The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-03-14

little meat that Gould would have left upon it.
The Lobby In WnshingtOn-How LegIsla.
tion Is Governed.
We print elsewhere an Interesting narrative
from our Washington correspondent. Some
philosopher has said, "The world is governed
too much" He would be a deep philosopher
who could tell US how the world is really
governed. We are accustomed to read grave
debates aud statesmanlike orations, and sit
under the earnest exhortations of the reverend
and pure men who serve the State in Wash
ington. But there is comedy behind it all, as
there is in most of the affairs of life-in BUSH
ness, society and politics-and this morning
we draw aside the curtain and show the
comedy of legislation.
The story is told with the art of master.
What we see behind the scenes is that there is
a power or an influence in Washington
greater than the government, which, in some
respects, is really the government. Simple
minded people who read the daily reports of
Congress, and muse upon the patriotism and
self-denial Of these patriots, have only heard
of ''the lobby" as of some drea dful afliction,
like the smallpox or typhoid, which our legis-
lators were vainly striving to repress and fee
from. They have pictured to themselves
our Roman Senators ambuscaded, trapped,
assailed, waylaid by rufianly men called
lobbyists, who were ever striving to rob
them of their precious legislative franchises.
And when some audacious member has
risen and denounced the lobby as the
incarnation of all evil there was
joy, as though a sorely-tempted sim
ner had escaped like brand rescued
from the burning. We now see, the more
closely we examine the scene, that this is all
part of the comedy. So far from Congress
attracting and sustaining the lobby, the lobby
sustains and attracts Congress. In the early
days of the republic we read of the miseries Of
Washington life-the swamp; the rude, I'M
cultivated society; the absence of all civliza-
ton and comfort, and the piteous secluson
and isolation of Washington existence. We
felt then that If public life had any martyrdom
it was in Washington. Better days have come
to our Legislators. Washington is being rap
idly made city of gardens and drives-of
boulevards as wide and inviting as the boule-
Yards of Paris. All the comforts and Injuries
of that metropolis Of sybarites are furnished to
Washington by the lobby. 1t has become the
domestic life of our legislators and has devel-
oped q profession or a caste. To be good
lobbyist is as much Of an accom- plishment as
to be good diplomatst To know wines and
cookery and games of chance to look upon
ckrA,, 20 -: -
eye of q virtuoso to know how to measure
the exact stature Of the legislator to subject
him to mental anatomy to discover his
weakness, his strength, his aspirations to
seek out his cherished vanity, and, following
the Arabian legend, to take out bis very
| heart and squeeze from it one black drop,
which stands in the way of regeneration-this
| is to be the modern lobbyist. Can we despise
| gifts like these or training which makes
! man master of the subtle craft? Rather let
us recognize it as new profession, with all
the ethics of profession, especially its immu-
| table claws of honor"
The simple citizen contempates with
anguish the needless Congressman in the
power of some Mephistopheles of the lobby,
who takes him masked into a deep dungeon
at midnight, and by the wicked light Of dark
lantern counts out roll of gold from black,
mysterious bag. He thinks of Judas, who
| was induced by an ancient lobbyist to accept
little dividend Tin all thirty pieces), and
| what came of him. But we do business better
in Washington. Mephistopheles no longer
asks his victim to write his name in blood.
He prefers ''poker" ''Poker" is the modern
talismau. There is no vulgar payment Of
money; no passing Of drafts or certified
checks. The Congressman hearkens to the
lobbyist, gravely weighs the arguments in
favor Of the desired measure; votes as re-
quired or expected; thanks his God that he
| is not as other men are; that he has the
| courage to vote In favor Of hundred millions
of acres of land to the "Grand International
Oceanic Tunnel, with Telegraph to the
Moon" without taking dollar from the
ingenious men who win the franchise. In
the evening he has quiet, gentlemanly game
of "poker," the lobbyist kindly taking hand,
with wines and viands to kill the name. And
after an evenings relaxation he finds that he
has won fifteen or twenty thousand dollars,
money honestly, honorably earned, aud going
far towards his subsistence and the aggregate
of his fortune. Nothing could be more
comfortable, mora gentlemanly, freer
from suspicion or criticisms for "poker,
if we are rightly informed, belongs
to no party, no caucus, no conven-
ton, and is in itself that neutral ground upon
which men of all opinions meet, and where
all passions and strifes are buried. IL Hes
beyond the range Of all investigating COM
mittees. No envious Senator, no keenly
gazing Schurs or questioning Sumner would
-. -l....r tbo fen thousand dollars