Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-04-10
CONGRESS AND THE NATION.

urges everybody to appraise their N
gresham before re-electing him this
fan should he be a candidate. AS the
CONGRESSMAN from the third district In
Now Jersey has announced his inten-
ton not to run again 1t is not neces-
sary for the voters here to make such
an appraisal. at least as far as deter
mining how they shall vote at the
coming election is concerned, but 1t
might be well to thoroughly under
stand the views of the new candidates
for congress in regard to the issue
rs raised by the Evening World.
After declaring that the members
OF the present congress have had a
tremendous opportunity which has
been worse than frittered away. the
Evening World goes on to say:
"The members have failed to see
that, whether for good or III, our gov
at Washington has become a
NATIONAL government. They have
failed as NATIONAL representatives,
as directors of the NATIONAL Bust
ness aud Social Foundation. Most of
the members of congress continue to
represent districts or states. They re-
gard their constituents as a distinct
unit. not as a part of the whole"
1.-THE test should be, tho Evening
World concludes, " what have you
done for the U. So and not what
have you done for us?
The Evening World is entirely right
I'm this particular. Sectionalism has
had entirely too much to do with Il
so-called national legislation. The
men sent to Washington from all parts
of tho country have spent most of
their time seeing how much they
could get for their respective districts
back home and the really big affairs
of tho nation have been neglected.
congressman are elected to repre-
sent q certain district only In the
sense that the people of their partic-
ular district shall have a voice In the
affairs of the national government.
Members of congress. primarily. are
not intended TO have anything to do
with local affairs as such. Their con-
Germ is the affairs OF the nation, but
being q republican form of govern
ment the country is divided into dis
tricts according to population so that
those who legislate for the federal
government shall be as nearly repre-
sentative Of the whole people as pos
sible. But this division into districts
is not SO that the person elected from
that particular shall work only for
his district. 1t is for the purpose of
representation only and the ideal way
would be for q congressman, once he
IS elected. TO forget all about the dis
trict hat elected him except only to
express, as far as 1t Is possible for
him to do so. the will OF the people of
that district in all the national prob
lems that come before congress-.
Naturally. being a great nation,
to the country as a whole must con-
tinually arise. These will include our
relations with other nations. tariffs
and taxation and Interstate matters
generally. Being a nation of over
100. 1000 people it is impossible to
refer ali these matters to the voters
themselves SO the voters pick repre-
sentatives to go to Washington and
handle these things for them.
The trouble is. in recent years the
average congressman has come to be-
lieve that he is sent to Washington
TO get all he can for his district; his
usefulness is measured not by what
he can do or does do for the nation, but
by what he accomplishes for his dis
trict. He has narrowed his sphere
and, in some instances. congressman
do not seem to care what is done re-
garding national affairs as long as
they get what they are after for theil
district.
1t is because the average present
day congressman has become a mere
district legislator instead of a nation
al legislator that the congresses w
elect today do not begin to show the
individual ability or develop the greaf
personalities that Ia made former
congresses famous. Men like Clay
Webster. Calhoun and Blaine became
national figures because they handled
national problems. They all were
elected from different districts in diff
ferent states. to be sure. but they dic
not fritter away their time at Wash
fngton trying to see how much the,
could get out of the federal govern
ment for their particular districts
They arose above such petty affairs
seaving local matters to local officials
while they handled the big affairs o.