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Show EARLIER CONGRESSIONAL SESSIONS SESS-IONS ..: Students' of our politicarsyslem have' on a number of occasions directed attention atten-tion to the disadvantages inheret in the existence of the long interval between the time when congressmen are elected and that when they take their seats Thus, under present" practice, without a call from the President to convene in extra sesion representatives elected in Nov. in 'one-year Jdo not' begin their legislative work until the December period, as will be seen, is one of nearly thirteen months, and it is easy to recognizez the force of the argument tha.t under the circumstances circumstan-ces the will of the electorate is not so fresh ly reflected as it would be if Congress con vened at an earlier date after election. Other drawbacks of the present pacticc are that it leaves Congress unorganized for nine months and that too .large an amounts legislation is crowded into the short session with which each Congress comes to an end. More than academic interest in-terest is now lent to the subject by a bill framed by Representative McArthur of Oregon which proposes that in addition to the present regular annual session of congress con-gress as provided by section 4 of the first article of the. Constitution, there shall be a session on each Congress following the present one, commencing at noon the fifth clay of March following the election of such Congress, except when the date falls on Sunday in which case Congress shall convene on the following day. The proposal is a sound and sensible one and there is nothing in the Congress to prevent pre-vent its adoption; indeed, the concluding sentence in section 4 assumes that Congress Cong-ress may if it desires apppint another day than the first Monday of December ftr the annual meeting. Bradstreets. Mi m |