Evening star., 1932-03-27
Capital Sidelights
BY WILL p. KENNEDY.


omizing to reduce costs of Government
IN an attempt to balance the budget
some members of Congress see an on
portunity to make considerable saving
by prevention of extension of remarks
in the Congressional Record" and tC
limit that record to the actual proceed
ings on the floor The possibility is
seen of also fixing the rules-particu :.
larly as regards the Senate-to prevent
running up the costs of legislation hv
flllbustering, where idle words snoken
only to consume time cost at the rato
OF s58 page when they appear in the
Record AL 'iie
Several recent speeches printed in
the Record are cited as showing tho,
an important saving can be made hv
placing limits on what can be mt intC
the Record. pu' Hl'O
Inc Government Printing Office rec.
ords show that it costs $50 a naoe for
any speech which goes into the ner,,e :
nent bound Record, and on Febrnar,, q
senator La Toilette put into the Pecord
a speech of 1913 pages at a cost est
mated at Sl1,l94, not to mind the ,uh.
Sequent cost to the taxpayers of franz
ing this speech through the mails The
Ute OF this speech was. we Arc Cor
LLohteo py the Most Serious Economic
crisis in Our History" --''ii'N
IN Feofuary D Senator Costigan NJ
Coioraoo put in a speech of 46 naoos
I9noWlrg 10 one OF II pages on January
t Gnu IIIeSe Two speeches cost tbe
Record. ''ils IN tne
o,,ost. VINO IS demanding a sales tax9,
9uest4oneu Representative James A
j., 'at VI Wisconsin on March II, and
tlon put 26 pages into the Record qoeS ~ :
cost OF Sl,50S to the taxpayers az
,Ihese are cited only as i1Ins+ra+io
ana more careful study of the Peonro
WIZ snow how these figures could ~
iiluItipheo into a more considerable cav
ing than to cut off 80 cents a montr
rom the salaries of low-paid Govern.
some members Of Congress are bav-
ing survey made to show lust what
the economic waste is from the nrintino
oI VneSe long speeches in the Record
x X X
In the matter of long speeches "youno
Boo La Toilette is following in the
Iootsteps OF his famous father, who foI
VerDaI marathon shared honors with tht
late Senator Garter of Montana Thel
were tied with mark of 18 ho,,rs oil.
though the latter may be said tn have
mad slight advantage in honors for
ne stuck to his subject, while the late
Senator La Toilette "roamed" and a1sr
! had a chance to rest. while senate,
Carter enjoyed no relief.
william Tyler Page, for more thar
nan century philosophic observer d
now the wheels of legislation wnirr. anc
known as the walking congressiona
encyclopedia, tells us that the al-time
record Tor continuous speech-makine
propapIy goes TO the House member re.
terreo 10 by Henry Clay as speakine
Tor "a hours without stopping Pre-.
sumably it was the eccentric and ire.
pressible John Randolph of Roanoke n,
perhaps GARDENER of New York. who
| had the reputation of holding the foo
for days
There are two men now occupyin,
seats IN the Senate who have alread,
demonstrated their vocal endurance
Reed Smoot of Utah in 1915 spok
continuously for IL hours, while Wesle,
Jones Of Washington beat that mari
by one hour. though he had an in
termlssion of an hour and three
quarters.
viii some practice be adopted tt
end this parliamentary indulgenc
which brings upon the Senate sucl
general disapproval? There is on
most effective method which Worket
perfectly on the one occasion when i
was invoked. Mr.. Pages research
shows that. when the Federalists fill
bustered against the declaration of wa
against Great Britain in 1912 an elderl
gentleman held the floor against al
comers far into the night. But sud
denly pandemonium broke loose. Spit
toons came from all directions ant
: bounded reverberatingly through tn
House like thunders among the crag
| OF the Alps and in the alarm tn
humdrum 6ebater took his seat from
fright. Whereupon the previous uues
! ton was moved and carried and tn
war declaration was put through
Nearly so years ago Mr.. Page stoo,
near Speaker Thomas B. Reed whel
he effected a bloodless revolution il
the parliamentary practice of tn
House of Representatives by the simpl
method of counting a quorum and, b
strange coincidence, Mr.. Page stoo
| within a few feet of Gen. Dawes sevel
i years ago, when, as the newly inducte
Vice President, he launched his figh
! against f1libusters in the United State
| Senate to put an end to the powe
of an individual Senator to block legis
| lation by a sheer test of physical an,
! vocal endurance
x :;
/ When Vice President Dawes raiset
| no new question. Some of the mos
| acrimonious debates in Congress TO
more than 100 years have grown ou
nf Of 7Y1tc 10 n off oh
| late years" said that distinguished Mas
sachusetts statesman, Josiah Quincy, il
| the House, as long ago as 1911, "tht
popular ear has been so vexed will
| speech upon speech, wind upon wine
that it is ready to submit to an,
| limitation of privilege which subjects i
| to so irkSome a labor" That was l2
years ago. And Quincy had not ex
| perienced what some later Statesmen
regarded as a substitution of the tyran
ny of irrelevant speech for the libert,
of legitimate discussion.
John Randolph is the example par ex
cellence, notoriouSly loquacious, lugubri
GUS and ludicrous. He would occup,
the floor for hours, talking incoherently
irrelevantly, inaudibly and at times il
maudlin way. No matter what tn
subject matter, he would go far afielc
ana ClSCuSS ever yIilIlB uIlQeT Lle sun
even the latest method OF raising hogs
His manner toward other members wa
most offensive, and 1t was this tina
primarily resulted in his duel will
Henry Clay. But in Clay, when Speake
of the House, Randolph met his master
X
When it wants to the Senate can pas
bills very rapidly. Appropriation bill
aggregating over $2,000,000,000 hav,
been passed by the Senate in one day
Then again. one such bill, vital to GER
tain functions of government, has be-
come the target for a f1libuster. Bu
this is likely to happen even to an un.
offending measure. filibuster beinl
used as subterfuge to head off an
other bill, or as the victim of the wrath
of Senator who could not obtain &C.
ton on pet measure of interest to hi!
own community. Not all fllibusters art
for the purpose of delay. Some are in
tended to force action on another meas
ure or to effect some kind of compro.