Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 January 1896 — DAY WITH A SENATOR [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

DAY WITH A SENATOR

SOMETHING > ELSE TP DO THAN TO LOOK DIGNIFIED. * x 1 * ~ Senatorial Life Is a Laborious and Ex* acting Round-Duties to Constituents and to Hie General Public—Private Secretary and His Work.

Washington Gossip. Washington correspondence: ’

THE United States Seriate is now entering upon its busy season. All tlie committees having been reorganized the work to come before them is being referred to special ...Committees, and shortly there will be a deluge of reports for. the full

committees to consider and pass upon. Lp to the present time the committees," with the exception of two or three of the more important ones, have ddne little or nothing. The Democrats realizing that their lease of power was drawing to a ■close did not care to start the wheels of legislation which would shortly be under the control of the Republicans. It has often and truly been averted that the

United States is governed by committees, nnd with the great mass of legislation to be enacted by the national legislature, it must always be so, but the only important act passed by the Senate during the present Congress, the resolution providing for the appointment of the Venezuelan commission, was distinctly legislation by Congress. understood and approved by every member of the Senate and House, rather than by a mere committee. While the importance of a Senator’s work is popularly gauged by the part he

takes in debates on the floor of the Senate, his real duties are chiefly performed in connection with committees. The daily routine of* a Senator involves attendance on committee meetings, usually called to meet at 10 o’clock in the morning,' and lasting until nearly noon, when they are adjourned, and the members take their eeats in the Senate. Each committee divides its work among sub-committees, consisting of'one or more Senators, and reports of facts bearing on the particular bill under consideration, together with rec-

ammendations for its disposition, arc made at meetings of the full committee. Ln nearly nil minor matters those recommendations are approved by the committee, ami In turn by the Senate. It is only in the consideration of important political measures that a general discussion is carried on, and even in such cases the aub-enmmittee, being in accord With the dominant party, usually has its work approved with little or no amendment. A

to be within the edit of the electric bells Announcing that a vote is to be taken in the Senate, unless paired with some one of opposeje political faith. For the Senators whose cominittee rooms open on the corridors encircling the Senate chipber thia requirement is pot attended by any great

Republican sub-committee is given a; bill to consider, its report is approved by a Republican committee anij a’solid Republican vote in the Senate is apt to pass the measure”, though just at "present, as the balance of power rests with the Populists, it’s pretty difficult to pass any bill on a strict party vote. Besides the work in committee that is looked for from a Senator, he is expected inconvenience,'but only a small contingency are So favored. "Senators who happen to be engaged in committee rooms in the Maltby building and in the terrace don’t enjoy the tramp to the Senate in order to answer to their names when called. But even in the case of a Senator who attends closely, on the business of the Senate it is seldom necessary for him to spend more than two hours at his desk. From 12 to 2 o'clock is what is known as the “morning"h'bur,” and within that time committee reports are received and often acted on, and Senators frequently ask to have their pet measures considered. At 2 o’clock “the regular order” is demanded, and, ns a rule, that means that speeches are continued on the measure before the Senate, and unless the afternoon promises something of interest Senators retire to their committee rooms or go home. Much of a Senator’s time is taken up in attendance on callers. Nearly every one who comes to Washington on a sight-see-ing journey wants to meet the Senators from his State, especially if the visitor is of the same political party as the member of the upper house. There is a standing rule that Senators do not 'reCeiV? cards between 12 and 2 o’clock, and visitors wait until the latter hour before announcing their presence, and then are invited into the marble room. Some of the popular Senators find that the reception of visitors who merely call to pay their respects is an important part of their daily • labor. Usually it doesn’t take much time

to dispose of visitors, wlio are generally dismissed after a brief interview, delighted with the attention shown in their receiving a card admitting them to the private gallery of the Senate. Frequently the greatest part of a Senator’s work is done in the evening, when the Senator and his private secretary get together, and either dispose of the accumulated mail or prepare a speech! It is a fortunate Senator who knows the value of an efficieht secretary, and is able to find one, for they are not abundant, and fil wise enough to intrust such a one with responsibilities. It is the Senator who thinks he must dictate his letters and must open and read them all who ia weighted down with routine and nonproductive work. Those who’have>capable secretaries rely on them, and it is only in the case of special communications that the employer is called on to suggest a reply. Many clerks do not even trouble their Senators- to sign letters, but are given carte blanche to affix the name of the principal. The reading of newspapers is an important part of the daily labor of all the up-to-date Senators, who endeavor not only to glance over their local publications, bus so read tho leadiing. periodicals, without regard to place of publication. i |U . . At Little Y'ork, eight miles west of Scottsburg, Ind., Walter Coombs shot his wife through the abdomen. Sho lived but fifteen minutes. Coombs then shot himself below the heart, lie is still alive and begs for some one to kill him. Tho two chljdren of the Coombs are absent at school. Mrs. Coombs was n highly respected woman, and ‘here was no cause save groundless jealousy. A thousand families of St. Johns, N. F., are destitute and have nothing with which rigora of the coming four mcnV *

AT WORK.

WHAT THE PUBLIC SEES.

AN AFFLICTION.