Evening star., 1922-07-09
CONGRESS SOON TOLOSE
VETERANS TRIED BY TIME
Retirement of Cannon, Fordney and
Others Will Throw Responsibility
Upon Younger Shoulders.

eleven only of the forty-eight states.
and those all south of the Mason and
Dixon line. otherwise the solid
south" Thus the biggest business
In all the world would come under
the management as far as legislation
is concerned, of this less than a
lourth section Of the United States
Replying to this. Representative
John Garner Of Texas. the democratic
whip. points out that now there are
thirty committees which take their
chairmen from only five states.
Both the House and the Senate
have had a disagreeabIe lesson grow
ing out of the seniority rule, putting
men at the top of the heap" not on
account Of exceptional ability, but
largely on account of age. The delay
in passing the tariff bill is attributed
in a large measure to the operation
OF the seniority rule Some republi-
can leaders are outspoken in saying
that for pure tariff making ability
neither Fordney in the House nor Nc
Cumber in the Senate would have
been chosen as chairman
sec SO"e SnWeIcOme
Senate Possibilities.
Take illustrations from the Senate
that are worrying the party leaders.
IL by any chance Senator Lodge
should be defeated for reelection,
with Senator McCumber defeated,
Senator William E. Borah of Idaho
approaches the chairmanship of for
eign affairs. Without any offense. it
may be stated that Borah is radical
in International matters and decid-
edly unacceptable to a large number
OF his colleagues as possible chair
man OF the foreign affairs committee.
Again, Senator Robert NJ. La Fol-
lette, with his economic vagaries,
rides next behind Senator Smoot on
the finance committee. Smoot would
prefer to remain on the appropria-
tions committee, but with McCumber
gone he may be drafted as chairman
of the finance committee. But the
La Toilette menace still worries the
conservatives
So the situation boils down to this:
AS an unwritten rule, the seniority
succession is good thing. and the
seniority rule will not be abolished. =
but it is very probable that in GER
| tain instances there will be a diverg-
ence from the rule. The committee
| on committees will be brave enough
| to displace men who are generally
! recognized as not fitted or adapted for
particular chairnanships. Unless
mans own ability couples up with his
seniority standing there are likely TO
be occasional infractions of the SEMI
! ority rule.
Expect Less Dynamite
In Next Congress.
| The new Congress is likely TO be
| much more tractable than the pres
ent Congress, which represents the
greatest change in personnel of any
| in the history of this country. They
came in on landslide and a great
transition. There We're new men by
the score, younger men, untried in
politics, many of them political acci-
dents, few of them with any very
| strong party Observation-Disclosures
They were mostly on the republican
or majority side. They came here
swelled up with their victory. They
made leadership difficult, and that has
been responsible for much of the re-
publican discord.
In the approaching elections there
| will be a big change. This will bring
lot of other new men in, but in
stead of still further muddling the
situation they will make Congress an
! easier working machine. They will
| come in largely OIL the democratic
/ side. Taking for granted that the
| republicans will be able to maintain
! a majority-reduced but still a ma
jority-these new young men will be
on the minority side. Instead of
coming with a sense of their own i'm
portance and as rulers Of men" with
something TO teach, they will come to
| learn. They will know that they
| have but a very slight chance to put
through their own ideas. They may
come in numbers, but they will not
have the same opportunity to make
trouble.
This is one of the hopeful philoso-
phies about the congressional cam
paign now in progress. There will
not be as much dynamite in the next
Congress.