=Committees.=--Obviously an assembly of more than 400 members cannot legislate effectively as a whole; its work must be done largely by committees. To some committee every measure and every petition is referred, as are also the various recommendations of the President. In the sixty-seventh Congress (1921-1923) there were thirty-four standing committees in the senate and sixty in the house. Usually there are also several select committees, and occasionally a few joint committees. In the senate, the committees vary in size from three to sixteen members; in the house from three to thirty-five. The most important committees in the senate are those on appropriations, commerce, finance, foreign relations, interstate commerce, judiciary, military affairs, naval affairs, and public expenditures. The least important are those on disposition of useless papers, University of the United States, and Revolutionary claims, since there is little or no business referred to them. The most important committees in the house are those on ways and means, appropriations, banking and currency, public expenditures, foreign affairs, interstate and foreign commerce, judiciary, military affairs, naval affairs, public buildings and grounds, rivers and harbors, and rules (twelve members now, formerly five). The least important is that on the disposition of useless papers.[33] [33] There are obvious objections to a system in which legislation is necessarily framed to a large extent by committees. These objections are thus stated by Mr. Bryce in his "American Commonwealth": 1. It destroys the unity of the house. 2. It prevents the capacity of the best members from being brought to bear on any one piece of legislation, however important. 3. It cramps debate. 4. It lessens the cohesion and harmony of legislation by allowing each committee to go its own way with its own bills just as though it were legislating for one planet and the other committees for others. 5. It gives facilities for the exercise of underhand and even corrupt influence, and encourages "log rolling." 6. It reduces responsibility by dividing it among different committees. 7. It lowers the interest of the nation in the proceedings of Congress. 8. It throws power into the hands of the chairmen of committees, especially those which deal with finance and other great national interests. The chief advantage of such a system is that it enables the house to deal with a far greater number of subjects than could be otherwise dealt with, and thus makes possible the dispatch of a vast amount of work, especially in killing off worthless bills.