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Show can membership In the International I Court of Justice that pressure will Vie brought to benr. upon the senate to induce in-duce It to sanction the proposal. It now generally is believed in Washington Wash-ington that the quick transmittal to the senate In the last days of the last session of the Hughes explanation explana-tion of the International Court proposal pro-posal was prompted by two things, a faint hope that It might produce action ac-tion at once, and the larger hope that the people would read the secretary's explanation, and would take It to mean what the administration holds It to mean, that membership In the tribunal tri-bunal does not necessarily mean entrance en-trance into the League of Rations, or even the opening wedge for such an entrance. Of course It Is impossible to say what the result of the President' ' speeehmnklng will be, but Wushingtou students of past situations widen resemble re-semble the present one say that generally gen-erally the people, If properly approached, ap-proached, are much more likely to approve ap-prove the nction of a President than to approve of a disposition to counteraction counter-action by congress. The President, the argument la, Is an individual and moreover, he Is the President. Furthermore Furth-ermore he speaks, directly and personally, per-sonally, and underlying everything that he says there Is the basic appeal of his high office, an office to which the people have chosen him. Would Go Over Heads of Solons. IWfflS SHIES SMI HARD TO "GET BY" IN WASHINGTON WASHING-TON ON $7,500 A YEAR, SOLONS SAY. BILL ASKS $2,500 INCREASE Senators and Representatives Do Not Complain Openly, but Drafts on Their Purses Are Heavy, Including Charity Demands, Loans, etc. 1 By EDWARD B. CLARK j Washington. It probably can be taken for granted that most of the members of congress elected last fall are hoping In their hearts that by some fortuitous chance the bill that Representative Upshuw presented to Increase the pay of senutors and representatives rep-resentatives from $7,500 to $10,000 a year will be sanctioned so that they can reap the benefit. Generally speaking, It may be said tiie chances seem to be that the Incoming In-coming congress will withhold Its approval ap-proval of the Upshaw measure, not because It does not want the money but because of fear of criticism from the country. It may seem strange to men of smnll salaries to hear that a great ninny congressmen, who are not spendthrifts, spend-thrifts, by any manner of means, have a hard time living on their Incomes, at lenst while In the city of Wash- lngton. As a rule senators and members mem-bers do not complain openly, but the drafts on their purses are heavy, not only to meet the bigl cost of living In Washington but to meet charity demands, de-mands, loan demands and many other kinds of demands. It was not so many years ago that the senators and members of congress con-gress voted an Increase in their salaries sal-aries from $5,000 to $7,500, At the same time there was nn Increase voted in the salaries of many other officers of government. The excuse was the high cost of living, and as America probably realized, It was more or less a legitimate excuse. The Increase passed with burely a word of protest from the country. It may not be so, however, If an attempt Is ' nmde to tack another twenty-rive hundred on to the existing congressional wage. Some Urge $20,000 a Year. There are some Americans who have trged that representatives and senators In congress should be paid at least $20,000 a year. Men who have urged this have said the comfortably large Hilary would Induce men of high position po-sition and professional attainments to enter politics and thus the country would benefit by better-considered legislation. This argument may or may not be well based. As things are today, the average ability In congress con-gress Is fairly high, but not exceptionally excep-tionally high. In truth, the Judgment of men seems to be that representation representa-tion In the two houses of congress Is that of the average quality of American Ameri-can mentality and American manhood, and that this quality Is Just what the spirit of our Institutions demands. Some years ago, before the great war, congress raised the pay of fcrmy officers and did It ungrudgingly, for It was shown that with the Increase In-crease In prices of things the army men could not live on their pay and keep out of debt. It was Just about this time also Unit the pay of the President of the United States was Increased, and with the lncreuse there was the passage of a bill providing pro-viding for money to pay the President's Presi-dent's traveling expenses. Carrying out their arguiueut the administration's ad-ministration's friends suy that con-g-ess almost lnvariubly represents a variety of views, and that because of the conflict of emotions and expressed opinions In the two houses, the President, Pres-ident, who has only one emotion and one opinion to express, Is more likely to be heeded by the country. Of course, ail this means simply nn appeal to the people over the heads of senators sen-ators and representatives It Is said In Washington that this apparently is what President Harding Intends to do, and bis friends express the hope that with his gift for appealing speeches, and with the prestige of his high position, po-sition, lu will be able to make the impression that he desires and to reap the beneht thereof when congress comes together once more. The friends of the administration's policy of entrance In the International Court of Justice admit that the first proposal to the senate was discouraging. discour-aging. There wns only one Repub-Ucan Repub-Ucan who, when the Democrats for reasons of their own proposed to give support to the presidential plan, was willing to vote In behalf of the administration admin-istration endeavor. Of course the circumstances cir-cumstances In this particular case were exceptional, and the Republican senators naturally did not want It to appear that they were following a Democratic lend In the matter. Woodrow Wilson when he was President Pres-ident was stricken while making a tour of the country o t behalf of his League of Nations proposal. He had made only a few sneeches of appeal to the people before Illness overtook him. Many Measures Fall. Thousands of bills failed of passage at the last session of congress. The Sixty-seventh congress died, and every ev-ery bill died with it. There must be a resurrection of every measure meas-ure which died and was burled If renewed re-newed life Is to be given the legislation legisla-tion suggested. When a congress dies proposed legislation dies with It. Moving operations still are In progress. prog-ress. Of course In one sense the departure de-parture of men disappointed of re-election was a moving spectacle, but the moving which Is taking place now Is such as Is seen in many & city of the country on that moving dny of nil moving dnys. May first. Out of the house and senate office buildings personal per-sonal belongings of senators and members mem-bers are going dally. The men who failed of re-election will have In their houses Borne perhaps more or less painful pain-ful reminders of their active days as It was Theodore Roosevelt who, while president, urged thut an allowance allow-ance be made to the chief officer of government for his expenses while traveling. Roosevelt however, was cureful to ask that the luw granting the money for transportation should not take effect until he had gone out of office. There have been times when con gress showed an evident desire to grub a little something to put down to Its own cash account. About fifteen years ago one session of congress lasted until noon of the December day thut the new session began. The representatives rep-resentatives urgued they . were entitled en-titled to mileage for the new session, ulihougli they already had drawn mileage to puy their way to Washington Washing-ton for the previous session, and of course there was no chance to go home and buck again between sessions when one merged Into the other, as was the case in this Instance. The representatives looked about for someone who would be brave enough to put In a bill providing for jnlleugo for miles never traveled. They had great difficulty In finding a volunteer. Finally, however, they Induced In-duced a representative who afterwards became vice president of the United States to introduce the mileage bill. It should be suld for lilm that he believed be-lieved technically the mileage measure wns legitimate. He Introduced the bill nnd the house somewhat vociferously vocifer-ously approved. Then came not a murmur but a roar from the country. The representatives were called grafters and other things not quite so polite. Harding Plans Twenty Speeches. It Is understood that President Harding on his early summer trip through the country will make twenty twen-ty speeches In twenty principal places. Men dose to the administration administra-tion say that It Is the Intention of the President to try to create such public sentiment in behalf of Ameri-I national legislators. Congress, In a way, however. Is not defunct. There are several committees commit-tees of congress which are here nnd are working. The members on these committees of course ore confined to holdover congressmen either of the senate sen-ate or of the house. One committee Is Investigating the street railway situation sit-uation of the national capital. There has been a demand here for five-cent fnres, and so a committee of congress, which Is really the city council of Washington, will dig Into matters to see whether or not. as the petitioners claim, the companies can make money out of five cents a passenger, or whether wheth-er or not, as the companies claim, they will go Into bankruptcy If uny such cut In rate Is attempted. Prior to this the story hns been told of what the capltol looks like In summer, sum-mer, nml what Is done to It In the way of cleaning nnd repairing. There are other things, however, which must be done by the persons who bold executive execu-tive positions In the capltol. Contracts must be made for supplies for tiie comfort of congressmen during the coming year. The lawmakers need tow-els tow-els nnd stationery, and ice, and scores upon scores of other things to keep them contented and more or less happy hap-py when the two houses are In session. ses-sion. All these tilings must be contracted con-tracted for and be ready for delivery on the dot. AH the documents which benr on legislation, proposed or enacted during dur-ing the last congress, must be preserved pre-served for reference purposes for congresses con-gresses which are to come. There Is an almost appalling number of these documents. It Is necessary to sepnrata them into subjects and to Index them, and to store them where they may be available for reference purpose? in the next congress or the congresses thereafter there-after Of course It Is possible to classify clas-sify most of the bills with reference to the committees which gave them consideration. This helps. |