Show V flip 71 A remedy for some 7 me forms of sef ish legislation i on reprinted from f rom an article by theodore Roosevelt ln tho the outlook by special arrangement with the outlook of which theodore roosevelt la Is contributing editor copyright 1910 by the outlook company all rights reserved i HE august number of the worlds work contains tin an article which Is of interest to all who are concerned in the vital subject to which we give the somewhat fog gy title of political reform the article for obvious reasons anon anonymous Y is written by a member of congress who the editors of the worlds work say has served for foi more than ten years in the house of representatives has acted on many tin important committees committee and has been successful ces ful in getting things for ills his constituency the article is described as showing the reason why the pork barrel special tariff favors and private pension bills become law tho the reason being to quote the words of the author that the dictum of the constituency to the congressman is get all you can for US there are no restrictions placed upon his me method th of getting it until the american amerl in people themselves become more national and less local until constituencies cease cease to regal their congressmen as a solicitors at the national treasury congress will con dinue to enact iniquitous groups of los lo 10 s cal favors into national legislation this serious charge against the american people for which there is unquestionably altogether too much justification the author proceeds to substantiate lato by relating some of ills his own experiences with constituents which how however ever surprising they may seem to the general reader will seen seem almost commonplace to all who know how the average constituency does in factual actual practice treat its congressman the writer wilter sets forth the fact that in the first place ninety per cent of tho the letters which a congressman receives are requests for special favors to be obtained in some way or other directly or indirectly from the united states treasury for instance while the payne aldrich tariff law was un der discussion this particular congressman received in ili may 1909 the following letter from the secretary of a powerful ful commercial association in lils his district 1 I have been instructed by the board of directors director of this association to advise you that at special meeting may 20 a resolution copy of which Is was unanimously adopted urging our representatives in ili congress to use every endeavor to have the present tariff in ili me mentioning alir three e of the products of the industries referred to increased one cent per pound and the present tariff on mentioning the other ither two products increased half a cent per pound I 1 wish to further advise h you that we have heard board from senator and lie he informs us that lie he 4 will take care of this matter in the 1 senate fl when the bill was finally passed the congressman succeeded in adding s half a cent a pound to the duty on oll two of these products and in preventing any reduction on oil the others A conr later when the popular clamor against the bill had become acute the same association that had asked ta v him to vote for increases wrote to the congressman denouncing the bill as the most iniquitous measure ever enacted by congress and requesting him to explain by letter why he had voted with the reaction reactionaries harles to pass i the bill when it was pointed out to the association that it had urged the te congressman jp obtain an all increase of N duty on the abo products in which it was interested it dropped its demand for an explanation an influential newspaper pub published in ills his district adl tori tor ally Jally commended him while the bill was under debate for his intelligent efforts to increase the duty on manufactured articles in which the district was interested and a year later the same newspaper in ili the sanie same editorial column denounced him as one of the legislative ban dittl responsible for the payne aldrich measure X id 1 n 11 river and harbor legislation is an other field in which local selfishness busies itself to the exclusion of national needs in ili this case requests are not made by letter but by del delegations lega which come to washington besieging their senators and representatives there ere is says the frank writer of this article figuratively speaking between and 60 on the table to be divided the committee divides it so go that every one is satisfied at least to a rca reasonable extent everyone that is but the people at large the people who wha have no special interest to serve and who ho feel keenly indignant that the ri rivers vers and harbors of the unite United d States are developed develop edin in a fashion so 0 inferior to that of europe nor no r are all the requests for legislation merely one constituent desired to have this particular congressman put his name on the free in mailing alling list hat for all public documents that this would be impossible because it would mean delivering to the applicant several tons of documents every month does not in the ahe slightest detract from the interest of the f fact act elicited by an investigation that the applicant was the manufacturer of an article made from waste paper and the public documents would afford a very useful source of raw material Is there a remedy for such a state of 0 things the answerus ans answers weris is yes and moreover it is a remedy which congress can itself immediately provide there bore is no complete remedy of course no scheme can be devised which can prevent such a request as that of the constituent last named who wished public documents to use in ills his private paper business requests like this merely mean that in every district individuals will always b found who will request improper favors As regards ds these people all that can be d done one Is to create a vigorous public opinion an opinion which shall not only make ma ke it uncomfortable for any man to demand such favors but which shall cordially support the congressman in refusing them and hold him accountable tor for granting them thein congress has now and has long had the power powe r to rid jd its members of almost all the improper pressure brought to bear upon the individual by special interests great and small local and metropolitan on such subjects as tariff legislation river and harbor legislation and pension legislation congress has not exercised this power chiefly because of what I 1 am bound to regard as a very shortsighted and unwise belief that it is ben beneath etith its dignity to delegate any of oc its functions by passing a rule alac wine would forbid the reception or passa pas safea a 7 pt of any pension bill save the pension legislation te recommended commended by the commissioner of pensions this of course X to be rejected or amended as congress saw aw fit but not so amended asto include any special or private legislation congress would at once do away with tho the possibility ot of its members being subject to local pressure for improper private pens pension ton bills and at the same time guarantee proper treatment for the veteran who really does deserve to have everything done for him that ahe coull try can abard xi m id in ii the case of the tariff and the river and harbor legislation what Is needed in ili each case Is ample provision for it a commission of the highest possible grade composed of men who thoroughly know the subject and who possess every attribute required for the performance of the alie great and difficult task of framing in outline the legislation that the country count rr ds AS distinguished from special interests really needs these men from the very nature of the case will be wholly free from the local pressure of special interests so keenly felt by every man who is dependent upon the vote of df a particular district every two years for his continuance in public life such a river and harbor commission could report and probably would report a great and comprehensive national scheme for river and harbor improvements prove ments fit to be considered by the people as a whole upon its merits and not dependent for enactment into law upon a system of logrolling log rolling designed to placate special interests which ae ae powerful in each of many score congressional districts such stich a tariff commission could get at the facts of labor cost here and abroad by expert inquiry and not by the acceptance cep tance of interested testimony such a commission could consider dispassionately siona slona tely ofle probable effect upon pe ho entire social and economic econom lc body of all changes in any given branch of the tar tariff iff and its recommendations would represent the exercise of careful judgment from it a disint disinterested standpoint such a could work in harmony with the com commissioner i mis stoner 0 of f labor so as to insure that the laborers for whom the tariff is passed get the full benefit of it for the major part of the benefit of a protective tariff should unquestionably go to the wage workers even under such conditions of tariff malting making errors might be committed but they would be merely those errors of disinterested judgment incidental to every kind of public or for the matter of that private effort and the work would J not kot be hampered from the beginning by the need of gratifying private selfishness it is only in this way that tariff legislation river and ha harbor r bor legislation and pension legislation can be treated from the standpoint of principle cip leand and not from the very low standpoint of privilege and preference the obstacle hitherto to the adoption of such a method of treatment has come from the queer dislike felt by so many congressional leaders to a co course urse of action which they quite unjustifiably feel would in some way be a limitation of their powers I 1 think this feeling is passing it I 1 is s simply another instance of the kind of feeling which makes some executives suspicious about delegating their work to any subordinate and which makes many voters who have not pondered the ina matter ater deeply destro to elect great geat numbers of people on a ticket of such length that it is out of afie question for any except professional politicians to know much about them THEODORE ROOSEVELT |