Evening star., 1922-12-08

as" practical' the Pennsylvania
senator s.n,at Or declared much Of the un-
ave was due to widespread ignorance
among critics respecting what the
senate Is and what it does"
me senate as a body has two func-
uohs' he continued. at Is the up
Per chamber Of the legislative body
sadors from sovereign states. In the
former capacity 1t unites with the
mouse IN enacting appropriation bills
revenue bills and miscellaneous leg
lsiasion. In the latter capacity, it
confirms or rejects nominations made
by the President and it ratifies or re-
Jects treaties which he has negotiated.
Conference Of Ambassadors,
Many of the Senate usages con-
oemned as wasteful are characteristic
Of conferences between ambassadors.
IN the early days. when the federal
tie was slender. 1t would i'll become
the ambassador from New York to tell
the ambassador from Virginia he was
not speaking to the point: or a ma
!ority of ambassadors to insist that
the minority were talking too long
ana must stop. On the other hand. it
IS hard to justify the extension of
tnese principles to ordinary legisla-
tive business. A question of practical
citizenship Is whether Senate rules
should be so amended in their appli-
cation to purely legislative business
as 10 conf1ne speaker to the pending
question and to prevent such unlim-
lted debate as may enable a minority
TO prevent the majority from function
ing.
Il call this practical question, and
It Is; But in pondering over it bear
ton. namely. that these changes in
usage cannot come without changing
the Senate rules. and that it is en-
tirely feasible to filibuster against a
change in the rules and SO prevent
any change whatever from being
Easy Chair Life Hit.
Senator Pepper urged the life in
surance presidents to leave "the easy
the decadence of the Senate" and go
ito the primary in order to exercise an
effective influence in selecting sena-
torial candidates"
ITO the world at large the United
States has long appeared the most
wasteful nation on earth" asserted
Lewis E. Pierson. president of the Mer-
chants Association Of New York
Supporting his statement with sta
tistics gathered by the Hoover com
that annual loss through waste in
five leading industries In this country
reached a total of approximately
$1.405 100000. Another $500, ,oO0. 900
was lost annually by American in
vestors in bucket shops and fraudu-
lent stocks.
Spiritual Wealth Lost.
IncaTculable waste is sustained in
mental and spiritual wealth. Mr..
Pferson said. explaining: 1T is waste
to school our children in the doctrine
of free government and at the same
time fill our public prints with arti-
cles based on insufficient facts and at
tacks that undermine confidence in
our institutions"
The Hoover committee. he continued.
traced most industrial waste to poor
management. and he asserted that the
country's executives should be the
first to set an example in putting a
ban on governmental extravaganza
Comparing forms of government
Justice William r. Riddell of the su-
preme court Of Ontario. asserted that
Canada's was more representative
than that Of the United States. since
in Canada the ministry Is responsible
to the people and removable at the
will of the majority.
so Canadians are natural-born
kickers." Justice Riddell said. God
help the nation whose people see a
verboten' sign and obey it. You
know what happened to the nation
where the people did"