The Cordova daily times., 1923-01-16
TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 1923
LET CONGRESS CONVENE IN MARCH

"A law providing that Congress shall meet annually on the second Monday in March would be very simple,'' suggests the Repub- lican l ublicity Association, through its presi- dent, Hon. Jonathan Bourne, Jr. ''The pro- posed plan to have Congress meet on the first Monday in January and the Presidential in auglraI to be held quadrennially on the third Monday of the same month will create many complications, necessitate considerable amend ing of the Constitution, and many end mo- where H ""r"" @~s '@'|ss s @@4@S4 .s1sSs sess ~ "The Constitution provides that Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by law appoint different day But Representatives hold office for two years from tho fourth of March succeeding their election, Senators are elected for six years, and the President and Vice President are chosen for four years All of this provided for by the Constitutional amendment. The proposed plfjn is for the purpose of insuring change of lcclsative and administrative control from two to two and half months after elections have been held To have the change occur on the second Monday in March would mean a delay in the end sought of but two months at the outside The successful candidates would have about four months to cool off alter a campaign wherein passion and preJudce might have gained ascendency over reason. That IS not too long, and it is a great improvement over the 13 months now required before a new Congress convenes, unless an extra ses- sion is called Therefore the second Monday in March for the annual covening of Congress ought to be the compromise date, as It IS the most reasonable date, and the most simplfled method Of making haste slowly in responding to thc. wishes of the electorate.
 "Thc original provision. when the Constl- tuition was before the Convention. August Eth, 17S7. provided for 'the first Monday in December as the date for the converting of Congress. but Randolph supplied the a1terna- tive, seconded by Madison, and adopted by a vote of to ?. Morris and Madison wanted May inserted instead of December because mcasurcs in Eurone were planned in the winter and we received intelligence for travel Ellsworth thought summer would interfere too much with private business, Randolph thought the times of elections in the States would 'suit better with December than May, and ic was 'advisabe to render our innova-
  was lost by 8 to 2.
 'Improved transportation and methods of communication of which the Constitutona7 Fati CTS never dreamed, make their discussion of t3le subject then seem amusing today But their consideration of large Constitutions questions suffers not bit by comparison with some hear today-more frequently the logic of the framers makes the apostles of the New Freedom sound like something out of Bedlam. They had the foresight to make it possible to change the date of the meeting of Congress. They said nothing about chang ing the date of the inauguration of the Presi- dent The probabilities that change to March for Congress would meet with their approval today, and we should still stick to their idea of rendering 'our innovations as little incommodious as possible.'' '