The Washington times., 1923-04-04
OPEN AVENUES
IN CONGRESS
IS GOAL
Congressman Nelson Declares
Progressives Also Seek
Fair committees.s
BY CONGRESSMAN JOHN nj.
NELSON OF WISCONSIN,

BY CONGRESSMAN JOHN M.
! NELSON OF WISCONSIN,
Leader of the Republican Progress
sives in the House of Rep
resentatives.
written for international News Service.
Fair committees and open ave-
nues for legislation.
These are the first detectives
of the Republican Progressives in
the Sixty-eighth Congress, con-
vening in December. They real
| ize very well that if they lose
the preliminary battle for fair
committees and open avenues for
legislation, they enter the Sixty
eighth Congress without hope Of
being able to present to the
country a constructive output of
laws.
Test in Organization.
Thus over the organization OF
the House and Senate and not over
immediate issues, will come the
first test OF strength between the
old guard, which has corralled the
President and the progressives.
In the House the fight will
start over the Republican floor
leadtr and the makeup Of the more
important committees. The speak
ership Is side issue. The real
issue will be whether the Republi-
lca,I floor leader and the more
important committees shall be con-
stituted to serve the people or the
special interests.
The two regular Republican
candidates in the race for floor
leader-Whicf practically means
floor dictator and a legislative posi-
ton which has grown to be more
important than the speakership
are William J. Graham of Illinois
and Nicholas Longworth OF Ohio.
The latter is the most conservative
of the two.
Ruled With Iron Hand.
The Republican floor leader is
head of the legislative steering
committee and usually dominates
the committee on rules. In the
last Congress he determined the
course of legislation in the Housce
with an iron hand. The floor
leader in the next Congress must
be q hide-bound conservative.
But more important than who
IL leader. is the makeup of the
powerful committees. The person
mel on these cors1n1ittees must not
be rock-ribbed re.actionaries. The
committee must be representative
and fair. We did not have fair
ones in the last Congress. The
chairman and the membership Of
the committee on finance in the
Senate and Of the Ways and Means
committee in the House, having
jurisdiction Of taxes and tariff
have always been carefully ar
ranged by the powers that prey.
MilliOnaires Had Majority.
The Ways and Means committee
had on it in the last House
majority OF millionaires, two Of
them being from Massachusetts
| and three from New York. And
now that the progressives, under
the old seniority rule. are advanc.
ing to the craftsmanship Of the SEN
ate Finance committee, a place Of
create power, heretofore held by
such servants of plutocracy as
Penrose and Aldrich, a cry has
gone up from the conservatives
to change the seniority rule. The
special interests understand the
power of hand-picked committees
to do their will.
The committees in the next Con-
gress must not be stacked They
were stacked in the last one. /
only need mention the Ways and
Means committee and the Inter.
state and Foreign Commerce COM
mittee. on which progressive Re
puolicans and Democrats were de.
c1dedly in the minority.
When committees are thus stack.
ed progressive legislation is spiked
at its source.
Therefore, progressivesr in the
Sixty-efghth Congress will insist
on careful inspection of the work
OF the Committee on Committees. If
stacked committees are to be trot-
tea out again to do the bidding of
speclal interests then the fireworks
Dy the progressives will start,
AT the next Congress we can in
| sist at the start that needed rules
be considered by the whole House,
| that stacked committees be eIimin-
| ated and that any matter shall be
| brought into open discussion when
desired by majority of the House,
no matter what any one commit
| tee may wish or decide.
A revision of the House rules
will be led by Congressman HamiI.
ton Fish of New York His father
was a leader in a similar fight ten
years ago. Progressive Republicans
will support this campaign, SO that
legislative matters of utmost i'm.
portance to the whole people cam
not be sidertacked or frustrated by
the adroit use of rules, as in the
last Congress.
We are going to force open ave.
nues for proper and needed Pro.
gressiVe legislation.
The last Congress was dominated
by the special interests and the at.
tempt by Nicholas Longworth to
organize the next Congress before
adjournment of the Sixty-seventh
Congress shows the trend of con-
sentative thought. The conserVa.
t tives wanted to out-maneuVer the
| progressives again. But the old
/ guards game is up.
NOTE-The final article Of this
series will be published Thursday.