Relation of the Federal Government to Research 



129 



tion is presented of the character of the agency to 

 which this work shall be entrusted. Examination 

 shows that the choice lies between the following 

 agencies, all of which, in point of fact, have been made 

 use of by American legislatures : 



1. Standing committees. 



2. Standing joint committees. 



3. Special and select committees. 



4. Speciiil and select joint committei's. 



5. Administrative services. 



6. Commissions. 



Standing Committees 



All of the hearings of standing committees partake 

 of the nature of special investigations. These, how- 

 ever, for the most part, have in view only the eliciting 

 of data and opinions bearing upon the merits of a par- 

 ticular measure. Cases, however, frequently present 

 themselves where a standing committee desires to secure 

 information upon the subject matter of a whole series 

 of bills or upon which it may itself desire to frame 

 legislative proposals. In these cases it is a matter of 

 common practice for the committees to appoint sub- 

 committees with directions to make the investigations 

 desired. When the matter is one of general importance, 

 and particularly when considerable expense is involved 

 in making the inquiry and it is apprehended that use 

 will have to be made of the powers of Congress to 

 compel the giving of testimony and the production of 

 papers, the committee, through the formulation of a 

 resolution, seeks the authorization of the chamber to 

 proceed with the inquiry, the grant to it of funds witli 

 which to meet expenses, and the authority to compel 

 the appearance of witnesses, the giving of testimony 

 and the production of papers. An example of where 

 this procedure has been followed is the investigation of 

 the conduct of important industrial establisliments in 

 respect to the practice of espionage over labor now 

 being conducted by a subcommittee of the Senate Com- 

 mittee on Education and Labor under the chairman- 

 ship of Senator La Follette, an investigation that may 

 easily lead to legislation and certainly has had an im- 

 portant influence upon public opinion and probably 

 u])on the future attitude of industry towards labor.'* 



Standing Joint Committees 



The term "standing committee,' 

 qualification, is generally under; 

 permanent committees created by 

 ing independently of each other, 

 their business. The rules of the 

 gress provide, however, for three 

 mittees: The Joint Committee on 



when used without 

 stood to mean the 

 the two Houses, act- 



for the conduct of 

 two Houses of Con- 

 standing joint com- 



Printing, the Joint 



^ To date this subcommittee hai? Issued one report : S. Kep. 46, 75tli 

 Cong., 2(J sess., 1937. 



Committee on the I^ibrary, and the Joint Committee 

 on Internal Revemie Taxation. These three commit- 

 tees have been given a permanent status because upon 

 them have been conferred duties of an administrative 

 character or, at least, of an administrative control 

 character. The Joint Committee on Printing is an 

 integral part of the machinery for the conduct of the 

 Government Printing Office and the printing and dis- 

 tribution of Government publications. The joint com- 

 mittee on the Library acts in a somewhat similar 

 capacity in respect to the operation of the Library of 

 Congress. And the joint committee on internal reve- 

 nue taxation, among its other functions, has the duty 

 of examining all claims for the refund of income 

 taxes in excess of $75,000, before payment of them can 

 be made by the Treasury Department, and of report- 

 ing the results of its examinations to Congress, with 

 the result that it, in this respect, exercises a controlling 

 authority over the operation of the Bureau of Internal 

 Revenue. 



Special mention is made of these standing joint 

 committees, since at least two of them have had con- 

 ferred upon them the prosecution of research work of 

 an important character. The Joint Committee on 

 Printing thus had charge of the preparation, in 1887, 

 of McKee''s Compilation of Reports mentioned in our 

 account of reports of Congressional Committees. 

 Under its direction and suiDcrvision was prepared the 

 Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 

 'l77Jf~1927; The Continental Congress, September 5, 

 1774, to October 21, 178S, and the Congress of the 

 United States from, the First to the Sixty-ninth Con- 

 gress, March h, 17S0, to March 3, 1927 (H. Doc. 783, 

 C9th Cong., 2d sess., 1928). This large quarto volume, 

 embodying 1,740 pages, in addition to giving brief biog- 

 raphies of all members of the two bodies mentioned, 

 lists, with dates, all Presidents, Vice Presidents, and 

 members of the Cabinet; the number of Representa- 

 tives of each State under each apportionment ; and the 

 officers and members by States of each Congress.'® 

 Under its direction was also prepared and published 

 the well-known Richardson's Messages and Papers 



'" A prefatory note of this volume states that : 



"This volume, compiled by Ansol Wold, Clerk of the Committee, is 

 a revision of the Directory of the United States Congress and the 

 General Govornmpnt, published in 1859, and again revised in 1869 by 

 Charles Samman : The Biographical Annals of the Civil Government 

 of the United States, in 1876, by Charles Samman and James Ansling; 

 and the Samman edition of 1S7G as corrected by Joseph Morrison in 

 1S87 : the Political Register and Congressional Direr-tory of 1S7S, by 

 Ben Perley Toore ; the Biographical Congressional Directory of 1903, 

 by O. M. Enyart ; and the Biographical Congressional Directory of 

 1911. • • • 



"With the aid of a trained corps of investigators, the journals and 

 records of debates have been searched, biographical publications con- 

 siilted, and special appeals made to Govei-nnieiit depositoiios. public 

 libr.Tries, historical associations, postm.isters. State, county, and mu- 

 nicipal officers, as well as private Individuals for specific and general 

 information." 



