Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1884-04-16
+" THE THIRD HOUSE,"


countries, make this city their place of resi-
dence. Some come here attracted by the ad-
vantages the city offers for making the &C
qualntance of public men; others have various
claims which they wish to present, while the
great majority gather here, as the crows flock
to the carrion, for the sole purpose of getting a
morsel at the public crib. The latter class, as
q general thing, originate the many schemes
which terminate In vicious bills, all of which
are either directed at the publicstreasuTy, or
toward that revenue which the black-malling
OF corporations or private enterprises may
bring.
While walking down PENNSYLVANIA Avenue
the other day [ met Mr.. William NJ. Ashley,
formerly of your city, whose long residence
here has made him unusually well acquainted
with the operations of the lobby.
Having made my wants in this particular
direction known. in answer to an interrogatiye
Mr.. Ashley said
''Yes during my residence here | have be-
come well acquainted with the workings of the
Third House., as it is termed, and could tell
you OF numerous jobs, which, like the Heather
Chlnee,' are peculiar"
'.You do not regard the lobby, as body,
vicious, do you?"
''Not necessarily SO, there are good and bad
men comprising that body, yet there have been
times when it must be admitted that the COM
blned power of the third House has over
ridden the will of the people. The bad in
t1uence OF the lobby can be seen in the hume
rOus blood bills that are introduced at every
session."
"But how can these be discovered?"
Easily enough, to the person who has made
the thing a study. l can detect them at q
glance"
''Tel me TO what bills yon refer?"
"Wel, take the annual gas bills, for instance.
They are introduced for the purpose of bleed
ing the Washington Gas Light Company. They
usually result in an investigating committee
Which never amounts 10 anything more than a
draft upon the public treasury for the expenses
of the investigation. Another squeeze is the
d6dttoar bills, as they are called. These, of
course, are fought by the butchers and market
men. The first attempt to force bill of this
description was in 1877. when a prominent
Washington politician offered fabulous sum
for the franchise"
Anything else in this line that you think of,
Mr.. Ashley?"
eyes, there's the Job to reclaim the Potomac
flats, which, had it become law, would have
resulted i'll an enormous steal. The work is
now being done by the government itself, and
VIII rid the place of that malarial atmosphere
of which we hear SO much outside the city"
During your residence here have you expe-
renced the bad results Of living in this eli
matC?"
swell, while have not at all times enjoyed
good health, am certain that the difficulty which
laid me up 80 long was not malarial. 1t was
something that had troubled me for years. A
shooting, singing pain that at times attacked
different parts of my body. One day my right
arm and leg would torture me with pain, there
would be great redness, heat and swelling of
the parts; and perhaps the next day the left
arm and leg would be similarly affected. Then
sgain it would locate in some particular part of
my body and produce tenderness which would
well nigh drive me frantic. There would be
weeks at 8 time that would be afflicted with
an intermitting kind of pain that would come
on every afternoon and leave me comparatively
free from suffering during the balance of the
twenty-four hours. Then | would have terri
bic paroxysms of pain coming on st any time
during the day or night when / would be
obliged to lie upon my back for hours and keep
as motionless as possible. Every time / at
tempted to move a chilly sensation would pass
over my body, or would faint from hot flashes.
| suffered from a spasmodc contraction of the
muscles and soreness of the back and bowels
and even my eyeballs became sore and dis
tressed me greatly whenever wiped my face.
l became ill-tempered, peevish, fretful irri a
bic and desperately Respondent"
"Of course you consulted the doctors re-
garding your difficglty?"
Consulted them ? well l. should say did
Some told me l had neuralgia; others that /
had lnfammatory rheumatism, for which there
was no cure, that would be afflicted all nv
life, and that time alone would mitigate my
sufferlngs."
4" But didn't they try to relieve your mis-
cries?
Eyes, they vomited and physicked me, b is
tered and bled me, plastered and oiled me,
sweat, steamed and everything but froze me,
but without avail"
''But how did you finally recover?"
81 had friend living in Michigan who had
been afflicted in similar way and had been
cured. He wrote me regarding his recovery
and advised me to try the remedy which cured
him. procured bottle and commenced its
use, taking a tablespoonful after each meal and
at bed time. / had used it about week when
l noticed a decrease of the soreness of the
joints and a general feeling of relief. perse-
vered in It's use and finally got so could move
around without llmplng, when L told my
friends that it was Warmers Safe Rheumatic
Cure that had put me on my feet"
And do you regard your cure as perma-
nen?"
Certainly, haven't been so well in years as
am now, and although have been subjected
to frequent and severe changes of weather this
winter, have not felt the first int1mation of
the return of my rheumatic trouble"
do you object to the publication of this in
tervieW, Mr.. Ashley?"
'Not at all, sir, look upou it as duty l
owe my fellow creatures to alleviate their suf-
fer1ngs SO far as am able, and any commune
cation regarding my symptoms and cure that
may be sent to me at 506 Maine Avenue will re-
ce1ve prompt and careful attention"
Judging from your recital, Mr.. Ashley.
there must be wonderful curative properties
about this incidence?
"Indeed, there is, sir; for no man suffered
more nor longer than did I before this remedy
gave me relief
80 go back to the original subject. Mr.
Ashley, suppose you see the same familiar
faces about the lobby session after session."
mo. not so much SO as you might think.
New faces are constantly seen and old ones
disappear. The strain upon lobbyists is neces-
sarily very great, and when you add TO this the
demoIalizlng effect of late hours and intemper-
ate habits and the factIthat they are often found
out IN their steals, their disappearance can
easily be accounted for"
''What proportion of these blood bills are
successful"
"a very small percentage, sir. Notwith-
standing the power and influence of the lobby,
but few Of these vicious measures pass. We're
they successful it would be a sad commentary
upon our system Of government, and would
virtually annihilate one branch of it. The
great majority of them are either reported ad-
Versely or smothered in committee by the
watchfulness and loyalty of our congressman
]. E. D.
~ f7tSW II