ASHINGTON.—Whenever the statement is
made that during the sessions of congress
Washington is full of lobbyists, it seems
that the general impression created is that
a horde of men bent on preventing the pas
sage of good legislation has descended up
on the capitol. The word lobbyists seeming
ly has conte to mean only one thing. In
truth lobbyists are of two kinds, the kind
that wants to prevent the passage of legis
lation that is inimical to private interest,
and the kind that wants to secure the pas
sage of legislation that will redound or that |
it is supposed will redound to the public good.
In the hotels of this city it is an easy matter to pick out the in
dividuals of one species of lobbyist. They bear the ear-marks of
their business and it may be said that one of these ear marks or
dinarily is in appearance of sleek prosperity. It is impossible to
pick out the individuals of the other species of lobbyist unless
you happen to be the keenest kind of a judge of human nature.
In some instances the second class of lobbyists has the unmistak
able air of the philanthropist while in other cases their compan
ion lobbyists look simply like ordinary everyday American citi
zens, men of business and men of the professions and in many
cases women.
No lobbyist, however wrongful may be his purpose in coming to
Washington, fulfills the somewhat widespread idea of a man whose
pockets are bulging with bank notes with the corners showing in
order to tempt some member ofcor.gress to forget his duty to his
constituents and to his country. It is a much harder matter to co
rrupt a congressman than unfor-tunately some people believe. The
lobbyist who would make a direct offer of money except in rare
cases would get a blow harder than any cash that he might hap
pen to possess.
The lobbyist who thinks that some corporate interest is to be
injured by prospective legislation and who lias been hired to rep
if THE SLEEP
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reseat that interest at the capitoi uses argument and
not money, and he dependsforthestrength of his argument
largely upon the fact that laws passed to regulate the
business which he represents may possibly have a bad
effect upon the commercial life of the specific district
which the member approached represents. It is true
ihat dinners are given at times to members of congress
by the lobbyists on behalf of special interests, it is
doubted if these dinners or the pleading words which
pass between the courses and after the coffee have any
particular weight. The ordinary congressman who wants
to stay in congress realizes that he has a duty to his
constituents and that if he doesn't do it he probably will
have to stay at home instead of buying a ticket every
winter for the national capitoi.
Some time ago there was established in Washington
what was called "The People's Lobby.” There were
several active men who, on behalf of this organization,
watched legislation and kept the country informed as to
what, in their opinion, was good or bad in laws that had
been proposed for passage. This people's lobby virtu
ally has passed out of existence, but there is a greater
people's lobby which has been in existence ever since
tbe country was founded, and which is in existence to
day, and which probably will last as long as democracy
lasts. This lobby is public sentiment, and a dozen times
within the last, few years it has overridden all the arts,
the pleadings, the arguments, and the threats of the in
dividual lobbyists who have sought to thwart it. An
experience of some years in Washington goes to show
that the representatives of the people in the great mass
are honest men and that the will of the country out
weighs with them any influence or any money that can
be brought to bear or used by the lobbyist who is work
ing for selfish ands.
It is not the intention
to attempt to discuss the
rights or wrongs of any
specific pieces of legis
lation which have passed
congress, but Ihe lobby
ing attempts pro and
con that have been made
to prevent or to secure
the enactment of nation
al laws may be recount
ed without prejudice.
it nao uccu naiu
there are women lobbyists. The particular kind of wom
en lobbyists which has been pictured many times has no
existence, or if she exists she keeps herself so well in
hiding that she remains unknown to the persons whose
duty it is to write the news and the news comment of
the day. There are other women lobbyists, however,
women who are moved to lobby by what they think is
right, though admittedly thousands of their countrymen
and their country women disagree with them in specific
cases in which they have exercised their activities.
The woman lobbyist as a rule is moved by high moral
considerations, as she views them, to influence legisla
tion. Take the case of the canteen in the army posts
of the country, for example. It was the woman lobbyist
who abolished the canteen. The women who worked to
this end did not do one-tenth part of their lobbying in
Washington. It was done largely at home. The women
thought that the canteen was an ever present tempta
tion to the soldier to drunkenness, and while it is true
lhat most of the congressmen at heart disagreed with
the contention the women carried the day and the can
teen was abolished.
The persons who were instrumental in securing the
passage of the law which forbade the sale of light wines
and beer at army posts, moved as they were by a high
moral even if a possibly mistaken impulse, were lobby
ists just as much as are the men who strive to check leg
islation that is going to hurt their pocketbooks while it
is going to do good to the country at large. The inten
tion is only to show that “lobbyist” is not necessarily a
word of contempt.
The pure food law when it was in process of considera
tion was productive of the greatest lobbying activities
possibly ever known in congress. The lobbyists were
present and at a distance, but present or absent, they
was not a trace of real fruit in its composition. The dy*
that was in the mixture colored indelibly a great piece
of cotton cloth which was steeped in a small quantity 0f
the jelly mixture with water.
In the committee room there was “honey” which no
bee ever had gathered. There were “pepper corns” made
wholly of tapioca and lampblack, and there were many
other things of curious mixture masquerading under the
names of legitimate food products. The manufacturers
and the packers of perfectly pure goods admitted that
the proved fact that some of their brethren were not
honest was the stumbling block of their hopes that the
pure food bill should nol be passed in too drastic a form.
In other words, a lobby that was mute and couid not
write letters or send telegrams did the major share of
the work in securing the passage of the national pure
food lawr.
In the department of agriculture there is a subdepart
ment called the biological survey. It is the duty of the
officials of the survey, who are all scientists, to do what
they can to enlighten the country concerning the habits
of birds, mammals and insects, to let it be known just
what creatures are a benefit and just what are a menace
to the farmer, the market gardener, and to those engaged
in soil pursuits generally.
The work of the survey has been recognized for its
excellence for years. At one time the house committee
on agriculture decided, in framing the agricultural op
propriation bill, that it would omit all mention of the
biological survey and thus by a failure to appropriate
money, would wipe the survey out of existence. It. is
said that there were personal reasons for the attempt to
end the usefulness of this bureau of the government, hut
whether ihis is true or not is a thing
apart. As soon as it was known that
the committee had decided to kill the
activity of the scientists by a failure
to report to the house a measure for
their support, some of the Washing
ton correspondents telegraphed the
news of the matter to their papers.
Instantly the bird protection societies,
the sportsmen, the farmers' institutes
and the farmers individually all over
the country became busy.
betters and telegrams of protest
poured in on the committee. Nor was
the committee alone the object of pro
test. Every senator and every repre
sentative in congress began to re
ceive letters and telegrams which
piled tip until they were almost be
yond the power of reading unless the
man gave all the time at his disposal
to the task. Members who hardly
knew what the biological survey was began to
ask questions. They wanted to know why the
farmers were so interested, and why the bird
protectors had taken the matter so much to
heart. It did not take them long to find out.
The committee was unmoved by the appeals
from the country, but congress was moved, and
when the agricultural bill was reported there were scores
of members ready to insert a paragraph in the measure
restoring the appropriation for the survey. The appro
priation was restored despite the action of the commit
tee, and the next, time that an agricultural bill went
llirottgh. the money given to support the scientists was in
creased largely. The farmers and the nature lovers gen
erally had no lobby in Washington at that ime. but
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worked day and night with voice or by letter and tele
gram to bring about the ends that they desired. The
manufacturers, or many of them at least, maintained that
the law as proposed was altogether too drastic, while
those who took the view opposed to that of the manu
facturers declared that the law could not be made too
severe.
During the time of the consideration of the pure food
law in the room of the committee on interstate and for
eign commerce the most powerful lobbyist that appeared
on behalf of the measure was on the center table. It was
a collection of prepared foods gathered from various
parts of the country and which did not live up to the
labels that were on the outside of the packages. There
are, and were, plenty of proper foods on the market,
but the foods which the committee had assembled, if
foods they might be called, were of the kind that nobody
would want to eat. Representative Mann of Illinois was
in charge of the pure food bill, and he presided over
the display that made the committee room look like a
grocery shop. Mr. Mann had some fruit jelly or jam on
exhibition that was marked as being the pure product.
In reality the stuff was composed of some sticky sub
stance sweetened and then colored with a dye. There
they had a great lobby at a distance, and the lobbjis
succeeded in doing their good work.
Recently Ihere came to Washington on a mat1
connected with the rights of certain Indians formerly o®
the Rosebud reservation, an Indian whose name origin® i
was Quick Bear, but who now is known as Reuben Qu c
Bear. Some time ago it was proposed by a syndicate ' 8
it buy a large tract of land from the Indians at $5 an Acre.
Afterward the land doubled in value. Reuben Quick <“»
feared tliat when the reservation was closed I nC
Sam would not allow a right and proper price fot
holdings which the Indians were to give up. Ken
began a lobby on behalf of his brethren. He wrote
letter, thereby showing that he knew something 0
ways of a certain class of white men:
“A shyster lawyer named - is in Washington s
ing that our land is not worth more than $2.50 an ac
He lives in-and has been sent by the people t ier
help beat us in this land deal.”
It is conceded in Washington that the most ene< ^
kind of lobbying is that which is done by the p®op ®om.
means of letters and telegrams. Of course, the
munlcations must come in such numbers as to Cl,nv
the congressmen that the whole country is aroused