Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-05-17
Waste of
Congressional Time
BY Frederic j. Haskin

i Washington, May I7.--The old evii of
| permitting defeated members OF Com
| 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 discus
| sion In Congress. Ordinarily, this dis
cussion IS revived every two years. dur
| ing the prediction campaigning The
| fact that 1t is now under discussion at
the beginning of new administration,
is taken as an indication that there is
a better chance than ever before of
changing the existing law. and remedy
/ ing the difficulty.
Another thing which is condemned
almost unanimously by public men, but
/ which has never been changed, is that
q newly-elected President does not take
| ofiice 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.
| Therefore. despite the greater impor-
tance OF the Presidential position, the
situation as 1t affects Congress is gen
orally regarded by members of that
] body as in mere vital need of remedy
/ by legislation.
There is a widespread belief that an
amendment 10 the Constitution would
4
] date of Congress. This is not So and
is proved by the simple words of the
Constitution itself. The second para
| graph of section 4, article /. provides:
The Congress shall assemble at least
once IN every year, and such meeting
| shall be on the first Monday in Deem
bet. unless they shall by law, appoint
a different day"
/ They" refers TO the members OF
| Congress. 1t is generally conceded that
the meeting date OF Congress can. by
| authority of this section of the Consti-
tuition, be changed to any time the ma
Jority of its members may select, il
the President approves of the change.
One of the greatest objections to the
present system is that under ordinary
conditions, 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 10 Washington for the first
| time under such conditions. have to
give nearly 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 coun-
Try is the loser.
/ Defeated Congressmen Hold Seats.
Another objection often brought for
ward Is that members Of the House and
| SeTate continue to serve for four
months after their defeat at the polls
When this is combined with an over
turn of the party holding the executive
i power. il has always resulted in the
| government being practically dead until
after the Inauguration or the new PresI-
/ dent and the convention of the new
Congress. A case in point has just oc-
CURED. While there was, of course, a
Republican majority in both branches
OF the Congress. this majority was ma
! terially increased on both sides of the
Capitol as a result of the elections last
November. Also, the Democratic as
Pirant for the Presidency was over
whelmingly 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 fourth. Not until then
could the cogs of The governmental ma
chinery start again. A parallel situa-
ton developed when Woodrow Wilson
was first elected. The then President.
William Howard Taft, feeling an obli-
cation not 70 ernbarrass the man who
would succeed him. was forced to sit
with idle hands. despite the fact that
| the Mexican situation was then an
E'acute matter of foreign policy.
The origin of the long wait between
the election of President and the time
OF his taking Office dates back to the
beginning Of the nation. After the Is
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 primi-
tive, that a considerable time was ne
cessary TO travel to the Capital from
the more remote regions For that
reason, the elaborate system for the
election of the President and Vice.
President was built up.
This system, still in operation. provid-
ed that electors for President should be
chosen on the first Tuesday after the
first Monday in November at intervals
Of four years. This is still the election
day.
The next step is the meeting of the
electors on the second Monday in Janu-
ary following the election. They con-
yene in the various State capitals.
These are the people who actually vote
for the President and Vice-PresidenI.
The Original System.
Three reports are made of the re-
suits 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 bv |
mail. The third report in each case is /
fled with the United States district
judge presiding in the various dis /
tricts in which the State capitals lie. |
The original purpose of this was to in
sure q record of the action of the elect /
ors in each State being preserved IL
anything happened to the special mes
senger from any State, there would be
the attested record of the electors, ac-
ton which would reach Congress bv
mail. Should both records be lost. the
record filed with the district Judge at
the State capital would then ba eon
veyed to Washington as the official
record for that State
The reason for building up this