Morning journal and courier., 1884-03-10
"The Third House.

It's Good and Bad Members-The Re-
 mnrkabIe Experiences of a Close Ob-
 server of its Workings During a Long
 Residence at Washington.
 Correspondence Rochester Demoo1atl
 No city upon the American continent has g larger floating population than Washington It is estimated that during the sessions ot Congress twenty-five thousand people, whose homes are in various parts of this and other countries, make this city their place of resi- dence Some come here, attracted by the advantages the city offers for making the ac quaintance of public men, others have va. rious claims which they wish to present, while the great majority gather here, as the crows flock to the carrion, for the sole pur- pose of getting a morsel at the public crib. The latter class, as general thing, originate the many schemes which terminate in vicious bills, all of which are neither directed at the public treasury, or toward that revenue which the blackmailing of corporations or private enterprises may bring.
 While walking down Pennsylvania avenue the other day met MT. William M. Ashley, formerly of your city, whose long residence here has made him unusually we'll acquainted with the operations of the lobby.
 Having made my wants in this particular direction known, in answer to an interroga- tive, MT. Ashley said:
 ''Yss, during my residence here I have be- come we'll acquainted with the workings of the Third House, as it is termed, and could tell you of numerous jobs, which, like the Heather Chinee, are peculiar"
 ''You do not regard the lobby, as body, vicious, do yoC?"
 'sNot necessarily so; there are good and bad men comprising that body; yet there have been times when it must be admitted that the combined power of the Third House has overridden the will of the people. The bad influence of the lobby can be seen in the numerous blood-bills that are intro duced at every session"
 'tBut how can these be discovered ?'
 ''Easily enough, to the person who has made the thing 8 study. l can detect them at 8 glance"
 'sTell me, to what bills do you refer ?"
 sWell, take the annual gas bills, for in stance They are introduced for the pur- pose of bleeding the Washington Gas Light company. They usually result in an investi- eating committee which never amounts to anything more than draft upon the public treasury for the expenses of the investiga- tion. Another squeeze is the abattolr blils as they are called. These, of course, are fought by the butchers and market-men. The first attempt to force bill of this de- scription was in 1877, when prominent Washington politician offered fabulous sum for the franchise"
 ssAnything else in this line that you think of, Mr. Ashley ?"
 s'Yes, there's the job to reclaim the Poto- mac flats, which, had it become law, would have resulted in an enormous steal. The work is now being done by the government itself, and will rid the place of that malariat atmosphere of which we hear so much out side the city"
 During your residence here have you ex- perienced the bad results of living in this cli- mate ?''
 ''Well. while I have not at all times en- joyed good health, am certain that the diff ticulty which laid me up so long was not malarial. It was something that had troubled me for years. A shooting stinging pain that at times attacked different parts of my body. One day my right arm aBd 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 again 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 time that would be af- 6icted 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 I would have terrible paroxysms of pain com ing on at any time during the day or night when would be obliged to lie upon my back