Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-07
C. or. lNSURGENTS
SEEN TOCONTROL
House Organization Stunned
by Both Parties Because
of Slight Majority.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

The balance Of power in the next
Congress will be with the insurRent
Republicans. The elections in both the
Senate ana the House left neither party
with an opportunity to control.
In the past handful or Republicans
from the Middle West have joined with
an almost solid Democratic vote in
overriding the wishes of the President
and the regular Republicans. It re-
mains to be seen whether the Democrats
who draw their support from conserva-
tlveS groups in the East viii vote with
the inSurgent Republicans on all occa-
s1ons. Actually on conservative and
radical issues there is more than two
thirds on the conservative s:de-indeed
an overwhelming number For political
reasons, however, many of the conserva-
tUes have frequently voted with the
radicals or insurgents
Vacancies May Alter House.
If the Democrats should organize the
House-and this question probably will
not be settled for more than a year
because the m .rgin is so close that a
few vacancies, due to death or illness,
may change the result--the Democrats
will be confronted with the same situa-
ton, namely, that handful of their
number might join with solid Repub-
lican vote TO bring about a majority.
Coalitions are by no means a new
thing in Congress, and each measure
probably will have to be decided on its
merits in the House, Just as has been
In the latter body, notwithstanding the
In the latter body Notwithstanding the
fact that the Republicans had q
numerical majority on paper, a group
of Western Republicans would join with
the Democrats so often that control
could hardly be said to be vested in the
Republican party.
Sometime in the next Is months the
Democratic leaders will have to decide
whether they will want to organize the
House, for even If they have one or
two majority on paper this week, they
may not have that number in Deem
ber,, 1881. Normally the vacancies due
TO death or illness affecting, of course,
both sides of the chamber, are import
ant factors whenever there Is a close
vote. Special elections are often held
to ill vacancies, and no doubt in Mo-
vember, 1881, there will be half dozen
congressional seats to fill.
Political Uncertainties Arise.
For all practical purposes the organi-
zation of the House itself is important
in the handling of committee chair
manships. but with the absence of any
clear majority on either side even the
action of committee chairmen will not
be conclusive, for a vote of the House
can reverse ruling by a committee
chairman.
All this produces some Political UNI
certainties, but both houses of Congress
have operated under similar conditions
before. The Democrats are not eager
to take the responsibility Of organiza-
ton any more than are the Republic
ans because the majority in either case
is too slender for comfort.
Meanwhile the session Of Congress
next month will be a tame affair, with
the Republicans, of course, pushing
hard to get as much legislation as
possible adopted between December and
March so as to avoid the necessity of
an extra session.
fCopyright. 1907