The journal. (Caldwell, Ohio) 1934-1961, 1958-09-11

individuals were also enacted.
Although the final count is not
yet possible, the President
vetoed IA bills this year against
II last year. None of the vetoed
bills were overriden, retaining
President Eisenhower's remark
able record of no acts of Con-
gress going into the law books
where his disapproval has been
sufficiently strong to result in a
veto.
Total Proposals
This total number of new laws,
public and private, of course, re-
fleets only those measures upon
which there was sufficient agree
ment or willingness to COM
promise to bring about enact
ment. 1t does not reflect the tre-
mendous number of proposals
which were submitted and on
which there was varying degrees
of interest and activity.
Since January, 6,591 measures
were introduced in both houses,
which added to the 14,013 which
remained from the first session
last year, makes total of 20,604
legislative ideas that were form
ulated and placed before the
Congress. They cover virtually
every conceivable subject and
are the reflection in formal
language of the often heard COM
ments, There ought to be
law. :"
The Printed Record
The debates and comments are
contained in 1910 large pages
of fine print in the Congressional
Record during the last eight
months. This figure added to
that from the first session of
the 85th Congress brings the total
printed proceedings to 33,402
pages.
This, again, is only the begin
ming of the printed story the 85th
Congress left behind To this
must be added additional thou
sands of pages of committee re-
| ports explaining bills being de-
bated, additional pages from the
| lis conference reports making
| clear the compromises on differ
ing versions of bills passed by
the House and the Senate. All
of these become part of the
permanent archieves, which are
not only of interest to future
Congresses and historians, but
they are of primary Importance
to government agencies which
need to know the exact intent
! of Congress as they work to
carry out the laws Congress
makes. When these laws are
challenged in the Federal Courts,
the same statements explaining
what Congress intended assume
renewed Importance.
The printed record of the YER
batim testimony at hearings held
by the 81 committees of the
House and Senate comprises
| another huge body of informa-
ton. This may be conservatively
estimated as running into tens
of thousands of pages. As an
example, the printed hearings
by the House Ways and Means
Committee this year on one bill
the proposed extension of the
Reciprocal Trade Agreements
Act-ran to 1885 pages. Thus
far, Senator McClellan's COM
mittee investigating improper
practices in labor and manage
} ment has printed the testimony
it has received through May oi
this year. This has now reached
, 80 volumes of approximately
10000 pages.
On one score, there can be nc
argument and that is that The
85th Congress, not unlike its pre-
decessors, has left behind it {
tremendous written recor d.
some of it containing lasting wis
: dom and other pages of uncon
scionable drivel.
: Government Printing Office
1t is logical to ask, who print
: this mountain of material? Tha
: is the special function of tn
7 Government Printing Offic
5 which assumes this gargantual
: task of serving not only tn
: Congress but the rest of the Fed
S eral Government as well. 1t be
= gan its operation in 1860 whel
the government bought an ex
2 listing commercial plant in Wash
Y ington for $135,000. Today it i
: the largest and best equippe'
!, plant in the world.