The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1922-08-23
Looking In on Congress From
the House Gallery
By CONGRESSMAN GUY U. HARDY

A CONGRESSMAN'S DAY

Most people think that a congress
man has a soft snap. Little work.
big pay, bright lights. much society.
| suppose / used to think so. l a
seen the legislature at work, and | nat
urally supposed that such an impor-
tant body as the congress would not
work more continuously than does a
state legislature. l. had never e
much of the eastern part of the coun-
try, and when I came down here l
found myself planning little weekend
trips to New York, Atlantic City, New
England and nearby places.
But | had another guess coming
The. congress takes mighty few week
end recesses.
In olden times, a few years ago In
fact, the congress was in session, more
or less leisurely, for o half the
year. The members could spend a
good deal of time back home where
congressman are not so numerous u
where their official title cuts more Ice
than 1t 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,
threw a big burden OF congress n
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 Christmas
times. - -
When the house is in session a men,
Der rarely leaves the hill. He may
not sit in the house all the time, but
he sticks around nearby SOFAS 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
| nave 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 a 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 a 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 a 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 1t.
As a rule, every committee wants to
consider every bill that "a possibly
be referred to 1t, and almost every
member is anxious to get on the most
important and hardest working COM
mittees.
Then there is the Office work. The
mail 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
people to write their congressman
about their business with the various
departments. The Western members
get a great deal more of this class of
NOlk 10 10 lllIl uo Tic IuCiibciS
the East and South. The public land
tracts furnish much business that
must be looked after at the general
land office. During the week a men,
Der Is ap to have business before the
Interior department, the forestry serv-
ice, the pension bureau, h veterans
bureau and the Post Office depart
ment. And he may have an inmigra-
ton case before the Labor department,
q passport case before the Department
OF State. some business in SOM branch
of the Agriculture department. II al
most anything else before any other
bureau or department in Washington.
A member never considers the ques-
ton of official duty. If it is something
that can properly be done, and a con-
stituent back home wants it done, he
goes and does it. And he is glad to do
1t, for it makes him a friend back
home. But 1t all takes time and helps
l. ...Ix- ~. Jar an f,tlI day