The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-07-22
Frederic Haskin's Letter
Does Congress Talk Too Much?

I Washington. d. c., July 21--It has
| been suggested. perhaps not Alto
gether as joke. that Genera
Dawes might tackle congress In his
dollar saving campaign, and thai
he might use his influence particu,
larly to ,prune the Congressionei
Re cord.
BY persuading congress to econ
omize on anecdotes and allusions 70
this great and noble republic .ie
/ general might be able 10 cut down
| the $1,000 words which daily are
immortalised in the pages OF the
Record and dispatched to a waiting
| world Or, he might be able 70
stanch the steady flow OF extended
remarks which regularly consume
| some pages of the congressional
news sheet.
These arc radical departures to
suggest, but General Dawes seems
TO be able to produce radical
changes, and with minimum OF
effort. No one seems to know If
he has turned his attention to the
reckless use of words in congress,
but some seem to think it quite pos
sible that the general will get 10
congress in time, in his search FOR
superfiuous expenditures.
| Already, officials in government
! al departments have been deprived
of cherished prerogative-thato Of
selecting the style and make of fur
! niture most in keeping with their
personality and rank. Henceforth,
says Director Dawes, briefly, gov
eminent office furniture will be of
standard type. How many lay
ers of red tape the general cut
| through to make this ultimatum
possible no one has stopped to fig
Ure out. But the incident shows
that the budget is being reduced
without ceremony and in places
| where it was supposed to be invul-
| Eerable. Hence the remarks that
have been heard regarding congress
sional oratory and the record there
of.
Once Written by Hand.
The Congressional Record started
out in 1872 to be an accurate jour
nal of the proceedings of congress
each day. Before that, a hand writ
ten account had been kept by a
secretary, and for u while a pri-
vate newspaper had contracted 10
publish the proceedings for $3.50 a
column.
One congressman in an early ses-
sion overcame a feeble sentiment
III favor of a congressional publiCa-
ton by showing that every COT
gresham would want .not less than
four copies and that the resultant
expense would be so exorbitant
that the republic would not stand
for the extravaganza. II that thrifty
statesman would have looked for
ward to a time when every sena-
tor would have SO copies of the Rec
ord, and every representative so, to
distribute, he might have prophesied
the financial ruin of the country.
The Record has become an en-
tirely different publication from the
one planned by its founders. 1t
is as much of record Of what con-
gressmen would like to say on the
floor as of their real speeches. In
the senate, 4 member can talk at
length without interruption and
there are less than a hundred men
to want the floor. But in the house
every minute of time must be par
celed out, and the uninfiuential
member or the new one finds weeks
passing without his voice being
heard in the halls of congress.
Chairmen allot time to certain
members OF their committees TO
discuss the bills that have been
considered in committee meetings.
The time assigned is generally brief,
but with 435 representatives, the
amateur congressman finds small
chance to get into the spotlight.