Legislators on the Law

Best represented profession in Congress is the Law: 68 of the 96 Senators, 251 of the 435 Representatives are members of the bar. For eleven years Senator Borah has been worried by the fact that as lawyers, drawing fees from clients, Congressmen are liable to be prejudiced in enacting new legislation. As the result of long pondering he drafted a bill whereby: 1) no Congressman could accept any fee for representing any client, not only before any department of the Government (already illegal), but also in any court case in which the Government is interested; 2) any Congressman acting as attorney or counsel for any person or corporation engaged in interstate commerce could be punished by two years in prison and $10,000 fine.

Last week the Borah bill came up on the regular Senate calendar. Conservative Senator Reed of Pennsylvania promptly suggested it be passed over. Senator Borah resolutely moved that in spite of the objection the bill be considered and he demanded a roll call. The clerks called the 96 names, and after the vote some half-dozen Senators rose to alter their ballots or transfer their pairs, leaving the result in doubt.

When the clerks footed up the totals, Vice President Garner quietly announced: ''On this question the yeas are 31. The nays are 31." Several conservative Senators started to walk from the chamber, sure that they had sidetracked the Borah bill. But Mr. Garner, seizing one of his rare opportunities to be useful, halted them in their tracks by shouting: "The Chair votes 'Yea! and lays the bill before the Senate."

No more than break the tie could the Vice President do. The debate which followed yielded many a new detail on the personal affairs of lawyer-Senators:

Senator Borah: I have received no fee as an attorney since I entered upon my duties as a Senator.* I closed up and finished the professional engagements pending at the time of my election. I have taken no new business.

Senator Reed: At the present time I am defending a former official of the Government who is being sued for damages on the allegation that he compelled the payment of a tax which was in fact invalid. This man was trying to enforce a Federal statute, asserting that the tax was valid, and trying to collect it. He is now being sued for that by one of the persons who paid the tax. His interests are absolutely identical with those of the Government of the United States. I do not see why a Member of the House or Senate should be prohibited from acting in a case of that kind.

Senator Bone: I am a poor man, and I know of no reason why the Senate should strike from my hands the right to make a living for my family in a legitimate activity. I know of no reason why a poor man should be excluded from this body and the instrument by which he lives stricken from his hands.

Senator Logan: I do not think any Member of the U. S. Senate should be allowed to practice law. ... So far as money and property are concerned, I suspect I am the poorest man in the Senate. . . . But I would find some other way of making a living without accepting fees from those who have business with the Congress of the U. S. or I would go home and resign. . . .

Senator Barkley: I have not practiced law since I have been a Member of the Congress for nearly 21 years. I abandoned my practice and turned over to others all the cases I had when I came to Washington, and I have not taken a fee from anyone from that day until this. ... I thought it inappropriate for me to be attempting to run back and forth between Washington and my home in Kentucky, and neglect my official duties here while undertaking to practice law on the outside.

Senator Clark: The Senator will recall that on Saturday last we agreed to a conference report on a bill which declares that every man engaged in the growing of cotton is engaged in interstate commerce. Therefore under the pending bill it would be absolutely impossible to conceive of any sort of lawsuit a Senator or a Representative would be entitled to handle.

Senator Borah: I am aware of the fact that we passed a bill declaring in effect that every man engaged in the raising of cotton was engaged in interstate commerce, but every man in the Senate who knows anything about the Constitution of the United States knows that is not true, notwithstanding the fact that we passed the bill.

Senator Long: The reason why I have not received any fees since I came to the Senate is that, with my limited time, I have not been able to get a client who had little enough intellect to employ me. I have tried, however. ... I do not recall that I ever took many lawsuits for corporations in my life. Certainly none against a poor man. I am on the other side. I sue the railroads. I sue the corporations. I sometimes defend people charged with crime. I had a pretty good practice representing employes under the Federal Employes' Liability Act. Under this bill I could not represent any of them. . . . The sorriest job I ever had has been in the United States Senate, and now they are going to come along and take away the one and only chance a man has got to pay himself out of debt while he sits here.

The Borah bill was not passed that day nor was it likely to pass any other day soon, principally because lawyer-Congressmen control a majority of House and Senate.

* 1907

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.