The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1921-07-25

under capable director.
1t would require a senate and house
of supermen to deal intelligently with
all the problems that confront our
legislators, If each legislator were ex-
pected to unearth and master for him.
self and by himself the countless facts
involved. Yet that is what we are
asking Of our senator's and representa-
tiyes. We elect to the senate or the
house a man from some small inland
town, a man Of nominal educational
qualifications, a man who has neither
read nor travelled widely, and straight
way ask him to pass judgment for us
upon the tangled and technical prob
lens of our industrialism, and to aid
in drafting for us q scheme of reia-
lions with the rest of the world which
he has never seen and of which hog
perhaps, knows next to nothing. This
Is not a flippant fling at our represent
tatives. OF almost any American in
their place tho same might be said.
A constantly changing body of elect
ed representatives cannot be. expected
to have universal knowledge at their
finger-t We must put back to the
changing body of representatives. a
constant body of researchers. The re-
searchers will provide the facts and
the representatives will act upon them.
We often wonder why it is that Eng
land comes out of almost every con-
fliot, military or diplomatic, with fly
ing colors. The reason does not lie
primarily with her premiers and cabi-
net members, but with the constant
body of men who give their lives to
the service of the government. Sec
retaries of state for foreign affairs
may come and go in England, but the
foreign office goes on forever. Many
of the brightest and best men from
England's universities are attracted to
permanent government service. These
men become experts in given fields.
When crisis impend in British politics,
the statesmen can always touch the
buzzer and call to his side the scholar
who supplies the facts in the case.
This constant body of informed men is
so vital q factor in British politics
that it is almost true to say that the
elected members of the government
are the ''showmen" of British politics,
while the sustained craftsmanship Is
supplied by the men in the back
ground.
Maybe we shall some day overhaul
our civil service and achieve some
thing of a like result, but in the mean
time our most hopeful opportunity lies
in the development of research COM
mittees within our political parties. In
doing this we should be tearing leaf
from the record of the British labor
party. Its research committee makes
fundamental studies of any and every
question that confronts the govern
ment It's assembled information is at
the disposal of its servants in the
government, and is available when the
party desires to make a statement to
the country. With such committee
in each party, we might in time get
away from the studied inaninities of
our conventional party platforms and
achieve statements that would capture
the imagination of the country and
serve as blue prints of progress.
The party that first develops a, COM
prehensive research department will
gain an untold advantage over the
party that retains the ancient hit-or-
miss relation to facts. Its represen-
tatives In the senate and the house
will, when the system is really in
working order, hold a decided advan-
tage over the representatives of the
opposition. With both parties sup
piled by such a committee of research.
the Congressional Record" might be-
come q document OF compelling inter |
est to the public. 1t may be suggest |
ed that the research committees of
political parties could not be relied
upon for unbiased information, that +,
they would bend facts to the exigen- |
cies of the party politics. If, how |
ever both parties had such commit |
tees, each party would know that the !
with the same facts at |
hand, would be on the alert for mis- |
The system would, in
fact. enforce a refreshing sincerity in |
political discussion.
Under the research director of each |
party there should be numerous sub
directors in charge OF special fields of |
The members of these |
committees should be above the bat |
tie of politics. They should be MEM
bers of a sort of party civil service. |
The rewards of the work should be |
sufficient to attract able men to it
as a life work. Then, maybe, we could |
evolve sustained national policy, |
avoiding the serious losses of our pres
emit SYSTEM of four and eight years
swings Of the partisan pendulum
Editorial in the Century Magazine.