The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1922-12-28
Looking In on Congress From
the House Gallery
THE STORY OF A BILL
By CONGRESSMAN GUY u. HARDY
Copyright. 1922. Western Newspaper Union.

Most people think that a congress
man has a soft snap. Little work,
big pay, bright lights. much society,
/ suppose l used to think so. l had
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 q
state legislature. l had never seen
much Of the eastern part Of the coun-
try, and when l 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 abult half the
year. The members could spend a
good deal of time back home where
congressman are not so numerous and
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 on congress and
brought about the extra long sessions.
The talk here would indicate that for
q 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 Mt
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 so as to be on
hand II 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
I have 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 II 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.
II 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-
lhibition enforcement, appropriation
anu OtiCA VIZ OAilS. 0OIlC COLuillittOCS
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 60 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.
Az q rule. every committee wants to
consider every bill that can 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
ONCE and departmental work alone
would keep q man fairly busy all of
the time II he worked union hours.
Mich 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 I great deaa more Of thls class o.