BECAUSE representative government starts with the Legislative Branch, TIME has had an enduring interest in Congress--in its leaders, its foibles, its glories, its failures. Our first issue, dated March 3, 1923 (Time Inc. had been founded four months before), carried on its cover Joseph Gurney ("Uncle Joe") Cannon, who was then 86 and about to retire to Danville, Ill., after a colorful and historic career. Since then we have published some 150 cover stories and many other major articles on Capitol Hill and its leaders. This week Uncle Joe reappears on our cover, framed by the pictures of 20 contemporary lawmakers (see page 18), both to mark our 50th anniversary and point up the contrast between congressional power then and now.

We are observing our anniversary in a number of ways, most notably in an examination of Congress that goes beyond journalistic coverage. Our goal is to stimulate serious thought and discussion about how the Government functions and how it can better serve the country. Recently we have sponsored a series of four regional meetings that brought together scholars, members of Congress and TIME editors. The panel participants included Dr. Ralph K. Huitt, executive director of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges; Dr. Charles O. Jones of the University of Pittsburgh; Dr. Nelson W. Polsby of the University of California at Berkeley; and Dr. Richard F. Fenno Jr. of the University of Rochester. They discussed the state of Congress today, analyzed the institution's loss of powers and considered ways in which it might improve both its workings and its status in the country. A fifth and final conference will be held in Washington on Jan. 31.

In writing about the dramatic changes in Congress, Associate Editor Ed Magnuson drew on the transcripts of these conferences (428 pages) and the work of other scholars, which was assembled by Reporter-Researcher Harriet Baumgarten.

Especially important for the whole undertaking was the historical perspective provided by Neil MacNeil, our senior Capitol Hill correspondent. MacNeil helped organize the meetings and has been a major participant. He has been a diligent student of Congress since coming to Washington 23 years ago.

In 1963 he published Forge of Democracy: The House of Representatives, and seven years later he wrote Dirksen: Portrait of a Public Man. MacNeil also owns what is perhaps the nation's finest private library on Congress, a collection that includes scarce chronicles from the body's earliest years. Among the items: all but two issues of Congressional Debates (1789-91), compiled by Thomas Lloyd, the first legislative reporter, and the original issue of View from the Congress Gallery (1795), by Peter Porcupine (Reporter William Cobbett). "It is never lonely at my house late at night after the kids have gone to bed," says MacNeil. "I simply throw open a copy of the Congressional Globe and say hello to Dan Webster or Henry Clay."

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