The Washington herald., 1921-02-11
WOULD ENLARGE SENATE


To the Editor, The washlngtO1 HerIn;
As the House has decided 10 "a
tain it's present membership Of taK
why not increase the membership of
the Senate?
There will be some who sooF ~
this novel proposition, but tber. 4,
more merit In the suggestion than
appears on the surface.
No one will deny that the press,,
House membership is large enough
The fact Is the House has 50 Isrr.
a membership now that any on.
member has become q mere coz IN
a vast legislative machine. which
takes little count Of the individual
unless the member be chairman Of
a committee, or Is a member Of tho
Republican steering committee that
conducts the business OF the Houss
The House membership, in the opin-
ion OF many, could be safely reducsd
to about 800 without the Interests Of
the people OF the country suffering
in the slightest. Some I,epresents-
tives who voted 70 retain the pres
ent membership are even now OF
that opinion, and sorry that the
House membership was not reduced
If they could have stayed In Con
gress under such a reduction.
On the other hand. manv believe
that the Senate could be Increased
in size with great advantage 10 the
country. Two Senators, represent
ing one sovereign State are be
lieved by many 70 be too small a
number to really look out for all tho
interests Of a State in the National
Legislature. Then. too, Il often
happens that one Senator iE absent
or sick, and when this occurs the
other Senator has thrust on him the
whole legislative burdens which
were shared by his colleague.
Another argument for an increase
is found in the fact that States. tr-
respective OF size or importance.
are equally represented in the SEN
ate. Little States like Idaho. New
Mexico, Delaware, Wyoming, Ne
vsds, New Hampshire, Utah and
Vermont, all with less than 500. 900
inhabitants smaller than the Dis
trict Of Columbia are allowed two
| senators. and so are States like New
| York and Pennsylvania, with I'M
| me nse populations and which states
arc. in fact. real empires in wealth
| and population. This. 10 many. does
not seem like an equitable distribU-
| ton OF the legislative power OF the
people in the Senate. some, there
/ fore, believe that the Senate repre-
| sentztion should be arranged on the
same basis as the House member
| ship-popUlstion slone-bUt neces-
| sarily under a larger spportionment
than for a House member
An arrangement OF this kind
might give great and populous
States like Indiana and Ohio a mum
Der OF Senators. and little States
| like Rhole Island one Senator The
! little States would certainly tight
such an arran &c ment tooth and nail,
| but who could say that such an ar
rangement would not be fair 10
every State, II it is fair 10 al states
in the House representation
Eeapportionmen OF tho Senate
| representation could not Do s.gou-
| plished except by a constitutional
amendment. for the Corv't'uriOn
provides that each state shall have
two Senator's in ConEress-no move
or less. 1t would be a Tremendous
job to get three -fou-rhs Of The
| States to rstify an amendment n
| that kind because the little states
that would lose one Senator would
refuse TO ratify- This however,
could be Circumven,ed by leaving
two Senators to the little States and
Increasing in proportion TO populs-
tion the number OF Senators m the
larger States II is believed that
such an amendment nigh have =
chance or being ratified Certainly
II seems TO many II the SeUa's were
larger il would be more useful 10
u . = q
the individual Senator would ~
shOrn OF much OF the power Dc now
possesses over nstIora' legislation
u~TN-ErT Lrr n TaNrr-