Bonners Ferry herald. [volume] (Bonners Ferry, Idaho) 1904-current, 1922-12-07

LIBERALS IN SENATE WISH TO
ABANDON 1T AS REGARDS
THE cHAIRMANSHiPs.
SUGGESTED BY MCCORMICK
Unless Rule Is Altered, Conservatives
viii Be at Head of Most Of the
Committees of Upper House Next
Year.
BY EDWARD q. CLARK


Washington.-In the upper house
hereafter it Is possible a senator may
be given an important committee chair
manship even though by the old rule
OF seniority he has no right" to It,
IL this plan is adopted it will rev.
olutionize things In the United States
senate, body in which revolutions
are not Of frequent occurrence. There
have been changes and changes In
the world, but the senate virtually
has remained unchanged.
Prior to this time the press has dis
cussed literally the vacancies In the
committee chaIrmanships in the SEN
ate and the question of the men who
1t was supposed in all probability
would be named to the succession,
but now has come proposal emanat-
ing from Senator Medll Mccormick
of Illinois that the seniority rule, so
far as chairmanships are concerned,
shall be abandoned and that senators
shall be picked for the chief places
presumably in accordance with their
ability to fill them.
Washington is talking about this
thing to the exclusion of some other
things seemingly of more Importance.
The reason for the interest is that
great many persons believe the at
tempt to change the senate order is
not based so much on a desire that
ability shall get the seats Of the chair
men as that the representatives of
certain policies, call them fractional pol
icies if you want to, shall get them.
Liberals Want chalrmanships.
The proposal of Senator Mccormick
was made in letter TO Senator Henry
Cabot Lodge, the Republican party's
leader in the upper house. In the
main the succession to certain chair
manships in the senate will go in the
new congress, IL the seniority rule
prevails, to men who are known as
rather of the conservative type, men
who are party men, and In a general
way administration policy men.
If the seniority rule shall be aban-
doned some of the chaIrmanshlps prob
ably will go to men whose whole trend
of economic thought and perhaps pOliti-
cal thought is away from that of the
senators who would benefit by the
seniority procedure.
1t seems likely that In the senate
after March A next the so-colled con-
servatives of the Republican party
will control the majority of the ma
jority party, but this does not mean
at all that they can control the SEN
ate. There are men who call them
selves liberals and who are not even
averse occasionally to being called rad
icals who hold places in the senate
not only as representatives of Re
publlcanism, but as representatives Of
Democracy. A Democratic and Re
publican combination of the represent
tatives of this school of thought might
be able to control action In the upper
house.
1t is perfectly conceivable that if
the seniority rule shall be abrogated
there will be chairmen Of committees
in the senate who are not at all Ia
sympathy with the policies of the adj
minlstration. This would mean that
the Republican majority in the upper
house would have difficulty in putting
through the administration policies. 1t
is possible on most occasions for the
leader of the majority party In the
senate TO bring his party men into line
for policies Endorsed by the party's
platform at the national convention,
but In the next senate of the United
States there will be such a strong op-
position to some Of the policies OF the
administration that II seems likely the
Republican leaders may have trouble
in keeping the party members In line.
Change Will Be Strongly Opposed.
1t can be taken for granted that
there will be hard fight In the senate
to prevent change In the rules so that
men who expect to be promoted to
chairmanships will be deprived Of
what they consider to be their rights
In the case. There will be Democratic
opposition to the change just as there
will be Republican opposition. Nat
uralIy, minority party looks forward
to the day when the control of the
senate shall pass into its hands. There
are Democrats In the upper house who
hold leading places In the minority
membership of the important commit
tees and, of course, these men with an
eve to the future do not care to have
things so changed that they are likely
one day to lose their promotions.
OF course, if the senate later should
become Democratic the majority can
adopt such rules as it chooses and any
change in the seniority plan made by
the present majority could be re-
changed, but it always must be re-
membered that there are a good many
Democrats. as there are good many
Republicans. who would like to have
the seniority rule done away. with.
and therefore it might seem that II
the proposed change is made il is like
ly TO stand for good many years.
The senate. so to speak. ''iives tradi.