Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-10-19
THE SENATE
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

The Senate Of the United States,
called by George Washington "the
saucer in which the tea of the House
brew is cooled" is a legislative body
differing In many respects from any
other in the world. BY many IT is re-
garded as the most powerful factor in
the American governmental machine.
There are things which the President
and the Senate may do without the as
sent OF the House Of Representatives,
and things which the House and the
Senate may do without the assent OF
the President, yet the President and
the House can do comparatively little
without the assent Of the Senate.
The Senate is vested with a measure
Of all the three powers of the Federal
Observation-Disclosures executive and
judicial 1t exercises legislative power
as one Of the branches of Congress and
its concurrence is necessary to the per-
lection of all kinds of legislation. 1t
exercises executive power under the
constitutional mandate requiring it's ad :
vice and consent to make effective the
nominations of the Federal officers by
the President, and through the constitu-
tional requirement that no treaty shall
become effective except 1t be ratified by
a two-thirds vote of the Senate. The
judicial power Of the Senate arises from
it's constitutional authority to sit as a
court of impeachment when Federal Of
ficers are tried for high crimes and
misdemeanors.'
In the House a member may ask leave
to extend his remarks in the Congress
sional Record and then may have print
ed there a speech not a word of which
was delivered on the floor. He may
even go as far as to place in his printed
A,,A Ii: to- I4A t~vS
such as Applause prolonged ap-
and other little phrases wherever he
thinks they ought to 30. 1t is true that
only few members carry the matter
thus far. But in the Senate the prac-
tice Of extending remarks in the Record
is never resorted to, and the practice OF
inserting such interpretations as those
cited Is unheard Of.
A School for Predicate.
In view OF the prestige and politi-
cal power of it's members it might be
expected that the Senate would be in
effect a training school for Presi-
dents, and so it has proved in a num-
Der of instances. Ten of the men
who have occupied the White House
served in tho upper branch of Con-
eress. They were Monroe. John
Quincy Adams, Van Buren,, jackson.
johnson, both tho Harrisons, Tyler.
pierce and Harding. Garfield had
been elected to the Senate when he
was nominated and elected to the
presidency, but he had not taken his
seat. Senators have been recognized
leaders in national affairs. and have
welded q powerful influence in the
political parties with which they af-
Inflated. In almost every national
campaign at least ono Of their num-
Der has been an active candidate for
presidential honors. and it Is perhaps
surprising that more OF them have
not been successful. Warren G. Hard
ing had the distinction of being the
only man elected President while he
was serving in the Senate.
The principle that every Senator is
entitled to speak as long as he de-
sires, and that no motion can take
away from him the right to the moor
until he is ready to yield 1t, has pro-
duced the unique senatorial hlibuster.
In one Of the long discoursee Senator
Sheppard Of Texas read 3 review of
the work Of the League Of Nations.
continuing hours and 80 minutes In
the delivery Of tho speech, and in