Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-03-12
Capitol Stoffinq

JOIN IN the protests OF the
overstaffing of congressional
offices. Now they want to
provide another congress
sional assistant at $l4,100 a
year.
! have been somewhat ia
miliar with the congress
sional situation over the
years and have seen 1t grow
tremendously in size and
cost. For instance, back in
1920 a committee of which
I have definite knowledge
had a staff consisting Of q
committee clerk, an assist
ant committee clerk and a
messenger. a total Of three.
The chairman of the COM
mittee had his secretary and
a clerk.
In the latest Congressional
Directory I have-isSued in
January 1851 notice that
the same committee had a
staff Of Is, not counting a
messenger. which would
make it nine times the staff
not counting the messenger
which was still serving the
committee many years after
World War /. Also the COM
mittee chairman has his own
staff. which has increased
greatly since 1920.
Now und ou b t e dly the
workload Of Congress has in
creased and there are many
more bills introduced. proc
essed. etc. However. in those
earlier days the committee
handled all the bills referred
to it, held hearings. con-
Quoted investigations. wrote
reports, received opinions
from Government depart
ments involved with the
proposed legislation, handled
correspond Q ce. conducted
floor debates on its legislative
proposals. etc, etc.
! think the staff would
necessarily have to be larger
than it was in the l920s, but
! wonder If this one commit
tee which got along with a
clerk and an assistant clerk
now needs a force of 10 or
more. ! haven't seen this
years directory and it might
be increased again. What do
these Is committee staff
people do when Congress is
not In session? For instance,
how busy were they when
there was no Congress ses-
sion from August 30, 1857,
until January 7, 1858, and
especially when the second
session ended on August "a,
1853, and all bills then pend
ing automatically died and
the new Congress did not
meet until January 7, 1882
The committee to which !
refer is not the Ways
and Means or Appropria-
tions, which l know have
much work during and be-
tween sessions, but just one
Of the regular important but
not swamped committees. OF
course. ] know there are
some duties held over from
the old session and plans
have to be made for the
coming session, and that
there is correspondence, ETC.,
but I wonder how busy the
10 people were. I have been
through the House and Sen
ate Office Buildings many
times when Congress is not
in session and the Senators
and Representatives have
gone home. and they are
about the deadest places in
the city.
I think the stating all the
way through Capitol Hill is
inflated, and initiation is
going to ruin all of us unless
there is a halt in unneces-
sary and wasteful expend-
itureS.
Let's cut out some of this
congressional courtesy, frills
and fringe benefits. divide
up the work among those al
ready on the payrolls, and
say no to further raids on
the treasury. The taxpayers
are getting fed up and
burned up.
James C. Summers.
On behalf of the Citizens
Committee for Clean Govern
ment During the Berlin
Crisis" ! have studied the
problem of employment Of
relatives by members Of Con-
gress. Thorough investiga-
ton revealed al, insinuationS
of improperly to be COM
pletely unfounded, and here
is a record of a testimony
typical of many others:
MY job title is Air In
spector and my main duties
are to inspect daily the cir
around our rear porch and,