Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1922-08-18

big pay, bright lights, much society.
1 suppose l used to think so. | had
seen the legislature at work, and nat
urally supposed that such ain impor-
| tant body as the congress would not
work more continuously than does a
state legislature. | had never seen
much of the eastern part Of the coun-
try, and when l came down here ]
found myself planning little weekend
trips to New York, Atlantic City, New
England and nearby places.
But l had another guess coming.
The congress takes mighty few week
end recesses.
In olden times, few years ago In
TACT, the congress was in session, more
DR. less leisurely, for about half the
rear. The members could spend a
congressman are rot so numerous and
where their official title cuts more ice
than it does here In Washington. But
during the past SIX or seven years the
congress has been In almost continu-
Gus session. The war, of course.
brought about the extra long sessions.
The talk here would indicate that for
a long time to come a member will
spend most Of his time in Washington.
The house meets every day at twelve
o'clock noon and continues in session
usually until five or six O'clock at
night. and some times later. 1t meets
usually every day except Sunday. 1t
observes few legal holidays and has
taken only short recess at Chri9tmas
times.
When the house is in session a mem
Der rarely leaves the hill. He may
not sit in the house all the time, but
he sticks around nearby so as to be on
hand if a quorum Is needed or a vote
taken.
He gets his lunch whenever he can
There is a restaurant in the capitol
and In the house Office building, and he
usually eats hurriedly In one of these
when he finds a slack time. Mems
tastes in lunches vary everywhere, but
have observed that members are usu-
ally light eaters at lunch time. The
speaker and several other men of my
acquaintance always take a pint bot
tie of milk and eat 1t in bowl with
crackers or bread. This may be fol
lowed by Ice cream, pie or some sim
pie dessert.
Hard Work in Committees.
If a member had nothing else to do
but to attend sessions of the house and
give some study, thought and consid-
Grafton to the big problems before con
gress he would find himself quite well
occupied But that is only half Of the
work-perhaps not half. Much of the
business of congress is conducted in
committees.
Every bill is first considered In a
committee, and sometimes committee
spends weeks or months holding hear
ings and considering a single bill.
This was true Of the revenue, tariff,
bonus, immigration, educational, pro-
hibition enforcement, appropriation
and other big bills. Some committees
meet every day for weeks at time,
and others at less frequent intervals.
Committees usually meet at ten o'clock
In the morning. Sometimes they go on
working while the house Is in session
and sometimes they meet at night
Some members have very hard COM
mittee work and some are more or less
fortunate, as they choose to look at it.
AS a rule, every committee wants to
consider every bill that can possibly
be referred to it, and almost every
pember is anxious to get on the most
Important and hardest working COM
aittees.
Then there is the Office work. The |
hail brings lots of office work. The |
office and departmental work alone |
would keep a man fairly busy all Of |
the time if he worked union hours.
Much Business With Departments.
The practice has grown up for many I
people to write their congressman
about their business with the various
departments. The Western members
get a great deal more of this class OF
work TO do than do the members from
the East and South. The public lane
tracts furnish much business that
must be looked after at the general
land office. During the week mem
Der is apt to have business before the
Interior department, the forestry serF-
Ice, the pension bureau, the veterans
bureau and the Post Office depart
ment. And he may have an immigra-
tion case before the Labor department,
4 passport case before the Department
II State, some business 10 some bfanei
a the Agriculture department ana a.
most anything ELSE before any other
bureau or department In Washington
A member never considers the cues
ION Of official duty II 10 is something
hnt can properly be- done, and con
fiiueDf haek home wants n Done hf
.0es K.l5 does it And he Is glad % ~
n for d makes bim friend back
lome. Bni u pN ares time aud heigf
l.I.. Zoo. D.. fIIII IIUI