Evening Star Newspaper, December 3, 1922, Page 45

EDITORIAL PAGE NATIONAL PROBLEMS SPECIAL ARTICLES EDITORIAL SECTION The Sunday Star, Society I{ews Part 2—16 Pages PLAN TO BRING CONGRESS CLOSER TO PUBLIC WILL Progressives Push Effort to Have Sen- ators and Representatives Begin Terms in January BY G. GOULD LINCOLN. CRITICISM frequently leveled at the government of the United States is that it is not re-clection. and members of the House in similar case, should not be permitted thereafter to vote on immediately responsive to the |Measures of pelicy, but only on rou- will of the people. following the de- jtine matters. He proposed. too, that of the peeple at the ballot |1he “lame ducks” in Congress should {not permitted to continue to act s« chairmen of standing committees f the Senate and House. For politi- al reasons, if for no other. there is ot the slightest chance of the Cara- | way resolution being adopted. legis- | But the Ashurst proposal to amend . for a similar period after the|the Constitution is a very different ple have clected i ccessor. Al- | matter. It does not appear conceiv- uzh the chief cxecutive of the'able that the states would raise any have been defeated. long with him, in Novem: 150 his party may have lo n the same election control of Con- . he and his party. through con- ntinue to domi- re:mtors who had been defeated for isions e to President continues hol and to direct the affairs of gov it for four months—a third o ar—after his successor has beer ted Congress continues to \to the Constitution if it were submit- 1. ted to them by the Congress for ratifi- cation. In fact, the states, it may be sumed, would gladly concur in the ange. ate the sitnation and enaet the law Need Te tor Womentn: R The enly dificulty is for the move- i only i mistake, hut an injustice e 1o obtain sufficlent momentum 1Ghthe Toters ‘in the Congress. If the proposal Progressives Want Change. ould be taken up in earnest and A new fight is under way to ren ed as a reform measure, then tuation. There have Leen spo- | there is every reason to believe that radic efforts to bring about a change | it would receive the necessary two- in the past. but without success. The | thirds vote in the Senate and in the “progressives,” in Congress and out.| House to put it through and provide Who feel that the recent elections | for submission to the states. As the were a mandate from the people for | Ashurst resolution now stands, it more progressive policies. are in a | cannot be charged that it has a po- =zhting mood to bring alout the|litical bias. It particularly provides roposed change. Senator La Follette [ that the proposed amendment to the “his and objection to the proposed amendment WASHINGTON, D. C, | BY N. O. MESSENGER. OMORROW will mark the opening of the last session of the Sixty-seventh Congress, which will end March 4 next. The current extraordinary ses- sion, which began November 2, will merge into the regular session with but a few hours intervening. President Harding will make his annual address appropriate upon the as- s_embling of Congress in regular session some time early in the week. The address is being looked forward to with great interest by the statesmen on the hill in the hope that he may give some hint | of his attitude of mind toward a possible calling of the Sixty-eighth Congress in ex- traordinary session in the spring. Sentiment is divided on this subject, some of the re- publican Icaders favoring it and others feel- ing that it would be politically unwise. : * ok ok ok What is to be done with the merchant marine bill in the “short” session commenc- | ing tomorrow? It is realized by the admin- | istration supporters that it will be a case of ] “now or never” with the bill. If it is not { emacted into law before March 4, the chances i for favorable action upon any constructive | legislation will be diminished almost to the i vanishing point. The big increase in the i democratic strength in the House and the presence of new senators, supposed to be inimical to the legislation would discourage hope of anything being done in the next Congress. Ii the bill could be brought to a vote in the Senate, it is believed that it would com- mand a majority and pass, but several sena- taxpayers $50,000,000 a country? be allowed to drift ul rates at anchor until time the taxpayers the sea—for that is wl day that present condi the suggestion that th ing a great fleet now ately allow it to disap, * * lation is unthinkable view, to their minds. for a year or two, but No busines: vessels. assert. * If this Congress adjourns without action on the subject the question arises: What is to become of the great fleet of vessels, more than a thousand of them idle, whose upkeep and operation of those at sea is costing the be the future of the merchant marine of this It is incredible to many leading senators and representatives that the situation should Statesmen at the Capitol who favor the policy of a merchant marine are appalled at be replaced by British, Japanese and Scan- dinavian shipping to carry the commerce of the world, as well as our own. To kill the pending bill by a filibuster would be bad enough, they point out, but not to pass some kind of constructive legis- To be sure, existing law relating to the Shipping Board would carry the fleet along countenance such a policy for a day, they The eminent leader of the democrats in year? And what is to ment. that cflect, Fate of Shipping Bill Hangs in Balance As 67th Congress Enters on Last Lap while made in his own behali, was construed as indicating that the demo- crats in the Scnate will not filibuster. Sena- tor Underwood said he favors some kind of a merchant marine policy for this govern- If the measure is killed by dilatory tactics on the republican side, those democrats who ntil the fleet deterio- it is useless, all the shoveling money into hat is happening every ons obtain. he United States, hav- afloat, should deliber- pear from the seas, to * % from every point of oppose the bill on principle would finfl their wishes gratified in the result of the fihl:m.st'er, without having to share in the responsibility. x* ok ok *x There is a suggestion that when the re- publican leadership finds it impossible to pass the Dyer anti-lynching bill, so bitterly op- posed by the democrats, and withdraws th_z! bill or abandons further efforts to press it, the way may be made easier for the mer- chant marine bill. ‘There seems at this time to be no reason- able hope of getting the Dyer bill through during the short session. are absolutely determined that it shall not pass, and are willing to go to any lengths to block it, even to the extent of holding up action on the appropriation bills. Their re- sources in filibustering are apparently inex- The democrats haustible and they have no hesitancy in at a terrific loss to the taxpayers and the daily deterioration of the s corporation would shouldering whatever come from their course. responsibility may * K ¥ * Between tomorrow and March 4 the Sen- ate will have about all it can do, even with the decks cleared of filibusters, to act on * the appropriation bills. The first one, the Treasury Department bill, will be presented | nized as constructive, progressive and INEW SYSTEM IS PROPOSED | FOR ENACTING D. C. LAWS Would Place Iniative With Commission- ers, Congress Retaining the Power of Veto. BY WILL P. KENNEDY. RIGHTER days for the Na- tional Capital, over which Congress has exclusive juris- diction, are in prospect through legislative reforms now urg- ed by members of both big political parties in Congress who are recog- forward looking. How to get action on needed legis- lation for the capital city, which is now thwarted, not by the unwilling- ness of Congress to act, but because legislative proposals affecting the District of Columbia are continually being shunted out of the way for some urgent measure of general in- terest, is the problem. The reorganization of the House with the new Congress, coming in March 4 next, offers an unusually g00d opportunity to try out a pro- posed new plan for handling District affairs. Outline of Proposal. In a nutshell, Congress is asked (1) to appoint a join committee of the Senate and House to expedite District legislation, and (2) to give to the District Commissioners au- thority to put in force all minor laws for the federal city through a system of “administrative orders” subject to) veto by Congress. The proposal for a joint committee was made in a resolution submitted to the House about nine months ago the membership of the important com= mittees and when the House District committee will have a new chairman and ten or more new members, zome forward-looking members in both House and Senate are stressing the advantages of joint committee con- deraiton of District measures and { Urging that this is a particularls ap- propriate time to try it out. Four Pending Proposals. The resolution for a joint commiit- tee ,instead of the present =tanding committees of the Serate and House, introduced by Representative Moore, is the first of four propositions. The others are: A more liberal allowance of time in the House for consideration of Dis- trict matters. Estimates to be prepared by the Commissioners and submitted to Con= gress, instead of by the budget bu- Sling in the joint committee au- I thority to report appropriations, in- stead of continuing that authori the single committee of the House, and at the same time permitting legisla- tion on the District aprpopriation bLill The justification for exceptional pro- cedure with reference to the District lies in the fact that the District sit- uation is itself altogether exceptional, Check on Extravagance. | “1t 1s casy to see.how mucn simplicity, directness and expedition would attach to the proceedure I have suggested,” says Representative i by Representative R. Walton Moore, democrat, of Virginia. on which no| ™0 e taken. The| taine no menace to the pul c Interes:. | Constitution shall not become ef- fective until after March 4, 1925. the | term of President in the House sometime this week and it will tors have made known their intention to op- be followed by others as fast as they are | pose it with every resource of obstruction the Senate, Senator Underwood, held in high Moore. “At the same time it con- esteem by democrats in both houses, dis- have the newly el date on which the : ; E < laction has yet been" = : 3 nd g Harding expires. and also the date possible, and this would seem to indicate a claims intention of filibustering against the ground out by the committec. which has | strongest possible support for this Extravagant estimates by the Con:- < possible after its He | on which the newly elected Congress filibuster. merchant marine bill. His announcement to been at work since November 20. iproposal is found in the first volume | Missioners would be rescnted by the ~ it very suceinetly: will o out of existence. Of course, . | “Legisiative Procedure™ of a zet of|laXpavers. as well as Ly Cougress The joint committee would be able tu give quick consideration of all mat- i four works on “The Science of Legis- - hation.” Just off the press, which rep-{ : | publicans sat in the Senate and a|reqents more than ten vears work | ters. including appropriations, and | close majority for the renuhtllcanslhln by Representative Robert Luce, re.|¥0uld be able to save injurious de- the House. The lmtblll;fll f::'lmr: publican, of Massachusetts, who was | 2Y in the enactment of legislation lmLuxe we:tu tl::e. ::;x‘uc;:e:am 0% la member of the general court of|bY lnc:‘rm')rann;"le‘ulznuon in n:: | who came 3 Massachuset _ | appropriation 5. very repol | most of the democrats who came trom L8 Tor nine years, & mem 1 ask would propose | the resolution might be amended so sreat business organization [as to have it apply to the terms of continue to operated Y | president Harding and the incoming reed employes | Congress, but there is some question Senator Curtis of Kansas, republi-ias to whether it could be made to can whip of the Senate, has upolnr--dinww. since the President was elected, himself in faver of some change in)yunpder the Constitution, to serve for ized and soon many hundreds of an-l prentices will be enrolled under lhe‘ following conditions: Boys with a minimum age of sixteen are enrolled, note being taken of their personal “AS I SEE IT.” the present system, so that the new |four years, and his four years will Congress shall get into actien more | not have been completed until March quickly 4, 1925, and the Congress-elect was Senator Ashurst ¢f Arizona. demo- | chosen to serve for two years from crat, is the author of 2 resolution.|)arch 4. 1923. It is doubtful that now pending before the ju the effect of the amendment could be tmittec, which proposes @ consti- | made retroactive. that the terms il Viee President the Unitar Atates shall commence | One Short-Term President. tut whenever the change is made it third Monday fn January fol-)giil result in one President having lection of the presiden- [his term shortened by a couple of tial and presidential electors. - months and one Congress suffering in His resolution provides also that the | the same way. terms of senators and representa- | Under the Constitution as it stands tives shall commence on the firstjtoday. Congress must assemble “at Monday in January following their |least once in every year, and such election. meeting shall be on the first Monday | in December. unless they shall by law appoint a different day.” This resolution has been referred | rhe new Congress, which was elect- to @ subcommittee of the ‘judiclary |{.; November 4, will not begin to tawing the vice Hearing on Resolution. committee, consisting of Semator | fynction until the'first Monday In De- Cummins of Iowa, chairman. and|.omper, 1923. thirteen months after nators Brandegee of Connecticut|yig election, unless a special session #nd Walsh of Montana. It was in-i,¢ the new Con should be called April 12, 1921, a year and 4!y (h, President after March 4, 1923, and nothing has been done hen the present Congress dies. The 1 But nextipuc of the members-elect. however, Tuesday the subcommittes is 1o €on- | ]l begin to run with the expiration duet a hearing on the resolution. at! o the old Congress March 4. which a committee of the American Bar Assoclation, headed by William Law Fixed March Session. working experience and education. They are then placed with a contrac- tor at an initial wage of $2.70 for an eight-hour day. The apprenticeship {covers a period of eight terms of six I‘months each. term the apprentice receives an in- {crease—5 per cent per hour for the leven terms, alternating with a 10 per cent increase for the odd terms. That months he receives an increase of 3 !per cent, etc. At the end of the sec- ond year of his apprenticeship he is receiving between $5 and $6 a day, and during the last six months nearly $8. As a youth of twenty completes his apprenticeship he will graduate as a journeyman at §9 a day, Instead of working as a laborer as at present for from 40 cents to 60 cents an hour, with no present in view and nothing to which to look forward. Practically since the beginning of | American industry this country has v‘hern largely dependent on the huge volume of immigration for me- chanical workers and skilled la- | borers, and this labor sufficed up until fifteen years ago, when the tide of immigration changed and, in- At the end of each| is, at the beginning of the second #ix ! ! stitutions By William Note—In publishing this ar- ticle by the brilliant editor of the Emporia 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 entertaining style, and a discriminating public will place its own valuation upon the opinions he advances. HE resignation of Senator New- berry two weeks after the election wherein he was re- buked In his own state, and clearly contributed to the defeat of nine other senators, made manifest the flaming sword of public opinion— above law. above courts and Sen- ates, and above all the organized in- of orderly government. This flaming sword of public opinion is not often needed: but it is alwaxvs ,rend.\: And. when due processes of law thwarts the determinated will of the majority, the people have a way lLowell Putnam of Boston, is to pre- During the troubulous days of An- drew Johnson's administration the matter of the long delay in Congress getting into action, following its elec- tion, came to the fore and a law passed, as Congress had the right un- sent arguments in support of the pro- posal to change the date of the in- coming of Congress and the inaugu- ration of the President. Senator La Follette has told thei stead of thrifty, well educated and|of cutting across their own institu- hard-working Scotch, English, Irish,|tions and going straight to their de- French, Germans and Scandinavian|sire. They “move in a mysterious nationalities, there has been coming|way but, 1tke the bed bug of immer- from southern Europe an Influx of{ts] song, “they get there just the unskilled laborers having a large|same. percentage of lliteracy among them.| Now these remarks should be em- committee that if his engagements will permit, he, too, will appear and urge the adoption of a constitutional amendment. Recent Senate Proposal. The opposition to having men who have been defeated at the polls con- tinue to take a part in framing the lagislative policies of the govern- ment recently broke out in another n the Senate. Senator Caraway 1y proposing that way offered a rve: n der the existing Constitution pro- visions, to have the first session of the new Congress assemble immedi- , ately after the old Congress had ex- pired in March. continued for gress This practice was two or three Con- Gdown again the demand for the earlier meeting of new Congresses was aban- doned, and the old practice of having the uew (ongress meet first cembe in De- unless called in special ses- Plan to Make Apprentices_hip <. But when things had quieted | Generally H: Trades. The northern Europeans generally knew a trade and represented highly skilled labor by training In the mother countries, where it was man- datory by statute for all persons to ! lines. embryo American citizens arrived in jour harbors, the docks were lined | with employment agents seeking duction was high. living costs were low and labor was happy. Unfortu- nately. we have seen the reversal of this condition in the last decade, clminating In the acute situation in the building industry today, brought about very naturally by American in- ‘lhpir services., No one was Idle, pro- be versed in mechanical and skilled ; - As boatloads of these varjous|don’t monkey with the buzz saw, un- blazoned in red and gold upon the heart of Attorney General Daugherty. Exactly the same forces in our poli- tica are after him that set upon Tru- man Newberry. Call it a mob If you care to; jeer at its inconsistency and blind madne But, nevertheless, less perchance you desire to walk into it and come out in two parts, with the law and the precedents and the indorsement of the powers that be on one side of the buzz saw and your Job on the other side, each side neatly separate from each other. These first fine, fair days of the short session of Congress would seem to be a divinely appointed time for Mr. Daugherty to go on mlssion, leav- In Building Trades Attractive WAKING to the realization that unless drastic steps were tak- en the American building in- dustry was facing disintegra- tlou, due to meglect of the industry to perpetuate itself by providing movement has been started by con- struction interests to revive the old apprenticeship system of producing skiled labor. The fact that Europe has ceased to he the training school for the United States brought about an acute situa- tion in the bullding Industry, which is being reflected in all the basic in- dustries contributing to a finished dwelling, from the mining of the coal to the manufacture of hardware, tile. glass, electric fixtures, heating appa- ratus and the hundred and one neces- sitles upon which a contractor de- pexds. The danger of further neglecting the labor question was emphasized when the demand for building reached pres- ent heights, with indications that the peak will be maintained for some time 10 come, provided enough labor was at hand te do its part. Never in the his- tory of the country has there beea such & demand for building as there is today, and never before have manu- means for training skilled labor, a|COnEress has put York Gov. Miller, was the man obtained to inaugurate “modern apprenticeship” to have been initiated through the efforts of Herbert Hoover. and which will find a similar portrayal in the larger development and organization of the American Sonstruction Council, headed by Franklin D. Roosevelt. This Iy butlding without reducing the wage scale. The system, which constitutes a modernization of the apprenticeship plan of the middle ages, bolstered by experience gaind during the world war in creating especially skilled la- bor, has the indorsement of the Bulld- ing Trades Employes’ Assoclation, as well as the Bullding Trades Unions, both of which are contributing to the support of the propoaition, Frank Lawrence Glynn, whe re- cently was selected to develop the new reclamation program for New ate prisons being initiated by for the bullding congress. Mr. Glynn was formerly associated with the United States Department of Labor in the training of munition workers on war production. He established the first vocational fraining educa- into operation a;today, system of training that will ultimate- | ing modern apprenticeships, “but the it is belleved, reduce the cost of | dustries making no preparation to|ing the Attorney General's office for perpetuate themselves. Unfortunate- |some more useful branch of the serv- ly, this state of affairs was un-|ice of his government. Of course, the recognized until post-war activities|storm may blow over. But it has been brought about the realization that{a long time brewing—at least out the training of the American youth|west—from the same political weather had been sadly deficlent in mechancal |breeders that produced the cyclones { lines. ! of greenbackism, popullsm and pro- ‘Man power 1s the important -thing | gessivism. Each of thess disturbances states Mr. Glynn, in discuss- |left a high mortality list among con- rvative atesmen, who stood up man power must be intelligent and|facing the breese with a closed mind | the Industry as a whole must be con- [and an open faw, And the sad part of | sclous in its responsibility to the pub- |it all was that the sacrifice did no lic in absorbing young men as well | particular good, These statesmen who as creating efficlent and self-support- withstood the mob, as they call it, ing citizens who will render produc- [found that in & few years their fel. tion at a saving wage and produce |low conservatives were busy enacting homes within the income of the av- [the very legislation which the martyrs erage family. died to check. And it will do no good “What we are really aiming te 4o |for Mr, Daugherty to deck himaself in the New York building congress|up in a martyr's hale bennet and go is to have employer, labor and edu-|dewn protesting ageinst the legality cator join hands around a table of |of his position, Ballinger did that. common interest and achievement to |So did Lerimer, fo just yesterdsy did the end that the gulf may be bridged |Newberry, A martyr's crewn looks between production, better laber and |easy to achleve, But it does net al- lower costs through the systematic|ways jell! creation and conservation of our vast| Freedom shrisked when -Koschuske human resources. * Yoell; but she just giggled tho ether Buflding Trades Handlcapped. day when another statesman hit on “Never in history were the build-|3ll fives to gass up at the eternal stars. And Mr. Harry Daugherty ing trades so handicapped as they are today. It is estimated we have|®6°ms to be the next in line. less than 60 per cent of the skilléd mechanics we had befors the war, ‘Why This Excitement. tional system now in operation in ‘Wisconsin and Connecticut; performed the experimental work in the early New York state development and dur- ing 1913 passed a year in European countries, investigating similar werk for the United States bureaun of edu- eation. During the last six months the old industrial systepa » moderns facturers been in a position to create such huge quantities of builders’ supplies, due to their wide expan- sidn, to meet war needs. Backed by Labor Umioms, The first concrete move on the part of the building industry to oreate killed Iabor has just been made by FNew York Bylldmg Congress, said' while the productien of the average workman today is materlally less than it was eight years ago. The shortage has resulted in New York city, where standard wages agreel upon by employers and unions run from §5 te $10 per eight heurm, in Ten being paid in many linss.a bonus of from 50 te 75 per cent on a straight working eyt L . HE referendum was invoked in four American .states upon the Volstead act. In one state the refer- endum was mapely advisery and foy months before the election the dry leaders advised thely {ollowers (o igners the pefevendum, was Illinsis, and, 6f convws, the wets won. . Ip thres ethey giates” the refey- eadum st adwisory, Jt was ]rn.a the treaty and the covenant and lntuy the treaty and let the covenant Allen White. mandatory. And there was a finish fight. The wets won in the wet state lof Massachusetts and the drys won in jthe dry state of Ohio and in the wet {state of California, where prohibition never had-won before. In the wet states the wets won, sometimes under the republican banner, sometimes un- der the democratic banner, and in the dry states the drys won under both banners. The drys have a slightly increased majority in Congress, and, as no dry state at the election went wet and as one wet state went dry, thers is noth- ing In the election for either the wets or the drys to get excited about. As a matter of fact, prohibition is up- held by & majority of the states and the eastern seaboard states might as i well get used to it. Light wines and {beer will never come back in America, {We shall be ten or a dozen s sop- ipicg up the moisture east of the Alle- ghenies, but sooner or later tie motsture will disappear, and in the meantime it will get drier and drier and the man who thinks his personal liberty 1s cramped will find the crimp getting tighter and tighter. Con- tributing money to wet associations 15 & good thing. It keeps the money lln circulation that might otherwise H &0 to bootleggers, and It keeps men in nice, light, airy offices who other- ‘wise might de bootlegging. And in the end nothing will come out of it all but pleasant conversation and more dry law: So why this excitement? Clemencean. LEMENCEAU still remains the old ! Clemenceau of the peace confer- ence, the man who more than any one else is responsible for the failure of the league of nations. For he wrote force with claws into the treaty. The treaty and the covenant of the league would not mix. The treaty provided for a peace based upon force. The league provided for peace based upon reason. Wilson wrote the covenant with the aid of the English who sym- pathized with its fdealism. ceau wrote the treaty with the aid of the English who liked its loot. The French at one time during the conference thought they would sepa- Clemen- walt, just as they are letting the treaty of the Washington arms con- ference wait. Wilson thought that the treaty would be so popular at home that he could get the covenant through with the treaty. It was a bad guess. The treaty finally killed the covenant. And now comes Clemenceau to America to justlfy the treaty, to preach the doctrine of suspicion and hate, to try to make America accept the military gospel which America re- jected when Briand preached it last year. America will listen to Clemen- ceau, but will not follow him. So long as Briand and Clemenceau reprs sent Europe America will do well no to crowd in teo far, Sooner or later the leadership of Hurope will learn that force will not replace reason in the modern world, ' When that les- son 'is thoroughly in the heart of ‘Europe America may help the world with her advice and oounsel, backed with such power and inflience in the world of commerce as. a trading na- tion may have. But not now. In the meantime, how much stronger France would be with the moral support of America than France is with all her arms and dreams of empiye! PPARENTLY¥ the eleation means | cally. {hot, isage fiom the White House {by some legislation that will set all the lawyers in Congress crying “un- | to negative. | west of the Alleghenies are rather| | militant progressives, does not seem ito have penetrated the presidential ,mind. Hence the message urging the ship .subsidy. Hence we hear at the ‘White House talk of “a year of peace.” The President may cry “Peace, eace,” but in the agricultural west there will be no peace. It will be war until the conditions which are de- pressing the midwestern farmer are changed. Chlefly they desire relief from oppression in marketing, trans- portation and credit. And until he gets relief the midwestern farmer 1s £oIng to vote with the democrats, or with labor, or with & third party, or with any old fraud who will promise something. The farmer is mad. Talk of a year of peace will make him see red, and he will vote his emotions, his suspi- cions and his prejudices if the repub- lican party does not take up his case | i proving and consider it drastically, even radi- The occasion demands a red- rip-snorting Rooseveltian mes- backed ber of the governor's council as lleu- tenant governor, of its constitutional convention of 1917-19, and of the Con- 1gress of the Uited States. The recommendation that authorit. with the check of congressional veto, should be given to the District Com- missioners to issue administrative orders embodying the bulk of legisla- ition for the eapital city, as a matter |of expedition. economy and efficiency, is made in Representative Luce’s bool He promises that this recommenda- tion will be developed in a subsequent volume now in the hands of the print- er. Successtul is Eagland. Repreesntative Luce’s argument is that the Commissioners, or some other responsible authority in the National Capital, ought to shape all the legis- lation for the District in the same way that administrative legislation s now handled ih England and which is successful under a hat has been devecloping for morc han a century. This, he points out. would chanse the attitude of Congress from positiv made by the joint committee would of course, be subject to the security and disapproval of either or both houses of Congress, and, of coursc. open to amendment, as are other measures. “Unless there is some chan { Representative Moore predicts, . iare likely g0 from bad te worsc. It will necessarily take considerabi: time to try out the effort to secure a constitutional amendment, giv District residents national representa- tion, and meanwhile new processes tem | It would still keep con- ! stitutional,” as they cried at the pure;trol in Congress, but would not re- of legislation are needed. It is a delusion to think that the presence of a District delegate in the Houso would affect the situation very ma- terially without a reform in the pres- ent proceedure.” Trges Joint Committee. Representative Luce devotes an ei- tire chapter in his book to recomi- mendation that Congress adopt the joint committee system, for all but !the procedure committers which do !not pass judgment on the « Luins and engrossed bills. He believes that a joint com- mittee on District affairs would prove {to Congress the desirability of ex- food and drug act, at the Adamson!quire affirmative legislation on minor | tending the system. lone knows where the war’ will end. law, at the Volstead act, and at all | matters. the really forward-moving legislation | system, of the last twenty years. Instead of which we have a beauti- fully considered argument for the ship subsldy—logical, but & mild and tnnocuous bevo served to a thirsty | public demanding a real kick. An Excess of Liberty. IOCKOUT in the bullding trades 4 is threatened in New York city, If it comes, hundreds of thousands of innocent people will suffer. The polnt | Luce argues of controversy is not important. But. “The evil of the present He points out that the state of says Representative Luce, | Massachusetts uses the joint com- “is that Congress has so much to do|mittee system for the bulk of its that inevitably it shirks what in com- | legislative work, with some of the parison are minor matters. re-{ways and means business and the sponds to the instinct that It is ab-|judiclary business transacted im surd to use the ponderous machinery separate meeting. Connecticut also of governmental action for deciding | uses the system to a considerable ex- such questions as whether a street shall be opened or closed, etc. Safeguard in Congress Veto. “The reasonable thing to do.” Mr. is to intrust all these matters to some agency, while provid- large or small. the controversial point;in& the safeguard of a congressional plus the temperament of certain labor leaders and certain employers will bLring on a small industrial war. The !veto. 1o be used whenever the emer- !gency arises.” In explaining the Eng- {lish system Representative Luce em- i small war alwayvs is a menace. It is a | phasizes that some provisional orders tent. Rhode Island, New Jersey and Wisconsin legisiatures do part of their work through joint committees. Severzl states have them on matis of finance. Trials H: | The present joint conumittee on 1 trict school inquiry, which has recom- mended a comprehensive program of {legislation for the school system of {the National Capital, is an encourag- ve Beem Succesaful. communicable social disease, and no|do mot take effect at all until they |y Gon Probably a year and a half from now an ihave been approved by parliament; others take effect at once, but may expensive committee of the legislature | later on be annulled by parliament. or the city government will delve into “The latter .course seems perfectly the facts and decide that both parties|safe to use for the District govern- | were more or less wrong. But that will not.stop the war. Why should not soclety have a right to func- tion as a going concern without the menace of this little war threatening maladjustment of a whole or any part of the economic structure? Surely labor and capital have no rights to brawl paramount to the right of socfety to an adjudication of this matter. It is not a question of arhitration or conciliation, nor any of the games of chance that we use for settling industrial disputes. We should have an industrial code: we should collect the facts of industry. We should know the approximate accuracy about what {s right and wrong, and as organized soclety under‘ government, the non-combatants of the industrial war should proclaim justice and estab- lish it, How that should be done s, of course, up to statesmen. But it should be. done, Here is & case where too much liberty is & bad thing. —_— A New Laber Bank. L BANK -has just been organised in New York backed entirely by organized labor, with a surplus of $1,000,000, Last summer the striking coal miners borrowed from a con- servative New York bank $100,000 upon perfectly good security, In different parts of tne middle west the Tajiroad brotherhoods and other high-class' Jsbor organizations are establishing successful banks, The savings of such unions as are highly speclalised and ably orgmaized, like the garment workera and the building trades, zun Into- the millions, and these savings ssem to be dscently hushanded. The werkers _-not [ on ment,” Representative Luce says. “barring. perhaps, appropriations. It is possible that these ought to await annual confirmation.” Congress it not averse to acting on District legislation, he insists, but is tled up In its own cumbersoms pro- cedure. He makes this recommenda- tion as a short cut to “get action.” Members of Congress are glving a clbse reading to Representative Luce's work on “Legislative Procedurc.” and in this they find the preliminary urge for “a dose of common-sense” toward leglslation for the capital in thi: definite recommendatio Applied to Departments. “Using the same principle so advan- tageously deveolped in England, the initiative in the affairs of the District of -Columbia should be taken almost wholly out ef Congress. Whatever the administering body for the Dis- trict, its ordinances and appropria- tions should be subject only to & ter:- possibility of review, The same principle ought to be extended to much of the administrative detail of the departments now drawing away the attention of Congress from the broad questions of policy that ought to engrose its capacities and that by themselves would amply oc- cupy its time, «“Observe that these proposals fmply no criticism whatever of the falthful- ness or public spirit of the membara of Congress. No dereliction of duty fy implied. No fault is found wita pur- pose or policy, Here ia nothing but mattey of technique, propounded sole- ly ‘with mechanical efficlency in mind.” | With the new Congress coming i when great holes have been tora if Representative Luce emphasizes (that in April, 1922, standing com- mittees of Senate and House came | together for hearings on the Presi- for ship subsidy, which has just passed the House. The Tecent report from the joint congres- sional committee on agricultural in- quiry, which will be of particular value when President Harding makes his address to Congress, urging im- proved farm credits, is another recent illustration of how time and money can be saved, and duplication of hearings and reports corrected through the joint committee system. Many members of Congress are fm- dent’s proposal pressed by the many -and forcelul-— ~ * larguments made by Representative {Luce as a result of ten years’ study, recommending the use of joint com- mittees for the bulk Jf legislagive Willis Rich Appointed to Inquiry Division ‘Willls H. Rich, who bhas bee: nected with the investigation Pacific coast salmon fisheries for the past ten vears. has be pointed ass'stant in charge of t| vision of scientific ing o Tnited States bureau of fipheri Mr. Rich has been associated| Dr. Charles H. Gilbert of S University, who has recentls mal vestigations of the salmon fisherills in the Alasks peninsular fisheries res- ervation, In which he conferred with the people In the peninsular reserva- tion on the question of permits th: are to be issued for the coming year, Dr. Gilbert was recently in Washd ington conferring with officials of the bureau of fisheries ing the fisheries conditions he found in the reservation, which was created las§