60-hour week common
Mize talks to CYR
By GARY BURGE
While Congress is primarily a law-making body, the other duties it performs are just as important, Kansas Congressman Chester Mize said Thursday evening.
Speaking before a regular meeting of the KU Collegiate Young Republicans (CYR) in the Kansas Union, Rep. Mize explained the "Duties and Responsibilities of a Congressman."
"THE JOB IS a many-faceted one," Rep. Mize said. "And one that requires effort. The average Congressman works more than 60 hours a week."
A Representative is often overwhelmed by his constituents, he said. Long distance phone calls, visitors from his districts and bulging mail bags sometimes make a Congressman question "why he is really in Washington." Rep. Mize said.
"I had a farmer call me this afternoon and give me holy hell because he wasn't getting enough moisture in western Kansas," the former KU student said.
"A fundamental duty of a Congressman is to represent his district. Voters are more likely to be influenced by 'what has he"
done for me lately' than how we vote on national issues. And this is a shame."
THE STERNEST TEST for a Congressman comes when a national issue conflicts with local interests, Rep. Mize told the CYR.
"Standing against public opinion in your district time after time is a practice to be used with caution. We cannot be cavalier about our own views."
To gain insight on public opinion, Rep. Mize said he sorts through his mail, takes polls, and on "sensitive issues" returns to his district to sample constituents' viewpoints. A Representative must then "weight the facts carefully" and decide what is best for "all of the people." he said.
"Soon the issue comes to bear and we have to lay our heads on the chopping block and say 'aye or 'nav'." Congressman Mize said
DRAFT REVISION will be a large issue in Congress this session, Mize said. "I will watch the debates very carefully and will be most interested in the outcome," he said.
"I have mixed feelings about the elimination of college exemptions and sending a boy who's 19 and has had a year or two of college. It seems he would almost have to start over again when he came back," Rep. Mize said.
Rep. Mize said other issues facing the present Congress are likely to be East-West trade acts, air pollution controls, the President's Teacher's Corps, foreign aid appropriation, wire-tapping and anti-crime legislation and "truth-in-lending" reforms.
KU hostel group will meet Sunday
KU students interested in hosteling will meet at 7:30 p.m. Sunday in the Lawrence Community Building, 11th and Massachusetts.
Sponsored by the American Youth Hosteling, Inc. (AYH) and the KU Cycling Club, the meeting will explain the low-cost way of sight-seeing and touring, both in the United States and abroad. A film on hosteling will be shown.
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Daily Kansam Friday, March 10, 1967
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