The call of the North. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1923-1924, 1924-01-09
Department of Publication and Ed
ucation)

Department OF Publlcatlon anu Eu-
ucation)
WASHINGTON, D. c., Dec. 2S.-
The present Congress, which has not
vet gotten down to real business, was
elected by the people a year ago last
November. Some fourteen months
have passed since the election and
business in the two Houses of Con-
gress is just getting under way. In
fact, the Senate is not yet fully or
ganized.
This state of affairs, of course,
brings up the question of who is to
be the new chairman of the Senate
committee on interstate commerce.
The people are asking the question:
Will he be a Progressive or will the
Senate insurgents go over to the
Democrats and select a chairman
from the minority side of the cham
ber? Or will the Republicans give
in and elect Senator LaFollette of
Wisconsin, who is the ranking men,
ber of the majority party on that
committee? Or again let US sup
pose: Are we likely to have COM
promise candidate chosen?
In other words, what is to be the
outcome of the stubborn fight that
has been going on in the Senate since
Congress met on December 3 over
the selection of a chairman of the
committee that has to do with the
railroad legislation of the counry?
Action Called Horse Play
Senator Jim Reed Of Missouri,
says this is all horse play, childish
maneuvers, this fight going on for
weeks and weeks over one chairman
ship. He advocates the committee
going ahead without a chairman,
saying that it does not make any diff
ference to the country who happens
to sit at the head of the committee
table and who sits at the sides of the
table.
On the other hand, Senator
Wheeler, the new Democratic sena-
tor from Montana, says the people
of his state and other middle West
states, and especially the far North
western states, made the railroad
legislation of the last enactment a
campaign issue and fought out the
campaign on those lines. He says
the members of the Senate are fight
ing for a principle involved, a live
issue, if you please, and declares it
is not a child's play by any means.
Senator Wheeler points to the fact
that every candidate who advocated
the retention of the Esch-Cummins
transportation law was defeated at
the polls in the last election and that
every candidate for the Senate who
advocated a repeal or a change in
the railroad legislation was elected.
He is of the opinion that the coun-
try is watching this fight over this
important craftsmanship and that it
is most important scrap from every
standpoint.
The Senate, therefore, can be said
to have done practically nothing up
to this time except to have agreed
upon other committees for the work
that is ahead. Everything is yet to
be done.
Rules Fight in the House
Over in the House end of the Capt.
tol things are not much better and
there is another fight on the rules
yet to come or is likely to happen.
It will be recalled that when the
House met early in December there
arose a deadlock situation over the
election of a speaker because of the
demand that was made for recogni-
tion by the Progressives in that body.
Roll calls ensued for three days and
finally truce was patched up by
which Speaker Gillett was chosen
and the House organized temporarily
for period of thirty days. This pro-
bationary period will expire about
the middle Of January and there may
be another spectacular scrap over the
rules that are to govern the House
during the sixty-eighth Congress.
The Republicans made concessions
to the Progressive bunch and gave
the latter place on the all-impor-
tant rules committee by placing Rep
resentative Nelson of Wisconsin,
insurgent leader, on the committee
and then things began to run
smoothly for short time. just what
will be demanded by the Progress
sives when the big fight comes up in