Evening star., 1922-07-20
Power of Individual Senators
Enhanced by the Senate Rules

/, any measure. as long es the minority
insisted upon keeping IL up. only oy
physical exhaustion would 1t be pos
sible to wear the opposition down anu
force vote.
Senatorial courtesy, so-called, oper-
ates in favor Of the individual sena,
tor. There Is an unwritten law tnat
| If senator declares q nominee TOT
federal office in his own state to pc
l"personally obnoxious" to him the
Senate will sustain the senator ana
turn down the nomination. haIey
has the practice been violated. II 10
invoked by senators here and there III
every Congress.
A senator gives notice" several
days in advance that he proposes 10
discuss certain subject after tne
close Of the morning hour" on a Ger
tain day. and after that notice mas
been given it Is almost certain tha'
the senator will speak, and at wnat
ever length he may desire. no matter
how pressing the other business De-
fore the Senate may be.
! Another practice in the Senate
, which gives to the individual senator
the power of absenting himself from
,, the Senate and from Washington
! practically as he desires is pairing.
A senator on the republican side OF
the chamber has general pair
F, with a senator on the democratic
. side, which means that il one or the
! other is absent the senator who may
1 be present refrans from casting ms
! vote. unless he happens to nave oeen
, informed that his pair wouid Vote
| the same way he desires to vote !.
! is a practice that has been cr1ticlzeu
' II h1- a
! ers in the Senate who desire TO get
business done. There is an old RUE
/, of the Senate which provides that any
senator who absents himself from
/ the Senatt- ur'ess for Illness of r'"1-
! self or a member of his family with
out the consent Of the Senate. shall
be docked his pay while absent. But.
needless to say. this rule has not
been enforced in the Senate.
| Long. drawnout debates in the SEN
| ate, such as that on the pending
| tariff bill accentuate the need for
a change. make many of the senator's
/ impatient of the fact that the major
/ ity cannot rule-at least in reason
able length of time. The present de-
bate has led to the proposal for
propriation bills. IL not on other
, measures. on the ground that the
government must have funds and
must be able to expend them If 1t
! is to continue. AS matter of fact,
revenue bills and appropriation bills
occupy q great deal of the time Of
the Senate, first and last.
Il r
| If majority cloture should be
/ adopted in the Senate undoubtedly
the effect would be to shorten the
sessions very greatly or to make it
, possible for Congress to get through
great deal more work in the time
il now spends in Washington.
Another factor that is conducive
To long. drawnout sessions is the fact
that senators and representatives are
paid salaries of $500 each. Not n
princely sum, perhaps, but the salary
of a federal district Judge. for in
stance, or of an assistant secretary
in one of the executive departments.
1t is a living wage. Being mem
Der of Congress has become regu-
lar job. If smaller salaries were
paid members OF Congress would
, have to spend much of their time at
home working at law. or some form
OF business to enable them 10 live
as members of narlia I'M mant. for in
stance. are compelled to live in Eng
land II is conceive BILE. too, that if
the salaries were smaller some Of
the members of Congress would not
be so anxious to hang on to their
seats. This in turn might make them
little more independent in their
voting on measures which come be-