Evening star., 1926-10-31
Capital Sideligghts

eStlQg To look p1Ck over the Sl1ctSLl
of 1877 years since the First Congress
met in New York in 1889. 1t will
be remembered that there were then
13 States. which made 26 members OF
the Senate. where today we have SO;
and the House membership was by
constitutional apportionment-65 in
all, where we now have 435. At that
time Virginia had the largest dele
cation in the House-10 members
while Massachusetts and Pennsyl-
vania ranked next with s members
each; today New York has the largest
delegation, 43 Representatives, and
Pennsylvania Sc, while Virginia, after
climbing up to % Representatives,
following the census of 1920, dropped
back to her original 10.
Although it was the duty of that
First Congress to put in motion the
machinery of the new Government by
declaring who had been elected to
the offices Of President and Vice Pres
ident, and by enacting fundamentally
necessary laws, House quorum was
not secured until April l and a Senate
quorum five days later. and then only
as the result of most urgent appeals
to the patriotism Of the members
elect. Such delays and apathy were
manifested as to make people fearful
that the great experiment projected
by the Constitution might prove a
failure at the very outset.
Messengers were then dispatched to
notify Gen. Washington and Mr..
Adams that they had been chosen for
the highest offices, but it was not for
many days that the commissions could
be delivered to them at their homes,
nd
Mass, so that the President was not
inaugurated until April 80.
The meeting place of that First
Congress in New York was designated
as the Federal Hall. and was made
handsome and convenient for the use
Of Congress by the French engineer
and architect, Maj. Pierre Charles
L'Enfant, a soldier of the Revolution,
whose fame will always endure be-
cause he planned the National Cap
ital.
Looking back into the past, we find
that when the Government was first
put in operation it was the House,
and not the Senate. that predominant
ly held public attention-just as in
recent years, and particularly in the
first session Of the present Congress,
because it is kept closer to the people
by biennial elections, and funCtioned
efficiently.
This verifies the prediction of Alex
ander Hamilton and others that the
Senate would prove less important
than the House. Eminent statesmen.
in the early days-one OF them Mr..
Madison-shoWed a preference for
service in the House rather than in
the Senate, and other statesmen now
and again resigned their seats in the
Senate in order TO accept subordinate
administrative offices. For example,
Gen. Peter Muhlenberg, brother or
tthe first Speaker of the House, and
one of the most picturesque figures
of the long ago. At the beginning
Of the Revolution he was clergyman
Of a church at Woodstock. in the
beautiful Valley Of Virginia. One
Sunday after the war clouds had
gathered, clad in his robes, he
preached a stirring sermon. Then.
throwing off his robes and standing
before his congregation in full mill
tary uniform. ne ordered the drums
to beat for recruits and on many OF
the famous battlefields of the Revo-
luton led the gallant Sth Virginia
Regiment.
When the new Government was es-
tablished, Gen. Muhlenbers served IN
the House of Representatives. Later
he was elected 10 the Senate. but re-
signed because of being appointed by
President jefferson AS the revenue Of
fetal for the district of Pennsylvania.
The superior prestige Of the House
at the start and the subsequent re-
versal of that condition were due to
various circumstances. one is that
for several years the proceedings OF
the Senate wem wholly in secret
Wise action taken behind closed doors
and eloquent speeches heard only ny
a few fellow members gave little thrlll
to a suspicious public.
Another important circumstance Is
that a legislative body may be too
small as we'll as too large. The Sen
ate was so small numerically in the
beginning that, prior to 1910, 1t made
no use of the committee system. BY
1S45 it's numbers had climbed to 81,
and automatically increased as new
States were admitted to the Union
The House with an original mem
bership of 65, grew to 242 as early as
1881. The disposition to check fur
ther increase was shown more than
once prior to 1860, but was given up
as practically hopeless. In 1871 the
number was placed at 293, in 1901 AT
391 and in 1911 at 435. Since the de-
cennial census of 1920 we have had no
reapportionment, principally because
of opposition to a larger and more un'
Vieldy House. SO today we have a
contradiction in the House to our
fundamental feature of government
that each citizen should have equal
representation in Congress with any
and all other citizens. Today we have
in Michigan one district with a popu
lation of 535,353 and another with
458.4l4, each represented by one mem
ber of Congress, while two other dis
tricts in the same State have only
1862 and 1919, ,504 residents. That
of course, is the fault of the State in
not redistricting. But compare the
same population of more than hall
million people in one district of Mich
igan or the tenth Colorado district
with the second Colorado, fourth Con
necticut, first, fifth or thirteenth Hi
nois, sixth or tenth Alabama districts
where the population runs from 129,
600 to 1900 persons. Even Chair
man Madden of the House apprOpria
tions committee, one of the most pow
erful men in the House, has a popu
lation of only 1920 in his district
That is the fault of the House itself
in not passing a reapportionment bill
as provided for in the Constitution
to make the congressional districts OF
more uniform size in the number OF
residents.
Originally for a few years the office
of Speaker was non-political, as that
office still is in the House of Com
mons. But for generations the func
tions and duties Of the speakershir
have divided themselves into two gen
eral classes-the one parliamentary
and the other political. A Speaker in
these days has no such degree of po
litical power as during a part OF the
time that Speaker Cannon, censureC
as "CZar," held that Office, and has
since been loved for and by the enc