St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1876-12-29
Our Washington Letter.

,From Regular CorrespondentJ
\ PEEP BEHIND THE SCENES OF oURNA-
TIoNAL LEGISLATURE LOBBY
WHAT IT Is AND HOW IT OPERATES
"CURBSTONE" LOBBYISTS SAM WARD,
THE KING OF THE LOBBY BY-MAGNATEs
". MAGNETISM SKETCHES OF LEAD
ING LOBBYISTS, MALE AND FEMALE
Hor> SOFT OIL NAL Y PEUsE,,
WASHINGTON. ID. c.. Dec. l.. 1876.
There is one element which enters
largely largely into American
politics, and that is the lobby. Al
though 10y no means confined to this
hemisphere. for lobbyists thrive at the
the courts of 81. James. Berlin. Madrid
St. Petersburg. and even in rrpuh-
lican Versailles. as we'll a> here. vet
they Il" not with few cNccptions) con
front the great public with 50 bold Il
face and carry on their operations as
openly and unhlu>hingly on the other
side of the Atlantic Ocean. lis with us
where lobbying is Il regular trade. hay
ing the Capitol for its workshop. and
the members of our National LcgiSla-
ture for its tools. Cora Pearl and Liz
zir Blacktord. though they both med
died with politics aud both got into
ScripeS accordingly. one i'll Russia and
the other in France, were courtczans
rather than lobbyists; differing in that
respect from ''thc MetternIch" of the
second empire. who WAS IL lobbyist
rather than Il courtcZIn and who had
more To do with shaping the destiny of
France than amy other woman durin"
the reign of Louis ie Petit. Eugcnic not
excepted.
1t does not. indeed. require long
residence in Washington or much
scrutiny to become acquainted with the
fact that lobbying here, is carried on on
Il gigantic scale. but Vet with peculiar
tact and fnesSe that makes it. in Ger
tain Scnsc. attractive, if not respectable.
| do not here refer to the bunglng
curhStone lobbyists of the fourth OF
!
tions to small private bills ranging from
Il few hundred to one or two thousand
dollars. and who are recruited chiefly
from the demi monde and the "mcmbers
friends of which our city has such an
unduly large proportion but to that
class which moves i'll upper tendon eX-
Lain N..lN = =
put i'll an appearance ut the Capitol.
1t is Il mistake to suppose, as many do,
that the gorgeouSly dressed and painted
beauties one sees, on every fair day, in
the lobbies or galleries of the Senate
and the House, are lobby lists no, the
genial lobbyist knows thing or two.
keeps aloOf from the east end of Penn
sylvania avenue and seldom refers to
the Capitol in conversation-acts. in
fact, ils if she were utterly ignorant of
the existence of that structure or the
purposes for which it is employed
With the male lobbyists, however,
the case is different. He haunts the
members in their committee rooms,
while the feminine lets them haunt her
in her drawing-room or boudoir. He
goes to them, they come to her. His
destinations are shares, good wine,
luncheons at "the CongI essiOnal' and
late dinners with drawpoker as des-
sert) ut Welckers; hers consist i'll soft
ewes and softer hands, seductive smiles.
fair promises, and an eXhuberance Of
.'magnctism." Her eyes attract you,
her faintest touch sends thrill through
YOUR body from the tips of your toes to
the end of your nose, and her voice is
of that quality which makes it absolute
ly impossible to reply to it with mo :"
with the grace of Il Salisbury she con
fines her motto: HOM soft gui NAL 9
peuse,
Every body knows that Sam Ward
he is the king of the lobbyists, and has
Iobbied more bills through Congress
than apy other man living. Next to
him. rs "A star of the second magnitude.
comes probably N. W, the
oreut inventor and gun manufacturer
lint then. he Iobbies chiefly in his own
interest. He has claim of some hun
dreds of thousands now pending before
Congress. Colonel C., MIR. F-of
New York. and Il wellknown ex-Sena-
FOR. who shall he nameless, are also
notable instances of successful lobby