Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-01-12

A1.E
LOBBYISTS.
Washington correspondence n. Y. Times
The business of lobbying has greatly changed
since 1872 and 1873. Before that date
men of social and political influence were en-
poyed to look after business pending in Con-
gress. Uncle Sam Ward was proud of this title,
Rex Vestibuli. But in reality Sam was only
genial, enjoyable old man who entertained
handsomely in a variety of ways. He studied
the peculiarites of the leading men in both
houses, and If they had any whims
and notions that could be egtimately
gratfed the old man made it his business to
crafty them Some were fond of the table and
Uncle Sam fed Them Occasionally few were
literary in their tastes and here the manysided
old man was strongest. If they loved rare
books he furnished them through his friend
Bernard Quaritch. of London. He could tickle
the fancy and please the vanity of the poetica
with neatly turned complimentary verses. The
lovers of fine liquors-the wine bibbers. the
brandy drinkers. and whisky guZZlers-Sam could
cater to after fashion that would bring him
right into their very heart of hearts. Uncle
Sam never dealt in base bribes-that he left
to the common herd He appealed not to ava
rice or cupidity. but to the brains or stomach.
He was an accomplished gentleman experienced
in the practical affairs of life. He had been
brought up to trade in his youth. had Travelled
best story Uncle sam ever told ne about him
self was how he learned in three weeks to speak
an Indian dialect. He was the owner of a ferry
in California. as recollCct. running it himself
He made bet with miner that he could learn
any Indian speech i'm three weeks. An old In
dian chief living near Sans cabin knew all the
dialects of the California tribes. OF course he
was fond of fre-water. Sam supplied him in
limited quantities or just sufficient to warm
up his old heart and loose his tongue. and then
-
ton of memory and flexibility of tongue" said
Uncle Sam. I'm less than three weeks could
have made myself understood by any Indian in
California"
The old mans strong point was his intimacy
with leading Senator's There were some of
them who loved royal good brandy, and the
very best that could be found in the world
Uncle Sam would provide He was not lavish
with it. He knew too much to waste such pre-
cious stuff even on the two brandy epicures of
the Senate. He reserved the choicest article to
warm their Obdurate hearts when he wanted
particularly to get their attention. He always
studied carefully the subject he wanted
to interest them in, and made his
points in terse. epigrammatic way that
would interest and amuse them. On one
occasion a friend of mine was fortunate enough
to be presented with couple of bottles of old
MOnOngahela whisky bottledn 1910. The legend
was that the rye from which it was made grew
on the hillsides of Western PENNSYLVANIA in
and after slipping the oily liquid and smackine
his lips few times he made my friend tell him
where and how he got the stuff. Nothing would
do but he must have the unopened bottle A few
weeks afterward my friend received two cases
of choice old Madeira with q note from Uncle
Sam, saying THAT bottle of old rye got me the
two votes needed in the Senate"
Joe Stewart, who was long the big boss of the
lobby, was very different sort of fellow He
was physical giant-more than 6 feet in
hni, f,.at -
and weighing fully 260 pounds. He was the
most conspicuous man on the streets. IN the
hotel lObbies, or about the corridors of the Cap
ltOl- He was strong man intellectually, but
uncultured and unaccOmplshed in any way.
He was bold and reckless gambler in
gold and stocks in the exciting DAYS of
lS63-45. One day he would be rich and the
next week without a dollar. He made $50, 900
by one operation in gold, and bought
a carriage and pair for one Of his friends pay
ing $500 for the outfit. The next day Joe had
to borrow money of this friend to put up as
margin on another venture. His greatest Oper-
alton was the management of the old Pawnee
and LeavenwOrth railroad bill-the precursor
and pioneer of the Union Pacific. The pro-
jectOrs of the latter had to deal with joe and
the deal was to exchange their government
guaranteed bonds for the old issues OF Pawnee
and LeayenwOrth 1t was these securities that
brought the Union Pacific's subsidy through
Congress and Joe made most of the bargains.
He was what might be APPLY termed the Suli-
van of LOBBYISTS.
He was not bad lawyer. He had the faculty
OF what, in slang parlance is termed catching
on to the weak points in a case. He was i'm
the habit of dropping into the Supreme COurt
room and listening to arguments On more
than one occasion he caught on to cases which
yielded him something handsome. 1t was in this
way that he got the idea that the heirs of Jumel
living in France were entitledto the property the
nj hrpa hoI laft in, No, Vi
In with him the Marquis de Chambrun. who
went to France, hunted up the heirs, and made
Contracts with them A queer story could be
told about this litigation. which has recently
been settled.
l said the business of the lobby had greatly
changed since the seventies. So it has. | re-
member well during the Credit Mobilier inves-
tlgation when it was popularity believed that all
the crooked COngreSSmen were scared to death
and that measure the least bit suspicious
couldn't get a vote in the House Sam Randall
said to me one day, triumphantly, after Van
Trump, of Ohio. had made raid on certain
scheme. "All we have to do is to wave the black
flag at them and they take to their heels" And
yet at this very time the Pacific Mail subsidy
was quietly going through. John W. Forney
was dickering with Dick Irwin, not exactly
for Randals vote, but to keep him from voting
at all. Fortunately for Randals fame he did
vote and against the bill. But FOrney got S25 900
for his supposed services There was however
very stnall traction Oh the S0OO,0OO spent bV
Irwin to get the subsidy, paid to men on the
outside FOrney and Dom Piatt Lyman Ell
more and all the outside strikers, got less than
100000. At least 100000 went directly to
Congressmen-tO Representatives and Senators
Ii was. moreover, disbursed by congressman.
Irwin knew nothing more than he told. He
made his bargains and paid the money but
where it went he never knew. OF course he had
his suspicious. He knew what votes were
changed. The committee that Investigated the
scandal got as far as the Third National Bank
where the checks were cashed, but there the
scent grew cold. The cashier could not rerlem-
Der Tho tie men were who identified Bill King
They were two members of the House. and
King was not much more than the stakeholder
OF course he got some OF the money but oniy a
fair commission.
All of HuntingtOns operations in Washington
were conducted by himself. The Central Pacific
raIroad has always retained at an annual salary
an agent at Washington 1t paid Dick Franchot,
eX-ncmber OF Congress from New York state
q salaTy OF S23OOO year. He was a bright
capable and shrewd man. but his business was
simply TO find out and report to Huntington
He could attend to routine matters in the de-
partnents and make himself generally useful
and agreeable. Having the privilege of the floor
he had facility OF access to members which an
outside fellow lacked. 1t is great deal easier to
chat with members in the clOak-rOoms or at their
desks than to run about town and take your
chances OF finding them at their rooms. In the
course OF one afternoon an eX-member can
see and talk with twenty members on the floor
of the House or In the clOak-rOOms, and gather
all the news and gossip he wants. 1t would
take an unprisileged lobbyist nights and nights
TO ind that MANY at home Now tho priyata