John J. Esch - Congressional Service

Congressional Service

Esch served as a Wisconsin congressman for 22 years, winning eleven elections before finally falling in 1920. He was first elected to the Fifty-sixth United States Congress and then sequentially to the ten succeeding Congresses. He spent his full 22 years in congress representing Wisconsin's 7th congressional district. He was initially appointed to the Committee on Public Lands and the Committee on Military Affairs, and was identified with the military legislation which followed the Spanish-American War. After six years in the House, he was appointed to the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, and soon relinquished his other committee posts to devote full-time to this committee. He was heavily involved in the transportation acts which followed: the Hepburn Act of 1906, which granted the Interstate Commerce Commission considerable powers over the railroads, was based heavily on an earlier bill he had submitted. His other legislative accomplishments included the Hours of Service Act, the Esch Car Service Act, the Boiler Inspection Act, the Federal Water Power Act, and the Esch-Cummins Act, popularly known as the Transportation Act of 1920. The last act brought him national prominence.

When Esch, defeated for re-election, left the House for the last time on March 3, 1921, it paid him an unusual honor: both sides of the House stood and cheered him as he left.