Senility System

Senator William Langer's recent gibberings about the fitness of Chief Justice Warren may have been a blessing in disguise; Warren has been confirmed unscathed, and a movement is on to remove men like Langer from sensitive committee chairmanships. Indirectly attacking the North Dakotan, Senate majority leader William Knowland has proposed revisions in the seniority system. This is a recognition that the logical bases for seniority advancement are shaky.

Under the ranking system, that majority member with the longest unbroken term of service on the committee becomes, automatically, the committee chairman. Admittedly, this system insures that the chairman, by his long experience, will be familiar with the committee's work. It also averts the log-rolling and politicking that might occur if chairmen were to be re-chosen in open session under every new Congress.

But if this arbitrary system has often brought high minded and competent men to chairmanships, Congress and the country have only luck to thank. Cases like Langer's clearly show what can happen when this kind of luck runs out. The seniority system frequently bars the ablest members of the Senate from positions of responsibility. It favors small, one-party states by allowing their senators to accumulate long records of uninterrupted service on the committee. But the ability to be re-elected has no real connection with either party loyalty or competency for a chairmanship.

Senator Knowland's suggestion that the party policy committee in each house select chairmen from the senior committee members seems reasonable. Power of appointment and removal in this group would ensure party responsibility at least, and would make possible the replacement of incompetents. Under this kind of a system, obstructionist antics like those of Langer need not be tolerated.