Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-12-22
TARIFF BRINGS UP OLD
QUESTIONS ABOUT SENATE
Debates in Upper House Revive Talk
About Quality of Senators and
Value of Rule.

session, or-what Is the same thing
cause delay in the midst of a session.
One Senator so disposed can hold up
or postpone legislation needed by the
country as q lever through which to
bring about legislation needed mainly
by himself
This has been illustrated in the
Senate within very recent weeks. A
proposal was made to take up and ex-
pedite one Of the most important items
of legislation on the program. This
could only be done, under the Senate
rules, by unanimous consent. When
unanimous consent was asked for one
Senator arose and said quite frankly
that he would not give his indispenS-
able consent unless the important bill
in question were united with bill
which was mainly in the interest of
this one Senator's home State.
Another illustration will make the
situation clear. There may be a most
important bill calling, let us say, for
the building of post Offices in several
cities, or increasing the pay of Federal
district attorneys throughout the coun-
try, or increasing the number of Fed
eral judges throughout the country. In
such a situation one Senator can say,
in effect, IT will take advantage of the
Senate rules to prevent or delay the
passage of this legislation until my
State is taken care of in the shape of
a new post Office building or an addi-
tional Federal official, or what-not."
Practice Leads to Deals.
One Senator can do more than that.
He can say, in effect, or without saying
so, in words, his attitude can have the
effect Of saying: 81 will delay the tariff
bill or I will delay the tax reduction
bill until am assured that I get my
post office building or my local Federal
Official" (These cases are wholly hypo-
thetical; the writer knows of no such
cases arising in connection with the
pending tariff, or the pending tax re-
ductton. Such cases have arisen in the
past, often.)
II Senator does that, what hap
pens? Some other Senator, who hap
pens to be in charge of the important
bill, thereupon has q small conference
with the recalcitrant Senator in the
cloak room. The result, after a good
deal of maneuvering. is that the recall
citrant Senator gets the post office or
the other local legislation, or local
omceholder, that he demands.
That Is what Dawes meant by say
ing that the Senate rules result in too
much legislation being determined by
small conferences in the cloak room
and not enough through open discus
sion on the floor of the Senate.
The answer frequently made by those
who defend the present Senate rules
are chiefly two. One is that the Senate
is the only important legislative body
remaining In the modern world In
mind at such length as he wishes about
every subject that comes up. This is
a unique distinction of the Senate.
Some earnest persons say it ought to
be preserved.
Quality Of Senators Questioned.
The merit Of this distinction obvi-
ously depends In part on the quality Of
each and all Of the SO men who COM
pose the Senate-on whether all Of them
are, or some are not, men who would
not abuse this privilege. 4 And that
brings up the familiar question whether
the Senate Of today is of as high quail
ity. on the average, as preceding
SenateS.
The other defense Of the existing
rules Of the Senate Is an assertion that,
In the net, for over q hundred years
they have worked to desirable results.
The most forcible form of this asser-
ton Is that more bad legislation has
been talked to death" than good
legislation has been lost.
To say whether that Is true or not
would require q minute examination of
just what bills have been talked to
DEATH" that is, permanently killed by
f1libustering. That would be an inter-
esting investigation for some Of those
men in colleges who write theses to
get advanced degrees.
Senators Feel They Must Talk"
The present delay about the tariff
is different from what has been so far
- AL @Ea~
winding UP the tariff debate has been
caused by the hesitancy Of some or all
the factions to take a final position
on the tariff and foreclose the posi-
bility Of changing their position there
after. They are not quite certain just
what kind Of tariff would be popular
In the country as q whole. Individual
Senators know what kind would be
popular In their States. But parties
less certain about the country as a
whole. There is reluctance to take
final responsibility for one kind Of
tariff or another.
Another reason for delay about the
pending tariff bill is the familiar speech
making one. In the Summer, when
the coalition Of Progressives and DEM
ocratS began their fight against the
tariff, they assigned certain schedules
Senator was told to famiIiariZe himself
completely with one commodity or
schedule and be prepared to make a
speech against the tariff on it and de-
bate it. AS q means Of defeating the
tariff 1t was excellent tactics. Now
that the original bill is beaten in the
Senate, those accumulated speeches
damned back to the minds Of indi-
vidual Senators are a cause Of delay.
Each Senator feels he ought to be per-
mitted to make his speech on the item
about which he has prenared himself.