Evening star., 1934-03-18


In the country. This averages 100000
pieces from all official sources Every "a
hours.
This letter writing would not of itself
make the Congress mail order" body.
The truth, however, is that the millions
upon millions of John Smiths and Jane
Does, by taking pen in hand, have
made this Congress constituent minded
10 an unparalleled extent. In conse-
nuence, the Senators and Represent
atives, with by-elections in the offing,
are striving with might and main to
comply with the wishes of those whom
they represent.
Time was when a member of Con-
gress received a neatly tied bundle of
letters each morning; they could be
handled in an hour or two. These
letters represented routine matters-a
constituent desiring adjustment OF his
veterans compensation, another seeking
civil service status, third wanting the
latest edition Of the Agricultural Year
Book, and perchance, fourth request
ing some free garden seeds.
But those were the good old days.
Now the mail comes by the sackful,
and a 125-pound sack at that. Demands
have replaced requests Moreover, va
riety has supplemented what only few
months ago was the almost prosaic in
sistence that the recipient stand back
of the President" Then the hapless
Congressman could read the first line
or two of the command, skip to the
inevitable supplementary cor else"
which invariably sent cold chill cours-
ing along his spine. He would reply by
means of form letter vowing allegiance
to the man in the White House and
support of his policies.
Ill is different today. Not that there
Is variation from the insistence
npon cooperative action to project the
Nation out of the depression; rather
there is discussion of specific legislation.
Bill after bill is advocated. More than
that, argument is made why the legis-
lation should be enacted without the
slightest delay. Then, too, there is
deluge of individual requests, all marked
with the dollar sign-but we will come
to them later.
Do the members of Congress listen?
Rather! A single instance will illustrate
how responsive they are. Recently there
has been demand from constituents for
legislation authorizing the r. F. c. to
make direct loans to small industries
Now, this is action that most members
of Congress would regard skeptically if
left to their own devices. But with the
voters in their home districts prodding
them along, no less than 56 of them
have gone the distance of introducing
and sponsoring as many bills dealing
with the subject. This is an average
of slightly more than one out of eight
of the entire membership of the House.
It is fair sign that close to ma
1ority of the House is inclined to favor
the legislation, however dangerous it
may be, because the people back home
want it.
But perhaps an even better illuStra-
zion is provided by conversation with
d member of the House who has served
through nine consecutive terms We
were discussing the demands Of the
emergency as compared with the tram
gull prosperity days.
"A most remarkable change has taken
place." he asserted. "Why, in my early
years here would get 20 or 30 letters
q day. handled a few of them and
my secretary attended to all the others.
We had plenty Of spare time, even
Hhen things were popping on the floor.
~Now we are rushed to death, even
Ivx;tb +bo ovfro boIr hire ood NOW