greater efficiency in the conduct of
the Senate's business as well as to
naming committees that never meet.
Most Of the work of the legislative
bodies is really done in the commit
tee room. When a committee brings
in bill or a resolution it is very
likely to be acted upon favorabIy.
nd fe
adopted on the floor of the Senate,
but as a rule the committees decision
is sufficient. Under present condi-
tions. with the senator's serving on
many important committees it is
very difficult for them to keep up
with the work Of the committees or
even to attend meetings. Frequently
during the last session, when much
important business was awaiting ac-
tion, it was impossible to get a
because of the fact that it's members
were meeting with other commit
tees.
QuOrums Easier to Get.
With smaller committees and fewe,
OF them, 1t will be possible to obtair
quorums for the committee meetings
and also the more compact organiza
tions will work more effectively, II
is believed.
Take the case of the important ap.
propriations committee. At presenr
it has twenty members. Under tn,
new rule, it will have only fifteen
Foreign relations committee ha.
seventeen members. the commerc,
committee, twenty; finance. seventeen
judiciary. eighteen. and military af
fairs. nineteen. All must be reduced
to fifteen.
The District of Columbia committe,
has fourteen members. Under tn,
new arrangement it will have thir
teen.
The committee on woman suffrag,
is one of these that has been elm
mated. on the ground that with tn
the adoption of the suffrage consti
tutional amendment, standing com
there is any necessity for furthe
legislation on the subject it can b.
handled by the judiciary committee
Some Not Chairmen.
With only thirty-four standing com
mittees and f1fty-nine republican sena
tors, ii is easy to see that a consider
able number of republicans will not b.
chairmen of committees in the next Con
Sress-a hitherto unheard-of state o
affairs. Some of the committees hav
been consolidated. as for instance. il
the case of the committee on the Philip
pines and the cimmtee territories
Under the new plan there will be on
committee on territories and inSula
possessions.
Senator Harding. President-elect. i
chairman of the Philippines committe
and Senator Harry New of Indian
chairman of the territories committee
In this case Senator New may be ex
pected to get the craftsmanship of tn
consolidated committee.
An example of the manner in whc
senators of long service have acquire
membership on several important com
quished in part. is Senator McCumbe
of North Dakota. He is ranking mem
ber on both the finance committee an
the fore.gn relations committee, and