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Show THE VALUE OF INVESTIGATIONS Thero Is n protty general agreement agree-ment thnt tho $.".00,000 spent hy tho Industrial Relations Commission, In Its study of iho labor problem, has been wasted. With nearly every mem her of tho board presenting his own Individual report, Congress and tho country will be ns wlso ns before but no wiser. Thorp Is n great tendency In tho stnto leglBlntures os well ob In Congress Con-gress to sidestep hlg questions by handing them ovor to Investigating commissions. When members don't know how to vote or nro afraid to voto their convictions, It Is a great help to refer matters to n commission for study. Tho confiding public nro mndo to feel that thero Ib something doing and tho weak kneed member hns escaped responsibility. Th libraries aro full of material for study of n problem llko tho labor question. A legislator who does not know his own mind can find endless studios of such subjects by tho brightest bright-est peoplo In tho country, who, know qulto ns much about them ns any politically poli-tically appointed committee would over learn. Many legislators take Httlo pains to mnko themselves Intelligent on great public questions. They vo.te tho way tho party whips tell them, nnd spend their tlmo getting plums for constituents, attending to their own prlvnto business, or enjoying sports nnd social life. I Tho really conscientious legislator will find n world of material awaiting his nttentlon or pending problems. It will make his term of servlco a working work-ing one, but his llfo will bo enriched nnd his sympathies enlarged. Whilo technical subjects occasionally need tho service of special Investigating committees, proposals for such Investigations Inves-tigations nro nil to bo vlowcd with suspicion. Thoy nro too often a moans of rellovlng legislators from tnsks thoy should perforin themsolves. |