Evening Star Newspaper, November 19, 1922, Page 45

EDITORIAL SECTION s EDITORIAL PAGE | - NATIONAL PROBLEMS Society Ilews SPECIAL ARTICLES - The Sundy Shae. Part 216 Pages RAILROADS TO RECEIVE ATTENTION OF CONGRESS *Pressure From Different Directions ' Brought to Bear for Amendment of Transportation Act. BY G. GOULD LINCOLN. HE railroads, subject of many hard-fought legislative bat- tles in the past history of Congress, are to be in the Yimelight again during the present Congress, which meets in special session tomorrow and in regular ses- sion the first Monday in Decefnber. High tariffs, which the farmers and other shippers claim are rulning them and business; the strike of the shopmen, which Inconvenienced the public generally, and the wage de- mands of labor all will force the rallroad question to the front. But the demands for amendments to the Cummins-Esch transportation act, under which the rallroads were returned to their owners after the perfod of government operation dur- ing the war, will be advanced by at Jeast two separate groups, With sepa- rate and distinct objects in view. Pressure From Two Points. On the one hand will be the farm bloc and the labor bloc in Congress, seeking the repeal of those sections of the transportation act which they ‘belleve are responsible for high frelght rates and for a reduction in the wages of employes. On the other hand will be those representatives and senators who be- lieve in strengthening the hands of the Rallroad Labor Board as a means of preventing nation-wide strikes, such as the shopmen’s strike, with all the hardship and incon- venience which transportation strikes entail upon the public generally. The farm bloc already has a pro- gram of rallroad legislation, and Senator Capper of Kansas, head of the bloc in the Senate, has bills be- fore the Senate Interstate commerce committee embodying this program. One of the aims of the bloc is to re- peal section 15a of the transportation ? act, the section which provides the plan of ratemaking, under which the railroads have their rates fixed by tke Interstate Commerce Commission so as to give them a reasonable re- turn on their investment. The bloc “also is desirous of having repealed the section of the act which gives the Interstate Commerce Commission the right to review decisions of state railroad commissions- In regard to intrastate rates. The bloc belleves that such provisions are working to the disadvantage of shippers and to the advantage of the railroads. After Scalp of Board. The labor bloc—which exists in and out of Congress—though not so well advertised In Congress itself as the farm bloc—is after the scalp of the Rallroad Labor Board. It may be sald In this connection, too, that there are rallroad executives who would be glad to ses the Labor Board go. The administration is expected to prepare and put forward a program of railroad legislation of its own. The President is in consultation fre- quently with Senator Cummins of JIowa, author of the ‘transportation ack and chairman of the Senate inter- state commerce committee, which han- digs all railroad bills, on the subject. ,This program, it is believed, will be driftéd largely to meet the demands ofithe general public that something £ ba'dohe to prevent disastrousrailroad afkgs In this country? For months Jast gummer the railroads—most of ;thgm—were hampered by the shop- men's strike. The roads beat the steike, it is true, but the railroad st¥ike had its effect upon the people. Tt made it difficult to ship coal to fadustries that required it; it made it {mpossible for thousands of the farm- ers to ship their produce when the crops were harvested; it aided in causing the discontent In the country which was reflected in the recent elections with the defeat of many re- publicans. It Is to be expected that the republican leaders, who must go te the country again two years hence and seek to be returned to power, weill bear this in mind. ° Would Strengthen Board. Senator Cummins has been’ frankly in favor of strengthening the hands of the Railroad Lebor Board. Many others believe, too, that if there is to be peace the decisions of the board must be upheld; that the roads must ‘e made to accede to the decisions of f For efficient service and economicalyDue ta ‘the commission’s activities mole Sam must have |and Insistence that the various gov- administration Ui more workshop space, of modern con- struction and with careful co-ording- | .rea) for office space has been re- tion. The soundest of business sense | 5,004 to approximately $450,000. dictates that all government agen- cles should be housed in government-fnoy finds that it 1s almost at the end owned bufldings . Very determined effort will be made by members of the public buildin commission, composed -Of congress- |, , men and federal executives best at- quainted with the eituation, at this| iy yndoubtedly be on the increase, extraordinary session of Congress to put through legislation providing a w duties public bullding program for. housing T“ e oomn‘:::n'-:: :::l":"::'l;‘:: all government activities in perma-|, .. .., will be needed R bufldings owned by BT (oitaxe e Gewpanot care of future requirements as the government. It fs intended thus to do away en- tirely with the paying of remtall..., g the many activities of the charges, which has been a serious| _ ;. .. departments fn thelr drain on the Treasury for many years. . Rent Roll Already Cut. ‘When the public bujldings commis- | ment, not only in- rental costs, but , the | even government was paying for rental|and the expeditious handling of gov- sfon was created, March 1, 19 ot ‘linbla mearly’ $1,600,000 annually. ———— e ————— e e TR Program Is Needed To Make Government Efficient the board ahd also the employes. But this doctrine is not palatable either to the rallroad managements or labor, as a whole. There has been a proposal also to reorganize the Railroad Labor Board; to do away with the three groups— the rallroad, labor and public groups —and to have the President appoint a board to represent the entire public without having nominations made by these various groups. If Senator Cummins has his way the rallroad legislation program undoubt- edly will contain an amendment to the transportation act which would make compulsory the provisions of the act looking to combinations of the rallway systems of the country into groups. The Iowa senator be- lleves that combination of the rail- roads into groups would result in a far more economical and efficient trensportation system. He expressed the opinion that these combinations, if entered into, would save between $200.000,000 and $300.000,000 annually to the railroads, money which eventu- ally would have to be taken out of the pockets of the American shippers and travelers. It is expected that the President will get behind this proposed amend- ment to the transportation act. Combination and Competition. The transportation act provides that the Interstate Commerce Commission shall make a study of the matter of combinations of the railroads into Broups for more economical opera- tion, but with the proviso that it should bear in mind competition be- tween the eystem as a desideratum. This study has been going on for some time. Prof. Willlam Z. Ripley of Harvard Unlversity, prepared a plan for the commission, which looks to the combination of the roads into nineteen systems. The commission is now holding hearings on the plan. When the transportation act first passed the Senate it contained a pro- vision' that the combinations of the rallroads into groups, after the Inter- state Commerce Commiission had passed on the matter, must be effect- ed by the roads within five years. But this provision was stricken out in conference, and the matter was left to voluntary action on the part of the roads. Senator Cummins desires to have the law amended now so as to compel action within a definite period, say, from two to five years. So far none of the railroads have the permission to form combinations granted in the act. To Senator Cum- mins and others it appears clear that because of selfish interests, these combinations will not be brought about unlese they are forced on the roads by law. ‘Want Ows Combinations. Some of the roads have suggested they were willing to form combina- tions, but on their own terms, not, for instance, such combinations as ad- vanced by Prof. Ripley. For example, at a hearing here Friday, before the Interstate Commerce Commission, representatives of the Chicago, Bur- lington and Quincy Railroad Com- pany and the Great Northern ap- peared and protested at the grouping proposed by the Interstate Commerce Commission. The Great Northern, Northern Pacific, Burlington and Colorado and Southern sannounced they jyere prepared to consolidate their Whes into one system. But they opposed the commission’s plan which would divorce the Great Northern and Colorado and Southern from the Burlington. It seems clear, however, that if combinations such as are desired are to be effected there must be some central authority which shall specify the combination. or else the strong roads will look to themselves in a way that in the end will advantage them, without bringing about the benefit to the transportation system as & whole, which is desired. If the combination can be made, economies in operation should be numerous. These economies would be derived from joint facilities and terminals; etandardization in ocon- struction, inspection and repair of ‘equipment, puchase of fuel and sup- plies, fuel consumption, standardiza- tion of traffic regulations, etc. ernment offices vacate rented space ‘wherever possible, this amount of The public buildings commission of its resources with regard to 2 further reduction in rentals until the government “erects some new ‘build- The space demands of the future as Congress is constantly imposing well ag present needs. 2 A well ordered program consoli- buildings in the same locality should result in great saving to the govern- #0 in fnoreased efficlency The internal venue % v WASHINGTON, D. C., SUNDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 19, 1922. Incoming Senators and Representatives Eager to Engage in the Political Fray BY N. 0. MESSENGER. ONGRESS, which reassembles tomor- row in extraordinary session on call of the President of the United States, is expected to focus the at- tention of the country in more than usual degree. This session will probably run until the regular session, which begins the first Monday in December, to end by constitu- tional limitation March 4. President Hard- ing’s present disposition is described as ad- verse to calling an extra session of the Sixty- eighth Congress in the spring. To demo- cratic leaders and some of the radical re- publicans is ascribed intention to compel a spring session, which would be possible of accomplishment by filibustering and blocking the passage of the supply bills. Belief that the session now beginning will attract more than ordinary attention is based upon expectation that a pronounced drive for what they are pleased to term “progres- sive legislation” will be made by democrats and radical republicans, anticipatory of the presidential campaign of 1924; upon the probability that the wet and dry fight will open at once and upon the prospect of a spirited contest in the Senate over the mer- chant marine bill—called by its enemies the “ship subsidy ” bill to give it a black eye at the outset. * k k % Returning senators and representatives of both parties showed marked ecagerness to get into the political fight which all foresee impending, at once, and which will be waged unceasingly through all sessions of Congress which are scheduled to come or may come before November, 1924. With gleefulness and zest they are girding for the fray and eager to start the <battle. Impressed by the fact that party lines in the country are fairly divided between the two old parties, as shown in the recent elections, neither side is willing to concede victory to the other. The coming contest is regarded as “any man’s fight.” * % * % Now this close division of strength as between the republican and democratic vote latent in the country, according to the fig- ures of November 7, means one thing, the democratic and republican parties will be compelled to set up a definite set of con- trasting policies to attract new voters and hold the voters they now have. And that will be done in the legislation sought in and effected by Congress. Every one has heard the complaint voiced in recent years that the two old parties were merging toward similar poli- cies to such degree that there was practically only a twilight zone between them in in- stances. The two parties advocated the same things to such extent that voters were thrown back upon the necessity of making their choice upon the personality of candi- dates. November election returns showed that there are two classes of voters forming the mass of the electorate in the nation, demo- crats and republicans, and that they exist in such numbers as to make a dissenting class almost negligible. They must be furnished, it is contended, clearly defined policies. * * k %X President Harding is likely to surprise the democrats and radical republicans who are seeking to put him and the rank and file of the republicans in the attitude of being re- actionaries. He will recommend progressive legislation and push it, notwithstanding the effort of democrats to copyright the trade mark. If it is asked wherein, then, will come the difference between the two parties, re- publicans answer that it will be shown when the democrats are driven to the probable radicalizing of their national platform. It is realized, however, that the republi- cans must adopt some outstanding cardinal principles to present to the electorate. Uncle Joe Cannon recalls the letter written by Abraham Lincoln to Schuyler Colfax, who had suggested adoption of local issues in the national platform, and Mr. Lincoln insisted that it were better to stick to “three or four cardinal principles.” The republicans are in- tent upon getting them for 1924, * % X % ‘The most militant element in political con- ditions for the months to come will be com- posed of the voters who are working for modification of the Volstead act. They con- stitute a determined and encouraged band, ganization. They are heartened by the de- velopment of the strength of the movement for liberalization of the prohibition act in the late elections. 1 What everybody is asking now is: Will either of the old parties dare to advocate in its national platform assault upon the law as it stands? There will be found, it is pre- dicted, an increasing number of individual candidates in both parties glad to do so. * % % % The fight over the merchant marine bill in the House promises to be brief and spec- tacular, ending in its passage toward the end of this month in the lower body, and it will then go to the Senate. There have been many contests in Congress over the subject of a government-aided merchant marine, but it is not recalled that in any preceding one was there such bitterness of feeling between the opposing groups of thought as exists at present. The democratic national committee has formally declared opposition to the pending measure to be a cardinal democratic policy. The republican affirmative vote on the meas- ure in the Senate, where the real test of its - enactment is to come, will forecast whether the upbuilding of an American merchant marine is to be a leading principle of the republican party in 1924. i *x % ¥ k Presidential timber in Congress will thrive and flourish like the green bay tree from now on, and groundwork will be laid for many candidatorial blooms. The Novem- ber election has given impetus to the pros- pects, already latent, of Senator Wadsworth of New York. % It is this way: In the defeat of Nathan L. Miller and Senator Calder, the republican leadership in the state of New York falls upon Senator Wadsworth. ganize the party machinery and take com- mand of it during the coming winter. Sen- ator Wadsworth will, of necessity, be the outstanding republican figure in the state. He has a remarkable hold on the esteem and affections of the rank and file of the party in the state. The support of the organization of the republican party in New York is recognized as a presidential asset of vast potentiality. He will reor-~ political leaders say: It means that the soon to be cemented into an aggressive or- nishes a very striking example of the need for consolidation in one building or group of bulldings. The bureau is now scattered over a wide area in elght or nine bufldings. The fact that this bureau, which gathers in public moneys to meet govern- ment expenditures, is now a year or more behind on various tax collec- tions is in no small measure due to the absence of consolidated offices. A new bullding for the internal revenue is one of those most needed at'this time. Those who have been studying the situation express the opinion that the logical site of an internal revenue building s at the juncture of 15th street and Pennsyl- vania avenue, just across the street from the Treasury. Hall of Records Needed. Another outstanding need that members of Congress have pledged themselves to meet at the incoming session is an archives building and hall of records. This will not only make for the safe preservation of in- valuable records, many of which are now in “firetraps,” according to mem- bers of the public buildings commis- slon, but it will clear out much valu- able office space now being used for storage in good office buildings. The activities of the Agriculture Department, which are now housed in twenty-six different buildings, em- phasize the absolute necessity for several buildings closely co-ordinated. A new central building, connecting the two marble wings now occupled by the bureau of plant industry and the bureau of animal industry, will probably be the first constructed for the department, but even that will not relieve the situation. Other office buildings must be erected in the same nelghborhood. A new building for the general ac- counting office is also' badly needed, and Chairman Langley has already written authorization for this in a public buildings bill he is drafting. The controller general has his force now distributed in several rented as well as government-owned buildings. While there has been some Sugges- tion of putting this new bullding on Capitol Hill, it is considered that effi- clent service requires its erection near the Treasury building. For Storage of Supplies. By no means the least of new goVv- ernment building requirements in the capital clity is the erection of a giant storage warehouse. Here would be kept all of the storage and stocks of the general supply committee and of the various departments of the government. It is the intention of the public buildings commission to have - this storage warehouse on & rallroad siding. where the contents can be unloaded, handily from cars and where trucks can easily be load- ed to move these supplies to the gov- ernment offices as they are requisi- tioned. % £ Fully as essential for economic effl- clency in the federal service as any scheme of reorganisation of the hun- dreds of agencles, the public build- ings commission argues, is the nebd fof housing these agencies in modern fireproof buildings, properly co-ordi- nated into groups for the expeditious |, Note.—In publishing *his article by the brilllant editor of the Em- poria Gazette The Star does not necessarily Indorse the views he expresses. But Mr. White brings to the discussion of current events a fertile mind and an en- tertaining_style, and a discrimi- nating public will place its own uation upon the opinions he advances. HAT a gang of highbinders and hatchet-throwing tong men is gathering in the United States Senate under the republican banner these days? The holdover republican radicals are Capper, Borah, Ladd, La Follette, Johnson, Nor- ris; the new radicals are Shipstead of Minnesota, Howell of Nebraska, Brook- hart of Iowa, Frasler of North Da- kots, if he wins. And not far from these scouts and ploneers of reform are Len- root, Cummins, McCormick and Pepper, who are much more than mildly pro- gressive. These men are so placed geographi- cally that their republican colleagues in adjacent states or in the states where a lberal is planted fear to follow the reactionary program too closely. So they are giving a distinctly iiberal cast to the Senate. Among the democrats are a dozen other fairly liberal sena- tors, but none of the La Follctte, Norris, Capper, Ladd, Frasier type. These democrats; men Hke Kendrick, Pittman, Pat Harrison and three or four of the newly elected democrats, like Ralston of Indiana, who got the labor vote from Beveridge; Copeland, who defeated Calder, and Ferris, who comes from Michigan to rebuke Newberry, are men of liberal tendencies. They will join the @on-partisan republicans above named quickly in any proposition to defeat the old guard of either party. In the Senate easily are thirty votes which will go with the democrats or the reppblicans for any progressive meas- u Party lines rest loosely upon the ibacks of these thirty senators. And for that matter they rest even more slackly upon the backs of the reactionary sena- tors of both old parties if it is neces- sary to put across a genuinely reaction- ary proposal. As matters stand today parties mean so little in the Senate and %o little back home among the people mtullddhunmsp‘Wmm going through the idle mummery of party organization. Yet with all its false face front, party organization is still & powerful plece of machinery. You cannot elect a republican in Texas nor & democrat in Iowa. L — ‘The Great American Desert. 'ROM an esteemed cotemporary In Scotland, the Aberdeen Free Press, we take an account of a lec- ture given by a person who is called “Lord Shaw.” He is talking to the “Torphins M. I. Association,” which sounds like eomething particularly good to eat out of a Dickens novel In the course of his remarks “Lord Shaw,”" who has crossed the Ameri- can continent, told his auditors about his western trip, The Free Press “AS I SEE IT.” By William Allen W hite. but a vast expanse of sage brusn and scrub; everywhere the blazing sun; everywhere the barren earth, and, except for the prairie dogs, no signs of life for a journey of 1,000 miles.” Probably “Lord Shaw” did not mean to include Kansas in the great American desert. For if he cared to look out of the window he would find Kansas about the same kind of a country that one sees In Towa, Ohio| or Michigan, e that the trees are not forest trees and were set out a generation ago by the homesteaders. But west of Kansas, through Col- orado, New Mexico, Arisona and east- ern California & casual traveler might think the country is some- thing like the picture which “Lord Shaw” paints. From a train window it does look bleak; a blazing sun does seem to smear and blister the landscape, and there is to the casual eye “no sign of life for a thousand miles.” But to the seeing eye, to the traveler who knows the country, this vast semi-arid region is the most unique and interesting of our Ameri- can civilization. ~On the expanse that once was the American desert are a hundred good little towns, bright, spick and span, built in the new bungalow style of architecture. During ten months of the year In these green oases irriga- tion keeps trees and lawns fresh, and the iron in the soil paints vivid colors in dahlias, sweet peas and zinia. The long procession of the flowers is a pageant of joy. These little towns that range In population from five hundred to a quarter of a million are most exquisitely set among the mountains, and around these towns is an agriculture that harks back to the time:of Abraham. For the cattle range upon a thousand hills. In the valley alfalfa, wheat and sugar beets thrive. And the wealth of the region is distributed so fairly among the people that no Utopian could complain of it. In these desert and mountain regions between Kapsas and the Pacific ocean north and south and west are ten beautiful states, where live nearly dosen millions.of people. They are the scenic states of the Union. In them are the great hard metal mines of our country. From them come the young cattle and sheep that feed the world. They grow citrus fruits and melons for a continent. Lumber and oil and coal go from the desert to comfort the whole nation. It is a great civilization as different from the civilization of the rest of the United States as that of the south {¥)] different, or of New England. The traveler who pulls down his blinds and misses it has seen only a part of America and cannot understand it all. For out on the desert.we pro- duce the prototypes which the he- men of the movie land most earnest- iy imitate. The “Lord Shaw” person should demand his money back. He A4id not see America. He only saw the part back of the ladies® entrance. — states ‘where prohibition is a new- fengled contraption. It was ~the | weg dry and sometimes the dry wet candidate. That means the men wWho talked and voted one way and lived another. Generally these birds got the contents of both barrels from the voters. The wet dry—the man who voted for prohibition and soused against it—was hit rather harder than the candidate who voted wet and practiced abstinence. The politi- cal freaks were found in the election almost entirely in states which never have adopted state prohibition. In the thirty-four prohibition states past elections have killed off the wet dry. He is as extinct as the dodo out where the west begins. Two things have killed him—Afirst, the lack of liguor; second, the lack of votes. But in those sections of the country where a cocktail 8till is served be- fore dinner as a sign of soclal dis- tinction the wet dry has his habitat. He wants booze for the rich and pro- hibition for the poor. Until that bird is killed off prohibition in the east still will be an experiment. A few shots llke the New Jersey kill- ing will help to put the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom, into the hearts of the wet dry states- man. A dry vote cannot get away with a wet cellar. The Reds and the Tories. other day Gen. Ludendorf pre- dioted that Germany would turn to bolshevism. Probably the wish ‘was father to the thought. It is one of the happy coincidences of politics that the extremes of politics always hope to see the other win over the moderates. The dripping red would rather -see the ultra-conservative come back than the bourgeoisie. And Ludendorf would naturally rather see bolshevism descend upon Ger- many than to have the present mid- dle-class government stand the strain of the coming winter. It s easy to explain this desire of the extremists for their antipathies to win. For they both know that the middle group will not always stand for the extremes, and in the melee of tip- ping over the house the outs expect to get in. Politics is a great game 1 you don’t weaken, and if you want a job badly emough you never do weaken. Hence the reds cheer for the monarchists and the tories hape for the triumph of the reds. The Optimist. Pos’numn GENERAL WORK ought to write a glad book. He declares that the republican defeat the other day is a.good thing, because it will bring the republicans closer together. We fancy the election en- ticing Bob La’ Folletts and Hank Lodge out in a hoopee putting on a petting party, and Senator Brookhart publicly kissing Senator Moses b2- cause Minnesota defeated Senator Keollogg and New York defeated Calder. *I always wanted to be hanged,” sald thé optimist, “because I'm gired of the way my collar scratches my neck.” . - The Old Red Guard. TBEI passing- of the Appeal to Rea- son from an organ of militant socialism to-the exponent of rampant individualism under a new name marks & eerious change in the litera- ture of what might be called ram- bunctious agitation. For forty long years the Appeal to Reason hag been ‘| the black beast of conservative mid- who fest that| In the Fifty-elght Congress Paged ITALK OF A NEW CENSUS | FOR REAPPORTIONMENT Many Legislators Not Satisfied to Take 1920 Enumeration as Membership Basis. BY WILL P. KENNEDY. EAPPORTIONMENT—the pro- , portionate distribution of ' seats in the national House of Represetatives among the several states In accordance with the decennial census as provided by the Conatitution—is one of the most im- | portant tasks before Congress. Re- turning leaders say it is imperative that legislation should be passed promptly in order that the redistrict- ing may be made before the next presidential election. In fact, some of those who are recognized as consti- tutional end parllamentary experts say that Congress violated the Con- stitution In refusing to perform, be- fore the election recently held, this duty made mandatory by the organic law. There is particular need for quick action by Congress because many public leaders feel that in all fairness a new, speclal census will have to be taken before the reapportionment is made, because the 1920 census was taken during an abnormal period, and it 18 claimed that there has been a big shift in population since then. Effect on Conventions. Urgency of action on this question 15 also emphasized by the fact that the reapportionment will mean changes in the size of delegations to the national conventions of the big political parties. A reapportionment bill which pro- vided for increasing the present mem- bership of the House from 435 to 483 members was amended on the floor of the House, in 1920, cutting the pro- posed 483 to 435, but this was killed in the Senate. In the last session of the present Congress the census com- mittee reported a bill providing for 460 members, and this was recom- mitted. An interesting situation has devel- oped in that Representative Isaac Slegel of New York, the present chair- man of the census committee, Which handles this legislation, is daily ex- Ppecting to be called to the New York state bench and will not be in the next Congress. Under the seniority rule, Representative Louis W. Fair- field of Indiana should succeed Siegel as chairman, and Fairfleld led a group of six members of the commit- tee who filed a minority report which said: “We are opposed to increasing the membership of the House of Répre- sentatives as provided for in the re- ported bill, and favor retaining such membership at the present number— namely, 435.” Speaker Favors Small House. Significant also is the statement made in a speech by Speaker Gillett in his home city, Springfleld, Mass., in effect that a House half the size of the present House, and, with the pay of the memb: oubled, would be conducive to better legislation. If a new census, or enumeration, is made for the purpose of reapportion- ment it will cost approximately $6,- 000,000. There are about 108,000,000 persons at about 5 cents per name. This new enumeration, if made, ought to be simply to establish the number of persons of voting age. The census bureau has included in its schedules a great many Inquiries that are not essential in a special census taken for this purpose. 8o, if the new cen- sus is taken, it should show the sex, age, whether an alien, and if he has taken out naturalization papers. The great difficulty will be to hold in- quiries down, because every one in- terested in an analysis of our popular- tion will want to know something more—nationality, mother tongue, whether he can read and write, wheth- er he lives in his own home or a hented house, occupation, whether he attends school, etc. Te Determime Migration. The principal reason for taking an- other enumeration is to establish ‘whether or not there has been such a great migration from the rural to the urban districts, and especially from the south to the north and east. A great many persons who presume to know contend that the migration which took plice because of the de- mands for war service has been equal- ized\ by the population returning to the original localities. There are many others who insist that the emigrants have not returned in as large num- bers. In these calculations it must not be overlooked that the migration con- tinued over several vears and that it would take many trainloads to carry back hundreds of thousands of per- sons. A great many men who were in actual military service and drawn from rural communities did not return to those communities and the fact p 8 TR 0 S AR L K 2 25 SR NSRRI, 5. IR, 5. 5 L, T e A DI DO B AL L AL A8~ 2 UL T that they stayed away tended to draw others assoclated with them away from the rural communities. The political phase of this problem was shown_in the opposition of the members of Congress from the south, who did not want reapportionment because they feared it would result in reduction of their representation in the House. When reapportionment comes up there is always a scrap be- cause, while it is generally recognized that for efficient work the member- ship should be held down, there are always those who oppose a reduction of the representation of their own state through slump in population. Gains and Losses. TUnder the bill recommitted by the present Congress, which called for an increase of twenty-five members, California would get four new mem- bers; Michigan and Ohlo, three each; New Jersey, New York, Penn- sylvania and Texas, two each, and Arkansas, Connecticut, Georgia, Ilii- nols, Massachusetts, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Wash- ington, one each. The states of Maine and MMissouri would lose one each. This would mean a ratio of 288,- 882 in population for each represe tive. The minority report stressed that this would mean an increased cost of $500,000 on account of the additional members. Leaders in Congress and of public thought say it is hardly fair to make the reapportionment on the census taken under the abnormal conditions prevailing in 1920, . The census bureau says that there would be time to take a new enumer- ation in time to have the redistricting done before the presidential cam- paign. This census should be taken in the spring of 1923. Now, the census can be taken in two ways— (1) de facto, counting the population just where they happen to be on a fixed date, which would re- quire a large number of enumerators all at one time, or (2)the dé jura method, which takes the census ac- cording to the wsual place of resi- dence. It is generally believed that the de jura way would be correct. Methods of Enumeration. Heretofore it has been the practice of the census bureau to appoint supervisors throughout the country and for the supervisors tp appoint enumerators. The enumerators would send their reports o the supervisors and the supervisors would send them in to Washington, where the Wash- ington office would count up the popu- lation and make it public by the various localities. ‘William M. Steuart, director of the bureau of the census, believes that this is not an up-to-date method. He favors the appointing of the super- visors and enumerators as heretofore, but would have the count made in the office of each supervisor as rapidly as the reports come in from the enumer- ators. This would not only spur the supervisors on to complete the work rapidly, but would emphasize the re- sponsibility to get accurate data, be- cause the result would be subjected immediately to the criticism of the people who are interested in the popu- lation of each minor civil division. The majority of the census commit- tee, in making its report, stated that “there has been no reduction in the membership of the House since the act of 1843." Handicap om Efficlency. The minority report said: “We be- leve that the efficiency of the House will not be increased by add- ing to its membership, but such action will result in that body be- coming more unwieldy and cumber- some than it is at the present time. Increased membership means greater delay ir the transaction of the pub- lic business.” The minority report still further points out that “it was not until 1850 that the practice of apportionment so that no state would lose any of its representatives became an apparent policy of Congress. Prior to that time it was common to reduce the number of representatives in various states. Should the reapportionment be made according to the 1920 census, and the House held to its present size —435 members—the gain or loss of representation by states would be as follows: ¥ Gain—California, 3; Michigan. Ohlo, 2; Connecticut, 1; New Jersey, 1; North Carolina, 1; Texas, 1, and ‘Washington, 1. Loss—Missouri, 2; Indiana, 1; Towa, 1; Kansas, 1; Kentucky, 1; Louisiana, 1; Maine, 1; Mississippl, 1; Nebraska, 1; Rhode Island, 1, and Vermont, 1. 67th Congress First in History - To Convene in Four Sessions For the first time in’ the history of | the American Congress, . this, the Sixty-seventh Congress, will hold four sessions. The present third and ex- traordinary session, opening Monday, will close in time for the regular short session to open on the firat Monday in December. Previously there have never been more than three sessions of any Con- gress, although during recent years the three-session Congress has come to be the rule rather than. the excep- tion, Starting with the Sixty-fiirst Congress, that and each succeeding Congress has been expanded into three sessions with the single excep- tion of the Sixty-fourth Congress— the only two-term Congress in four- teen years, 1909 to 1933. g there Fifty-fitth and Firty-third, the Forty- sixth and Forty-fifth, Forty-second, Forty-first and Fortieth, Thirty-sev- enth, Thirty-fourth, Twenty-seventh, Twenty-fifth, Thirteenth, ~Eleventh, Fifth and First. It is interesting to note that in the early days the extra sessions wers held on dates fixed by law rather than at the call of the President, Congress itself deciding if and when extra ses- sions were necessary. The Constitu- tion, in article 1, section 4, provided that ‘the Congress should assemble March 4, 1789, and thereafter “in every year ® * ¢ on the first Monday in De- cember, unless they shall by law &p- point u different day.” Up to and In- cluding May 20, 18: eighteen acts were passed providing for the meet- ing of Congress on r days in the Tt reguieriy on the arst Monday in