Evening star., 1934-09-02
HOUSE IS CERTAIN
TO Be REvAMPED
Election of Speaker Only
Small Part of Job Con-
fronting Democrats.
BY WILL p. KENNEDY.

BY WILL p. KENNEDY.
There will be a thorough reorgan-
ization of the House in the next Con-
gress. The election of Speaker with
Representative Joseph w. Byrns Of
Tennessee, who was House leader in
the last Congress, admittedly leading
the field of four other announced can
didates, is only one small part of the
job that lies before the Democrats
who may be elected in November.
That the House leadership will in
all probability go to Northern MEM
Der from east of the Mississippi River
is also pretty well conceded-with
Representative John w. Mccormack
of Massachusetts, thus far appearing
to be the most likely choice.
But with more than so members of
the last Congress already "out" of
the new Congress by retirement, death,
other jobs or defeat in the primaries
already six committee chairman
ships are vacated, and big holes have
been torn in the membership of the
most important committees which will
upset the entire roster of committee
appointments.
Northerners to Get Jobs.
The change in committee chair
manships means that even under the
old seniority rules Northern members
will win some of these positions pre-
viously held by Southerners.
Regarding the election of Speaker
it can be said definitely that Repre-
sentative Byrns does not intend to
make any combinations with other
candidates. If his colleagues feel he
merits the post by seniority, progress
sional, proven ability and precedents,
he will appreciate the honor. He is
concentrating on the speakership and
has no intention of meddling in any
other candidates campaign for any
other office.
Already there are six vacancies on
the important Ways and Means Com
mittee which originates all tariff and
revenue legislation-four Democrats
and two Republicans. The election of
the is Democratic members of this
committee is one Of the tasks before
the Democratic caucus which meets
before the opening date of Congress.
Those is members in turn determine
the slate of other committee assign
ments.
If Mccormack of Massachusetts
should be chosen floor leader it would
mean another vacancy on Ways and
Means. If Representative Sam B.
Hill Of Washington allows himself to
be drafted as a candidate for the
Senate he must sacrifice his position
as ranking majority member on the
Ways and Means Committee, and the
next in line for chairman would be
Representative Thomas H. Cullen of
New York. leader Of the Tammany
delegation.
Vacancy on Rules Body.
If. on the other hand, Representa-
tive William B. Bankhead of Ala
ban1a, failing in the speakership
contest, should be elected floor leader,
that would vacate the Craftsmanship
of the Rules Committee, and the next
in line would be Representative John
j. O'Connor of New .York-another
Tammany member
That's the way the roster Of COM
mittees will be quite generally up
set because there will be a scramble
among the older members to get of
lesser committees and accept assign
ment to the more important commit
tees.
The four Democratic vacancies al
ready on the Ways and Means Com
mittee are those held in the last Con-
gress by Representative Clement @.
Dickinson, Missouri; Ashton c. Shall
lenberger, Nebraska; Charles West,
Ohio, and James v. McClintic, Okla
homa.
Then comes consideration of the
Appropriations Committee, where al
ready there are five vacancies-two
Of which are posts held by chairmen
Of subcommittee handling important
appropriation bills - Representative
Ross A. Collins Of Mississippi, who
was in charge of the War Depart
ment budget, and Representative
William A. Ayres of Kansas, who
handled the Navy budget. Collins
was an unsuccessful candidate for
the nomination for Senator and Ayres
has been sworn in as member of the
Federal Trade Commission. The
other vacancies on the Appropriations
Committee are the places held by
Representative William w. Hastings,
Oklahoma; 11lman B. Parks, Ar
kansas, and Charles L. Abernethy,
North Carolina.
Cochran May Return.
The committees which already
have vacancy in the chairmanship
are Civil Service, Census, Claims,
Expenditures, War Claims and Me-
MORALS. Expenditures may not be
real vacancy because Representative
John J. Cochran, who was chairman
in the last Congress, was an unSuc-
cessful candidate for the nomination
for Senator, and now the man who
was to have run in his stead for the
House finds it is inconvenient for
him to make the campaign so-prob-
ably Cochran will be back on the job
in the House, where he has been an
active member.
With Representative Lamar Jeffers
of Alabama, chairman of the Civil
Service Committee, defeated, Repre-
sentative William I. Sirovich Of New
York is in line for chairman. But
Sirovich is already chairman of the
Patents Committee IF he takes over