The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1868-09-17

finding out. nrst, tnat she was young woma, vim
Sonewal Jackson third that she did i'i my ses
boarding house; fourth that she had rooms In a rs
me c Sra mad never spoken to
life. All this she readily owned when she found she
could not get paid the modest sum OF 1000 for Ler
infuence To crown all, she owned TO Mr. Merchent
square" lobbyist who had first called on u.s. s with
joke was the attempt Of fellow to pass u h ms Gs o
for Ben Butler. One day lobby member careiessIy
piled in the negative That evening had a cali from
a"nce young nian, who said:-.Ben Butler u bound
'ro Butler himself" was the reply. This staggered
me. I knew 1t was a game, but how it was TO be-
was to go to Butler himself. / temporized and
finally asked II he could induce General Butler to
him. This he readily agreed to do. More puzzled
than ever set myself to work to find out what IL all
n sds hoS Roy q
gone to ct, the Metropolitan" 1 then had friend
think it wasY" Why. he had q confederate who was
to personate Ben Butter. eyes and ALL and call on
In the evening and hastily say it was .ail right"
and depart. When they found out they were disco
vered, instead OF taking 1t to heart, they roared
W,1a pea,s 9, aGgnter ana aoss Went mo no CON
gentleman. To them IL was rare joke They were
doubtless less pleased than they would have been
rare fun any way. To their credit be 1t said, these
lobbyists deem it very mean to get mad or to be
venge1ul when they fail IN their attempts TO eXtOt
money or to be engaged to ''work up claims" They
will threaten, talk largely lie outrageousy; but as
soon as they see they have mistaken their man they
are Immediately good nat ured and seem to like you
all the better.
BY degrees it became known among them that
there was no hope of any lobby plumber in the case.
and that the only benefit they could hope to derive
from 1t was by strategy to get bottle of champagne
cracked occasionally by calling on the attorneys in
the a social way. This they began
TO 70 90 IN such quiet, systematic way tnas
at my hotel amounted to nearly $700. BY this time
we had an idea that so much company was not
exactly legitimate and required looking into. The
result was found that 1t had been Il regular game
Of these lobbyists to send every reporter writer,
traveller, Indian agent or good fellow generally to
call us, and they always managed 1t in 80 gentle
manly and in so proper way, never in any way
appearing like 'dead beats, that no one could take
The shrewd lobbyist never tries to influence Con-
gressmen or Senators. He trusts entirely to chance
He knows II he approaches them he endangers the
that in the hands Of the lobby. lit is known that
the lobby is at work upon a particular clain thai
claim is sure to remain at the foot OF the list. -
Not to continue this account too long VIII say
that simply upon the evidence presented the House
Committee on Claims unanimously recommended
the passage OF bill of relief. The bill passed the
House unanimously, passed the Senate in me same
been paid single cent or member OF Congress OF
Senator having been offered farthing,
be impossible to get the claim through Congress
without paying out at least twenty per cent OF the
$50 600 involved to congressman. When asked now
they knew this they would refer to such and suoh
party who had to do 1t. One man who had claim
for $40, 900 paid go 900 to lobby members.
Thus 1t Is that q set OF vampires swarm around
the Capitol and suck the blood of poor claimants
who come there for redress pretending to sell the
influence or the votes OF congressman or senator's.
but pocketing the cash themselves and Laughing IN
their sleeves over the greenness of the claimants.
1t Is very hard to get relief from Congress, and the
reason Is the Committee on Claims have to be eau
tous in view of the many bogus claims that arc
made and the amount of sworn testimony to back
erty destroyed while her husband was In the Union
army and all the evidence In the case shows that her
claims are just And yet 1t turns out that she was
never wife or widow, and had been made such dd
interim simply to cover the case and get the pay
ment. Then comes genuine case and one OF great
Distress
General Sherman wanted q spot Of ground for .
fort at q place in Tennessee. He found the ground
been hung for his loyalty He appraised the grounds,
and the widow and her two children daughters) oe
sent on to Washington to obtain payment for their
bonds. Six months passed away before they could
get the department clerks 10 look at the claim. In
want and sorrow the widow died, and her girls,
aged sixteen and thirteen, remained In Washington
three years before they could get their claim paid.
and then II was done at sacrifice OF good share
OF 1t to fee some rascay clerk or claim agent. Tho
committee have but one way to do, and that Is 70
consider all claims bad until proved good. II your
claim s an honest one go direct to the Committee on
Claims or the department, as the case may be, either
personally or through some attorney whom you can
trust Never get the idea that you can ''buy up
Congressman" through the ''lobby." IT there
an NJ. c. to be bought he would prove very poor
investment. An open and bold stand on the inetB
OF your case trusting to the honest in Congress,
may carry you through-nothng else ever can.