Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-06-08
NEW CONGRESS ]
WAITS MONTHS
TO TAKE SEATS
Law Changes Needed to Allow
New Officers to Begin
at Once. ~
VALUABLE TIME WASTED

WASHINGTON, D. C.-The old evil
of permitting defeated members OF Con-
gress to continue to sit and enact the
Nations laws for four months after their
successors have been elected is again
causing a great deal of discussion In
Congress. Ordinarily, this discussion Is
revived every two years, during the pre-
election campaigns The fact that 1t Is
now under discussion at the beginning
of new administration, is taken as an
indication that there is a better chanee
than ever before of changing the exist
ing law, and remedying the difficulty..a
Another thing which is condemned al
most unanimously by public men, but
which has never been changed, is that a
newly elected President does not take
office until four months, sometimes to
a day, from the date Of his election. But
this occurs only once in four years, and
often only once in eight years. There's
fore, despite the greater importance OF
the presidential position, the situation as
it affects Congress is generally regara-
ed by members of that body as in more
vital need of remedy by legislation. 81
There is a widespread belief that aA
amendment to the Constitution would be
needed to change the convention date OF
Congress. This is not so, and is proved
bv the simple words of the Constitution
itself. The second paragraph Of section
4. article 1. provides:
THE Congress shall assemble at leaFf
once in every year, and such meeting
shall be on the first Monday in Decem-
Der. unless they shall by law appoint
/ q different day" e
'Thev" refers to the members of Con&a
| gress It is generally conceded that the
meeting date of Congress can, by aH-
| thority of this section of the Constitur
| ton, be changed to any time the majority
of its members may select, if the prest-
dent approves of the change. 70
One of the greatest objections to the
present system is that under ordinary
conditions. a member of the House or
! Senate elected in November of one year
does not take his seat in Congress until
| December Of the following year. In the
case of members of the House, this
leaves them but eleven months before
| they must be up for reelection. 1t has
worked out In hundreds of cases that
newly elected Members of the House.
/ coming to washington for the first time
under such conditions, have to give neaFe
/ " all of their time to the business of
/ politics in order to keep their coveted
| positions. Their strictly congressional
| duties naturally suffer from this neglect,
and the whole country is the loser.
DEFEATED CONGRESSMAN
HOLD SEATS. ~
Another objection often brought for
ward is that members of the House and
| Senate continue to serve for four months
after their defeat at the polls. When I
this is combined with an overturn Of the
party holding the executive power, 1t hal 81
always resulted in the Government being
practically dead until after the inaugu-
ration of the new President and the cons
vention of the new Congress. A case IN
| point has just occurred. While there
was of course, q Republican majority IN
! both branches of the Congress, this ma
! jority was materially increased on both
| sides of the Capitol as a result of the
elections last November. Also. the Dem-
ocratc aspirant for the presidency was
| overwhelmingly defeated.
With this expression Of the VIII OF
| the American people registered, the
waning Wilson administration was forced
to sit and twiddle its thumbs until March
4th. Not until then could the cogs Of
the governmental machinery start again.
A parallel situation developed when
| Woodrow Wilson was first elected. Tha
then President, William Howard Taft.
feeling an obligation not to embarrass.
the man who would succeed him, was
forced to sit with idle hands, despite the
| fact that the Mexican situation was then
an acute matter Of foreign policy.
| The origin of the long wait between
! the election of a President and the time.
of his taking office dates back to the
| beginning of the Nation. After the thir-.
teen original colonies freed themselves
from British rule and formed the United
! States of America, it was found that the
territory of the new Nation was so vast
and conditions of travel so primitive,s
that a considerable time was necessary.
TO travel to the capital from the more
remote regions. For that reason, thu
elaborate system for the election Of the
! President and Vice President was built
up.
! This system. still in operation, pros
vided that electors for President should
be chosen on the first Tuesday after the
first Monday in November at interval6s
of four years. This is still the election
day.
The next step is the meeting Of thea.
electors on the second Monday in January
| following the election. They convene In
! various
people who actually vote for the Presk-
dent and vice president.
ELECTORAL
RED TAPE.
Three reports are made Of the results
Of these meetings Of the electors. From
each State capital, one report is sent to
! the Congress of the United States by
special messenger. A second report Is
forwarded to Congress by mail. The
third report in each case is filed with
the United States District Judge pre-
siding in the various districts in which,
the State capitals lie. The original pur-
pose of this was to insure a record OF
the action of the electors In each being
| preserved. If anything happened to the
/ special messenger from any State, theres
would be the attested record OF the
electors action which would reach Cone
gress by mail. Should both records bss
! lost. the record filed with the districS
| Judge at the State capital would them
be conveyed to Washington as the official
record for that State. s.
DOVEBRAND HAMS