Evening star., 1937-08-28
Proxies in the House.

OAIVS III llIC llOuSts
An allegation by a member of the
House of Representatives said to be one
Of the high command" of that body,
tina. there is evidence of major scan
dali in the matter of voting by legisla-
tors may cause something of turmoil
1t is charged that legislators absent from
the sessions of the House have been
recorded as voting on roll calls. This, of
course, is not merely an irregular prac-
tice, If in fact it has occurred, but it is
Extremely dangerous" according to one
OF the House leaders, as it might result
in the expulsion from Congress of both
the absentee voter and the proxy who
had him recorded.
A research is to be made into the rec
ords OF the votes taken during the past
session. A list is to be made of all
those who were known to be out of
Washington at the times when the roll
was called and compared with the rec
ords of the balloting. II there are CO.
incidences the evidence of irregularitv
will be definite. But even this check. it
Is said. will not render altogether easy
the process of sleuthing the records.
For there will remain the question of
intention. Perhaps a member did not
actually mean to break the rules Per-
haps he did not know the rules. There
have been many cases of members of
the House who have not known the
rules. Very few of them know all the
rules, and quite goodly number of them
have divergent views of their meaning.
But, OF course, there can be no tol-
erance of absentee voting. If it is
proved it must be so treated that assur-
ance will be had that it will not happen
again. If it were allowed to prevail in a
few cases, just as matter of accommo-
dation, to keep members record
straight and in correct party alignment,
1t could extend to the point where proxy
voting would be the rule rather than
the exception
Possibly it may be argued that so
long as quorum is present, and with
everything more or less cut and dried
IN accordance with party mandate, it
really matters but little whether a
member votes in person or through the
mouth of another. In the MANAGEMENT
OF large corporations proxy voting is
the rule. The majority stockholders,
possibly group of half a dozen out of
several hundred or even several thou
sand, determine policies and gather prox-
les to give the appearance of actual
participation by the small fry of the
stock list, perhaps to swell the total
OF votes cast to the proportion of the
whole number required by law. In the
House, when as for several years it is
controlled by very large majority vote
taking is merely formality of the same
nature.
Some years ago, when filibustering was
possible in the House of Representatives
and was engaged in to an extent that
became veritably national scandal. the
proposal was made to establish an elec-
tr1c scoreboard, each members desk be-
Ing connected with it by a push button
and wire, so that when the vote was
called for the verdict could be delivered
within few minutes with assurance of
accuracy of count That, however was
not adopted. Such a system would re-
quire members to keep close to the cham
Der, to be ready to push the buttons when
the summons sounded. Inasmuch as a
full roll call of the House, with its 435
members, takes about forty-five min
utes, including recapitulations, the
saving of time effected by an electric
voting system would be material. But
the filibuster has lapsed in the House.
where special rules can be adopted to
limit debate and where time limits upon
the speeches can be applied.
The Senate, with only 96 members, can
record the votes within ten minutes and
thus the roll call is of small assistance
to the filibustering Senator, however it
may aid him in respite from continuous
talking. OF course, the Senate does not
permit absentee voting. It does permit
pairing, and sometimes some deft work
in pair shifting is done to get the maxi
mum strength on an important vote
But so far as known there has not been
the slightest suggestion that Senator
has ever impersonated an absent COL
league and answered in his stead, nor
that the recording clerks have ever
registered an absentee as present and
voting. Thus in some matters the Sen
ate is above reproach. however shame
may fall upon the larger and less con-
ventional body that is the other half of
the Congress.