Evening star., 1939-05-18


The total appropriation increase
amounts to about $660,000 a year,
and all it takes care of is the hiring
of clerks to handle mail. The
processes of democracy encourage
rather than discourage letter.
writing. Telling a Congressman or
Senator what the constituent thinks
IS nowadays regarded as the great
privilege of citizens of free country.
But when the member of Congress
fails to answer such letter or tele-
gram he Is supposed to be indif-
ferent, discourteous or rude and not
fit to represent his district or State.
Yet the job of answering cor
reSpOndence is tremendous and the
Job of classifying the letters and
giving digests to the member of
Congress so that he or she may
know what the trend of opinion
happens to be is not something
which can be done by clerks who
also have to formulate and take care
of the replies.
Chores Are Increased.
Not few hours but most of the
hours of CongressmanS Office force
are taken up with running down
requests for information or contact
ing Government bureaus. The larger
the bureaucracy gets the more are
the chores of the Congressman and
Senator increased.
The stats of the 531 men and
women in the House and Senate are
woefully inadequate and all because
of a peculiarly developed notion,
bordering on the side of dema-
goguery, that member of Congress
must never vote any money for him.
self or his Office. Also there have
been some abuses in recent years
where members of Congress have
had on their pay rolls their own
relatives, who in some cases did no
work at all, but drew salary check
Even conceding these abuses,
which were the exception rather
than the rule, the work of the men,
berS of both houses has increased
enormously, and hence to measure
the needs of a member of Congress
by what some small minority might
do is unfair not only to the Senators
and Representatives who are con-
scientious about it, but to the vast
body of citizens whose interests are
adversely affected.
Not long ago the suggestion was
made by this correspondent that
every member of Congress should
have attached to his Office q person
with training in economics, some
one who could actually examine and
furnish memoranda to the Senator
or Representative so he would know
something about the legislation he
Is asked to pass upon. The action
just taken by the House goes only
part way. 1t furnishes an extra
clerk at 1900, but does not really
solve the major problem of getting
legislation properly analyzed.
Business Uses Research.
The American people pay $4,000
a year to each Senator and Repre-
sentative. The average executive
in business getting any sum of that
size has competent and adequate
Office staff, with specialists in his
line of business and some one who
can manage the office in his absence.
Members of Congress are supposed to
be in attendance at the sessions of
the House and Senate as we'll as
their committees. They cannot pos
sibly run their Offices and be on the
floor and at the committee meetings
and do justice to any of these three
responsibilities unless they have
assistance.
Suppose every member of Congress
had an office assistant who was not
required to handle the clerical de-
tails, but could concentrate on study
ing legislation. Suppose also that it
cost the Government about $2,00000
or thereabouts, or an average of
about $4,000 a year per office. The
question then would be this: Would
1t be worth $2,O0O000 a year to get
intelligent legislation passed on eco
nomic problems? Suppose the theory
Of taxation as 1t deters business ac-
tivity or as removal of taxes fur
nishes incentive to business were at
the moment thoroughly understood
in the Office of every member of
Congress, would it not be logical to
assume that out of such knowledge
might come real tax revision bill
buttressed by facts and experience?
And If American business were en-
couraged by genuine tax revision
plan so economic recovery would
49,
pie get thousand times more their
moneys worth out of the eXpendi-
ture for competent economists to
help Senators and Representatives?
Businessmen have plenty Of re-
search assistants, but the facts they