Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-17
The Political Mill
By c. Could Lineoln.

II 1 &fe1t0Q4f4e 4
Even division, 70 ell intents and pur.
poses except perhaps on organization
between the Republicans and Tho
Democrats In the next House of Repre-
sentatives and the next Senate, finds
itself without exact parallel In the past
though 1t has been approached. Repre-
sentative r. Walton Moore Of Virginia
searching back into history, has pro-
vided an interesting outline Of the
political makeup Of the Congresses
since the First.
II suppose. said Mr.. Moore, "that
there has never been any former condi-
ton resembling the present except In
the Eixty-fifth Congress, and then only
the House was involved"
In the Sixty-flfth Congress, the SEN
ate was Democratic and the House was
made up of ale Republicans, 210 Demo-
Gratis and 8 independents. It met first
April 2, 1917, on call of the late Presi-
dent Wilson, to hear his war message,
and to declare war. Champ Clark, a
Democrat, was reelected Speaker,
nominated by Republican, the pres
ent Senator tom" Schall of Minnesota,
then q member Of the House. Clark
received PIT votes to 205 for James r,
Mann, scattering for other candidates
&IlQ tWO NObAKlh p1ccCuI,
Doubtless" Mr.. Moore continued,
1--WE can. stu claim that ours is q two
party Government, Notwithstanding
the fact that major parties have APP
peared and disappeared, and small
groups have sometimes, as in the Sixty
first Congress, exerted great influence.
One can only conjecture whether the
result Of the election the other day
points to q possible departure from the
two-party system"
y y f.
No one in the new House is likely to re-
sign, Mr.. Moore said, but some of them
are very apt to die before the new
Congress meets, or soon thereafter. He
estimates an average death rate Of 10
among members Of Congress. There
win be great interest In by-elections, IL
deaths do take place.
Taking up the Congresses in order,
Mr.. Moore pointed out that In the
First and Second Congresses the divi-
sion Of the members both in the Senate
and House was between "the admins
tration" and the Opposition" and that
1t was not close, Washington's influence
being almost complete for long time,
although it waned toward the close of
his second term of office.
BY the time the Fourth Congress had
drawn pretty closely, with the Federal
lists having q majority of six in the
Senate and two in the House over their
opponents, the Republicans. The Re-
publicans In those days supported the
Views of Thomas jefferson, whom the
Democrats Of today look upon as their
partys patron saint:
The Federalists gradually lost ground
and, as Mr.. Moore said, practically
faded out in the period that followed,
and in the Eighteenth Congress, the
last during the administration of James
Monroe, 1923-1825, they had only
members in the Senate and % IN the
House.
During the next two Congresses, with
John Quincy Adams in the White
House, the political division was be-
tween the administration and Jack
sonians, the former having majority
in the Nineteenth and the latter In
the Twentieth Congress. In the TWEEN
ty-flrst Congress, the names were Jack
SonianS and National Republicans.
Jackson was President, another of the
great figures In the history of the
present Democratic party, which did
not attain the name It bears today until
the following Congress, the Twenty
second. It was then that the Anti
Masonic party was on the scene for a
brief time and ran William Writ for
the presidency. Writ obtained the cleo
toral votes of only one State, Vermont
In the Twenty-third Congress, there
was q large majority Of Democrats
Other members were classed as States
Rights, Nullifiers and National Repub-
licanS.
The WING party had its birth, and in
the Tventy-fourth Congress, with Van
Buren, President, there were only Wings
and Democrats in the House and SEN
ate, The Democrats had large ma
jority in the House, but only 81 Sena-
tors to IS Wing Senators. Showing
how persistent have been the third
party movements since the early days
Of the Republic, Mr.. Moore calls atten-
ton to the fact that in the following
Congress, besides Democrats and Wings
there were Sub-treasury Wings, Con-
servatives and Nullifiers. These passed
out in thesTwenty- Congress, leav-
ing only Democrats and Wings again.
The Wings obtained control Of the
Twenty-seventh Congress, in which
there were few members who called
themselves Tylerites. In the next Con-
gress the Democrats had the control
Of the House and the Wings control
Of the Senate. When Polk became
President two years later the Wings
controlled both houses.
The American or Know Nothing party
made It's appearance In the Thirtteth
Congress, with six Americans in the
House. In that Congress the Democrats
had q majority in the House and the
Wings majority in the Senate. Skip
ping ahead until 1884, with Pierce in
-
promise controversy caused serious po-
litical disruption. In the Senate the
Democrats had q majority over the
combined strength Of the Republican
and the American members, while the
Republicans and Americans had a ma
jority over the Democrats In the House.
- y
While Buchanan was President, in the
Thirty-fifth and Thirty-sixth Con-
crosses, the Democrats had clear ma
Jority in the Senate, but In the House
the combined strength of the Repub-
licans, the Americans and anti-Le
Compton Democrats exceeded the num-
Der Of Democrats.
After buchanan went out Of ONCE
and Lincoln came in, the Republicans
were in full control of Congress and
during the Civil War Period But in
the Forty-fourth Congress, 1875-1877,
there began again to be a sharp div1-
sion along party lines. The Senate was
Republican and the House Democratic
and there were IA members of Congress
ciassed as liberals, or independents.
That was the last Congress of the Grant
administration. 4 4
President Hayes was faced with a
mixed Congress, for when he came into
office the Republicans had three-vote
margin of control in the Senate, but
the nannncratg held the House 1ha to