New Britain herald., 1921-12-08
WEEKS DEPLORES
 GOVT. FACTIONS
h End May Split U, s. and
 Hamper Its Efficiency

New York, Dec S---The present system of organization in congress whereby control is divided between numerous committees may if carried to its logical conclusion" divide the United tates into hostile factions or groups" and leave the country pow oress 10 defend or maintain it's in terests. natiopal or internattonah' John ". Weeks, secretary of war said today in an address before the con- yention of the association of life in suranCe presidents,
 Contrasting the present situation with a recent administration charac- teriZed by reference to q big stick he said:
 "It was not many years ago that we heard stories about q big stick which was supposed to be used in driving congress into a state of tractl- bility and force the enactment of laws desired by the executive. The truth, however, is that while the executive was a masterly man of dominating personality and characteristics he was q party man and those In the eXecu- tive branch of the government were equally so. They believed in govern ment should be observed even by those who might doubt the wisdom of the proposed action, The result was that the leaders in the senate and in the house consulted the executive and together they formulated the pol icies to be followed Quite trequehtly' no doubt. the executive in some ln- stances urged, and perhaps imposed his views on the congressional lead- CTS; but invariably these men re- turned to the capitol to carry out me decision reached at the conference, and the members of that party m the senate and house, recognizing the necessity of responsible action, sup norted them in their endeaVorS.
 ""Then came a reform, or 1t was so heralded, in the conduct of the house of representatives The power ot ac- ton, which had largely rested with the speaker and through him with the committee of rules, was taken away and divided among committees The result and l think 1t has been clearly demonstrated-is that IL IS impossible to get the type ot leglsIa- tive action which comes from party regularity and responsibility"
 T can recall" said MT Weeks, Tn the days of so-called Cannonism when MT. Cannon was called q czar, as would have any other man of strength filling the speakers chair under those conditions, that the speaker found ways, perfectly legitimate under the rules, to prevent the enactment Of d vast amount of personal and lrrespon- sible legislation. More than that he had the power, and he used it to pre- vent appropriations intended for To- cal purposes which were not needed and which were not for the general gooC.
 "The slightest examination of the increase in governmental expenditures during the last Is years for the ordl- nary requirements of the government will indicate to what extent this change in the method of legislatlng has affected the treasury
 ITO my mind the change has had tendency to weaken effective gov ernment, has resulted in irresponsible legislation, prevented both parties from carrying out pledges made in their platforms, and in time, will di- vide the legislative branch of the gov ernment into groups, each group championing a special cause, and we will see one group combining with an- other to bring about a control of leg islative action in the interest of par ticular faction,
 While we may not degenerate to level of some countries in this respect, carried to it's logical conclusion, we may eventually find ourselves divided into hostile factions or groups, one class plundered by another, and the country powerless to defend or main- tain it's interests, national or interna- tional."