Evening star., 1946-06-09

is begged down in red tape. 1t is in the
deadliest form in which it could be put
in order to affect the sentiment of the
country. There is no differentiation be-
tween the institution and it's member
ship.
Our system of procedure is the product
of more than thousand years of legis-
lative experience. Some objection has
been made that it is not up to date, that
like womans hat or mans necktie,
1t ought to change every year. AS a
matter of fact, parliamentary procedure
is based upon fundamental rules of
decorum which do not change any more
than the fundamental rules of human
conduct as set forth in the Ten Com
mandmentS change. It has been built
up through centuries of experience in
various legislative bodies, beginning with
the Anglo-SaXon Witenagemot, continu-
ing down through the development of
parliamentary government in the Colo
nial legislatures in this country and un-
der our own system of government for
more than $50 years.
The tenor of these statements is that
the Government faces crisis. That the
threat is serious, the danger is real, the
life of representative government is at
stake.
Bias by Speaker Denied
Among the statements lacking in ac-
curacy but advanced as a reason for re-
vision of House procedure is the state
ment that bills are referred to commit
tees in consideration of the attitude of
the chairman toward the proposed leg
islation. The inference is that the
Speaker of the House of Representatives
will, if he is opposed to measure, refer
it to the committee where the chairman
is hostile to that measure, or if he favors
it, will refer it to committee whereEhe
chairman is favorable to the legislation
Nothing could be further from the
facts. Never has the Oldest member of
the House ever heard, much less known,
1t to be so much as intimated that the
Speaker was governed by his attitude
on bill in its reference to committee.
Then think there is no charge that
has been made more frequently, and
more lnaccurately, in an endeavor to
secure public approval of some notion
that something is seriously wrong with
the procedure of the House than the
statement that committees have over
tapping and duplicating jurisdiction. AS
matter of fact, the jurisdiction of the
committees of the House is SO definitely
cfo Hi cl,
years that the question of the reference
of bill never arises on the floor. If
bill should be referred to committee
which does not have jurisdiction, there
is every provision for it's reference to
the committee properly having jurisdic-
tion. If it is a private bill, a point of
order can be raised by any member.
Jealous of Jurisdiction.
The committees of the House are
jealous of their jurisdiction, and if any,
body, at any time, by the improper ref
erence of bill should infringe upon
their jurisdiction, that committee would
Immediately protest. There are other
instances of misstatements made in order
to inf1ame the people against Congress
and congressional procedure. One such
instance, for example, is the statement
that 95 per cent of the bills passed by
Congress are drafted in the departments.
Any member of the Committee on Ap-
preparations can testify that no depart
ment has ever written any appropriation
bill that ever came to the floor.
Another charge which will not bear
the test of accuracy is that the men who
serve as chairmen of committees have
ex oflcio the power to report legislation
or to kill legislation. On the face of it
the charge cannot be sustained The
committee of which I happen to be
member has IS members and the chair
man has l vote in the As and no more.
He cannot report bill unless majority
of the other Al members approve and he
must report bill if majority of the
committee directs him to report it no
matter how unalterably opposed he may
be to the measure. The myth that the
chairman of committee has any more
power than any other member of the
committee is another fabrication calcu-
lated to disturb the people and shake
their confidence in the one institution
which is the safeguard of their liberties
and the guaranty of their right of free
government.
Seniority Not Binding.
Let me say just a word about the
much-mooted question of seniority. The
Importance of the chairmanships is
greatly exaggerated. There may be a
little glamour connected with the chair
manships but that is about all. Some
chairmen have extra rooms and patron
age, but as chairman of one of the
House committees 1 do not have even
these modest perquisites. I have no
more personal clerks and no more office
space than had before became chair
man, and I pay for all my own sta
tionery.
Furthermore, the rule of seniority
does not always obtain in the election
OF chairman. The rule of seniority
is in that respect neither absolute nor
invariable. In my own committee there
have been notable instances in which
the rule of seniority was disregarded.
1t is difficult to conceive of anything
that would have more disastrous effect
on the work of a committee than con-
tinuous potential rivalry between half a
dozen members of the committee as to
which of them would be made chair
man in the next session, or in event
of sooner change. The entire men,
bership of the committee would be i'm
mediately divided into factions. There
would be such continuous maneuvering
for nQSitian and such sIISnicinn of auar.r