McCook weekly tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 188?-1886, 1884-03-20
ssTHE THIRD HOUSE,"
It's Good and Bad Members-Thc Remark
able Experiences Of, . Close Obscr-
YER Of Its Workings During
Long Residence In
WashingtOn.


Warrington.
Correspondence Rochester Democrat.
No city upon the American continent
has larger floating population than
Washington. 1t is estimated that dur
ing the sessions of congress twenty
five Thousand people, whose homes are
in various parts of this and other coun-
tries, make this city their place of resi-
dence. Some come here, attracted by
the advantages the city offers for max
ing the acquaintance of public men;
others have various claims which they
wish to present, while the great major
ity gather here, as the crows flock to
the carrion, for the sole purpose of get
ting morsel at the public crib. The
latter class, as a general thing, origin
ate the many schemes which terminate
in vicious bills, all of which are neither
directed at the public treasury, or
toward that revenue which the black
mailing of corporations or private en-
terprises may bring.
While walking down Pennsylvania
avenue the other day, met Mr.. Will
liam M. 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 par
ticular direction known, in answer to
an interrogative, Mr.. Ashley said:
eyes, during my residence here l
have become well 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 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 combined power
of the third house, has overridden
the will of the people. The bad inf1u-
ence OF the lobby can be seen in the
numerous blood-bills that are intro
duced at every session."
"8ut how can these be discovered?"
''Easily enough, to the person who
has made the thing a study. l can de-
tect them at a glance"
"Tell me, to what bills do you re-
fer?"
"Well, take the annual gas bills, for
instance. They are introduced for the
purpose of bleeding the Washington
gas light company. They usually re-
suit in an investigating committee which
never amounts to anything more than
a draft upon the public treasury for the
expenses of the investigation. Another
squeeze is the a6attoir bills, as they are
called. These, of course, are fought
by the butchers and market-men. The
first attempt to force a bill of this de-
scription was in 1877, when promi-
nent 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 in an enor-
nous steal. The work is now being
done by the government itself, and will
rid the place of that malarial atmos-
phere of which we hear so much out
side the city,
"During your residence here have
you experienced the bad results of liv-
ing in this climate?''
"Well, while have not at all times
enjoyed good health, am certain that
the difficulty which laid me up so long
was not malarial. 1t was something
that had troubled me for years. A
shooting, singing pain that at times at
tackled different parts of my body. One
day my right arm and leg would tor
ture 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 af-
fected. Then again it would locate in
some particular part of my body and
produce tenderness which would we'll
nigh drive me frantic. There would
be weeks at time that I would be af-
fiicted with an intermitting kind of
pain that would come on every after
noon 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 l would be obliged to lie
upon my back for hours and keep as
motionless as possible. Every time I
attempted to move chilly sensation
would pass over my body, or I would
faint from hot f1ushes. l suffered from
a spasmodic contraction of the mus
cles and q soreness of the back and
bowels, and even my eyeballs became
sore and distressed me greatly when
ever I wiped my face. l became ill
tempered, peevish, fretful, irritable and
desperately respondent.
"Of course you consulted the doctors
regarding your dificultyp"
"Consulted them? Well / should
say did. Some told me I had neu-
ralgia; others that had infammatory
rheumatism, for which there was no
cure; that would be afflicted all my
life, and that time alone would miti-
gate my sufferings.''