ABSTRACT
The Reciprocal Trade Act was a good test case for some established notions of the Congressional process. The issue was one on which communication from constituents and interest groups to Congress was extensive—which is not always the case, even for issues of considerable legislative consequence. Congressmen Stubborn and District go about the job of serving their constituents differently. Political philosophers and commentators down to Walter Lippmann in our day have regarded this man critically. Polls of their districts which congressmen conducted invariably involved questions which virtually predetermined the distribution of responses. Communications to Congress from business represented neither the opinions nor the interests of the business community at large. The pressure-group model of the Congressional process was not invalidated by our investigation, though it fitted neatly only a small part of the behaviour. The characteristic organizational structure and procedures of Congress must be kept in mind to understand the success or failure of attempts to influence legislation.
