an opinion upon them. First, reports of committees recommending amendments should appear in full on the calendar before adoption. As pointed out above, this is absolutely essential if the report stage is likewise the debate stage. But even if debate should be postponed and the committee's report adopted indifferently, members should be warned of proposed changes which may alter the very nature of a bill.

In the second place, following the example of Wisconsin, motions to reconsider should be required to hang over one day and should find a place on the calendar. Other motions which must lie over one day, such as a motion to discharge a committee, likewise appear on the Wisconsin calendar under the head of "Motions for Consideration," while Arizona, after the manner of Congress, maintains a calendar of motions to discharge committees. It will be recalled that the practice of Parliament requires that a notice of motion must be given for practically all orders of business.

And finally, amendments made by the second house to bills which have already passed the first should appear on the calendar. Concurrence by the house in which the measure originated in amendments of the other may be a crucial point in the career of the bill, and it should not be treated in the loose manner which generally prevails. The Vermont practice by which such amendments appear in full on the calendar is to be commended. Reports of conference committees should receive similar consideration. It is submitted that, were the calendar compiled along the lines set forth here, a considerable influence would be set at work to compel adherence to a previously arranged program.

With two or three exceptions no effort has been made to distinguish between different kinds of legislation on the calendar. As noted above a very few give a preferential place to appropriation bills. Separation of private and general bills would be a distinct gain as tending to call attention to their different natures. In 1895 the Governor's Commission of the New York Legislature recommended that three calendars be adopted, viz., a private and local calendar, a cities calendar, and a general calendar; and that certain days be set apart for certain calendars. Mondays and Saturdays were to be devoted to private and local measures, thus keeping interested ones at the capitol over the week-end and reserving more

general legislation for mid-week when a full house would be present.12 The calendar of the Maryland Senate recognizes the principle to the extent of grouping local and general bills separately on the calendar. In those states which still retain the committee of the whole no general principles regarding the nature of the measures to be placed on "General Orders" are applied. Late in the session this calendar often becomes a graveyard for most bills which have been unable to escape it, and growing large because not disposed of, serves as a place where a few measures of doubtful virtue may be held for the purpose of passing in a hurry at the close.13

The value of the calendar would be much enhanced if it were placed in the hands of members one day before matters thereon are to be considered. Urged repeatedly in New York, this has been adopted in Wisconsin.14 According to the rules of Connecticut also, matters must appear on the calendar one day before being taken up. When ready for action they are marked with a cross. Thus a measure which has been on the calendar for one day will thereafter be "starred for action." The value of the rule in Massachusetts requiring matters to lie over one day before action has been much enhanced in the Senate by the practice of publishing on the calendar all matters which are to appear on the orders of the day on the

morrow.

Zeal and perseverance in clearing up the calendar at each sitting would go far towards relieving the congestion so generally attending the closing days. Nevertheless it is the almost universal report that no effort is made to clear the calendar each day. Work consequently is allowed to accumulate until the calendar no longer sets forth a daily program but serves merely as a docket from which the house may select matters for consideration. The third reading calendar of the Alabama House for the twenty-sixth day of a recent session held almost 250 measures, and the calendar of the Kansas Senate for the same day of the session showed more than 400 matters upon which that body was supposed to pass judgment. Other

12 New York Assembly Document, 1896, No. 20. This feature was introduced as an amendment to the rules by the Progressives at the 1913 session but was defeated. (Ass. J. p. 15.)

13 See Michigan Constitutional Convention Debates (1907-1908), p. 147. In the New York Senate reference to the committee of the whole towards the close of the session is a polite way to kill a measure.

14 Senate Rule 19, House Rule 21.

examples likewise chosen at random could be multiplied in many states. Serious attention towards keeping abreast of the daily program would do much to obviate the need for sifting committees and for the general suspension of the calendar rules as the session grows old. Pressure would in turn be placed on the committees to assure that they were making consistent progress in their work. Legislatures which for the sake of orderliness enforce the rule that committees must make final report on all matters midway in the session of course find it impossible to clear the calendar for weeks after the expiration of the time, but where the introduction of new measures and reports of committees continue until late it is imperative that the work assigned each day on the calendar be completed. It is deplorable that measures should ever be allowed to die on the calendar. If they are trivial they should never get out of committee, but once out they deserve a decision by the house.

Massachusetts avails herself of a simple plan to aid her in disposing of routine business on the calendar. It has been the experience of many states that matters on the calendar giving rise to prolonged discussion may precede much routine business and that consideration of the latter is delayed as a consequence sometimes for days. Massachusetts treats as unopposed business those measures on which members do not indicate a wish to debate or amend. As the calendar is called, such matters are disposed of in the routine manner. After the calendar has once been gone through, the speaker returns to measures which members have indicated a desire to discuss. Transaction of routine business accordingly proceeds rapidly and is not allowed to accumulate on the calendar.

CLOSING DAYS OF THE SESSION

The evils of the glut of legislation so general during the closing days are too well known to merit discussion here. Remembering that the journals are records of things done, it is interesting to examine the report they give to see how the burden of work is distributed throughout the session. The Journal of the New York Assembly of 1914 devotes all of the second volume to a record of the last six days. As noted above, there were 208 roll calls on the last day. On an average day near the end, the Assembly passed fifty-nine bills and advanced forty-four. The final day of the 1915 session of the Ohio House saw forty-three measures passed and the

adoption of the conference report on the general appropriation bill containing 347 amendments. At the same session of the Illinois House the work accomplished the first four months fills 740 pages of the journal; that of the last month requires 642 pages to report. Nor were the earlier months spent in discussion on the floor, for the verbatim reports of debates during the first four months fill 625 pages while those of the last month fill 655 pages. Furthermore the time was not consumed in committee, deliberations, for 40 per cent of the committee reports were rendered during the last month. The House simply did not settle down to work until four months of the session had passed. It is generally recognized that the first few weeks of many sessions are wasted. In 1915 the New York Legislature after sitting six weeks had passed eighteen measures, although 1565 had been introduced. In 1916, fourteen measures were passed during the same period, 1314 having been introduced.15

The congestion at the end is not confined to the large states. The Idaho House passed or rejected fifty-three measures in one day at the close of a recent session.16 Montana reports an equally serious situation, and it has been estimated that in past years from 80 to 90 per cent of the business of the North Carolina Legislature has been ratified the last ten days.

The remarkable thing is that no means have been developed to remedy a condition which is partly due to lack of effective organization throughout the session and is partly psychological. Concerning the latter aspect of the situation it may be said that members are anxious to get home, their financial remuneration seldom compensating them for their absence from business. The spirit of procrastination, so strong during the early days, must now be atoned for by frenzied action in midnight sessions. Unanimous consent is granted promiscuously if business will be advanced thereby. The only visible hope lies in greater speed. Even if a time limit upon the introduction of new measures has been enforced the calendar becomes congested unless the committees and the house have moved expeditiously throughout the session.17 Amid 15 From a table prepared by the New York Times, Feb. 21, 1916. 16 The Governor's Message to the Twelfth Legislature.

17 A real advantage flows from the enforcement of such a rule to the extent to which it prevents the introduction of entirely new measures at the close preparatory to hasty passage, Bills have often been known to have been brought

such conditions a steering committee is preferable to a general suspension of the calendar because some measure of responsibility can be exacted. The constitutional provision requiring readings on three separate days, if absolute, prevents bills passing from one house to the other within three days of adjournment; but the Indiana clause which prohibits transmission to the governor on the last two days of the session merely advances the congestion forty-eight hours. A rule proposed by the Progressives of the New York Assembly in 1913 would have marked a real advance. Private and local bills were to be in order on the calendar only during January and February, leaving at least two months for action on general measures solely.

Massachusetts avoids the tumult of the last days more successfully than do other states, and it is worth while noting the means by which she accomplishes it. In the first place, there is no limit upon the length of the session, and the legislature seldom adjourns before July. Well-informed persons state that if the session were shortened, as it is by the constitutions of some states, congestion at the end would be unavoidable.18 In the second place the exceptionally strict time limit upon the introduction of bills, none being received as a rule after the second week, makes possible the enforcement of the provision that committees must report out all measures early.19 The legislature knows by the middle of April at the latest how much business remains to be accomplished. Furthermore the healthy rivalry of committees in efforts to keep their slates clean is an incident of the high development of the committee system in Massachusetts. Close record is made each week of the progress of work in committees, which is compared with similar periods of previous years, so that the presiding officers are enabled to apply pressure where necessary. Summing up, we may say that the legislature of Massachusetts makes sure that all the in the last forty-eight hours, which their proponents would not have dared to present unless they knew business had so accumulated that no one would have time to examine them.

18 The Wisconsin Legislature, which maintains order to the end, continues in session from January through July or later.

19 Massachusetts Joint Rule 12. There is commendable hostility towards the suspension of this rule. Concurrent action by four-fifths majority of each house is necessary to suspend it.