The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-05-14

Posting Consressnaen.

The organization to fight the puh |
lies battles was created in Decen
Der, but it Is only now starting m
its real work. So far it has besn
busy planning ways and means /.
is now deciding what measures y
will support or attack during ths
present session OF congress n.
taxation and transportation. ths
two biggest problems, it will nm
doubtedly take stand and otfe,
some assistance.
Besides furnishing material n
congress, the organization viii
make a point of watching pendin.
legislation in order to issue warn
ings against bills that seem unfair
to the people. An example Of this
elias sof legislation is the Joker an
unobtrusive paragraph tina,
changes the effect of an otherwise
innocuous bill. Often a joker Is 60
intricately wOrded that its fun
meaning Is not grasped at all in
=, a casual reading of the bill. Such
a parliamentary stratagem womb
be a bill fixing a wage scale which
raised the previous rates, If tho
bill declared that all previous leg.
islation on the subject was to be-.
come altogether void when the
new law went into effect, some per.
sons receiving more money for a
special reason would lose instead
of gain by the new bill. Such in.
justices have been done through
careless or unintentional arrange.
ment of wording. Even comma
may alter the sense of law.
congressman Need Help,
Many people have the idea tina, It
is only the public that needs to be
warned against dangerous legisla-
ton, that every congressman knows
all the ms and outs of the calling
As a matter of fact, the new con-
gresham, fresh from a lawyers
Office or some other comparatively
ingenious environment, is at a biz
disadvantage in the maze of STRAIT
egg and parliamentary quibbling so
plausibly arranged by experts at
the game. Not even the old-timer
can be always alert to note danger
signals. So a bureau looking for
such things can be of definite value
in pointing them out.
Service of this sort is rendered
in England by similar organiza-
tion maintained by the British
Labor party. This, however, is a
piece of party machinery, whereas
the American prototype numbers
Democratic, Republican and indie
pendent senators and representa-
. tives in it's organization. In this i.
is distinctive.
. The real, significant influence Of
the organization will be its ten.
dency to draw together congress
men of the different parties who are
. efficiently interested in pubilt
! progress sto oppose the reactionar-
les in congress. There are never
; very many of these congressman
Independent enough to brave the
; displeasure of party leaders, and
when they fight singly they are al
an overwhelming disadvantage.
i In the words of Basil Manly
chairman of the Peoples Legisla.
tive Service, the organization is ex
pected to bring together "a grouI
of the zest fighters in the house ant
: senate who will form a 'BattalioI
of Death and stand together IN
: flinchingly and with thorough &C
J cord upon the great measures whicl
affect the public interest. Since tn
breakdown of the group of in
surgents in 1912, there has been n,
| we'll organized teamwork on tn
: progress to oppose the eractionar
: congress except for temporary ALI
E ances on special measures.
: In attempting to form tnis grul
| no account was taken Of numbers
4 but every effort was made to Sc
: cure militant minority VIII
4 would stand together on funda
e mentals"
= The battalion to which Mr.. Mani
/ referred is at present composed 0
$ Senators France, Ladd, Norris
= Walsh and La Toilette, and Repre-
: sentatives Beck, Browne. FreaI
S Keller, Mead, Nelson, Sinclair All
Voigt.