The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-09-08

Washington, D. c., Sept. els a
| congressman legislator, or is ne
an errand boy, political agent.
sight seeing guide, employment
bur eau, and general adviser of the
! poor and needy.
| If.it be conceded that he is in a
part a maker of laws, then how
many laws at one time Is he sup
| posed to be able to consider and
understand, and from how many
p, different points of view is he sup
posed to be able to consider and I'M
derstand them?
These are questions that a good
many congressman are asking
themselves. The number of things
that a congressman is nowadays
called upon to do, besides attend
ing to legislation, is enough to
appall any strong man. Besides
that, consider the number of laws
to which he is expected to devote
his attention. The popular theory
of government in this country is
that if there is anything the matter
with anything or anybody, the
remedy is to pass a law about ii.
We have piled up a mountain of
laws, and each year the mountain
grows more than 1t grew the year
before. The faster it grows the less
consideration does each of the laws
get. The legislators who are sup
posed to be carefully considering
these laws never heard OF most of
them
Whittier does this process lead?
In devising the American govern
ment, it is highly probable that the
fathers of the country had no idea
of the way in which the functions
of some of the officers of the gov
eminent would be expanded and de-
graded. They had the idea in their
innocent bewigged heads that con-
gress would meet once every year,
each second session being a short
one, and that each congressman and
senator would devote himself to
making laws. Some cynical pres |
ent-day members OF congress sug-
gest that these wise old statesmen !
intended that congress should meet !
to prevent laws from being enacted !
at least too many of them. IL
this was their purpose, their sue /
cessors in the halls of the national
legislature have failed miserably. |
As Once 1t Was.
Rs A senator or a representative was
intended in the original plan to be
a dignifled gentleman who would
come to Washington to deliberate
over the state of the union, and
after sage consultation with his
colleages, enact a few mastery
statutes which would lay the
foundation for continuing the
peace, progress and prosperity of
the nation Naturally, the halls of
congress would be the outlet for
more or less oratory by gentle
men who felt an irrepressible urge
in this direction. This was ex-
pected, tolerated, and, if it was
really good, applauded and widely
quoted throughout the then narrow
of the new nation.
From the very beginning the
scope of the duties falling upon the
shoulders of those making up the !
american congress, particularly the I
lower branch, has incre sed stead
lily. The constituents making up so !
many districts have fallen into
the habit of using their representa-
lives in Washington for every err 4;
rand and favor they can think I'D to
ask him. The volume of law enact ,
nent takes SO much time and has 4
grown to such proportions, too,
hat rarely indeed can a member |
ind time to devote to any private
business or enterprise. The long I
Adjournment of congress from
March until the first Monday in i
December is an almost forgotten 7
hing. In the rush of present day /
affairs for many years past it I
las almost always been necessary I
or the president to assemble the {
congress in extraordinary session |
o take up urgent matters which ]
would not wait. In the midst OF t
MS rush, the members of the house 6
lave TO keep in touch with affairs c
n their home districts in order I
hat they may keep their Jobs. as f
lection day for them comes every v
wo years. +
Particularly at this time. with i
he inauguration of a Republican a
egime after eight years OF Demo b
ratio administration, there is s
errlf1c amount of additional pres r
ure on every member of congress. d
usually always life Il
org Republicans" are seeking to .
islodge the Democrats holding n
governmental Offices and take the b
position themselves. The Jobs for e
he most part are in the hands of a
he executive departments, there O