Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1889-11-15
SECRETS OF THE LCDBY.
CONFESSIONS OF A MEMBER OF
THE THIRD HOUSE."
"Sizing Up the House of Representatives
for $500 and the Senate for &25O-waste
No Time on Your Friends-value of
Cigars in the Lobbyist Trade.

WASHINGTON, Nov. BIN a month we
shall have congress with us once more AL
ready the many persons who hang about the
skirts of that body and pick up the crumbs
which drop from its table are making their
appearance in town. Among these camp
followers, conspicuous among them, are the
lobbyists. The lobbyists are preparing for
their winters campaign, and it is no viola
ton of confidence to say that they are ex-
pecting "A lively and profitable season. With
four cities bidding for the worlds fair of
1892, and congress pretty well divided in its
preferences, it would indeed be strange if the
professional lobbyist did not get in n few
good ticks for himself. There is not profess
sional lobbyist in town who is without hope
of being employed by one or other of the
cities which are competing for the worlds
fair. With one of these professional lobby
lists, a man of good req ltation in his line of
business-for even a lobbyist may have
good or bad reputation-a man who has been
employed by various corporations, have had
very interesting conversation.
" have worked i'll Washington off and on"
said he, for eight or ten years. 1t does not
do for man in this business to stay here all
the time. He wants to go and come. If
man were to stay all the time in Washington
he would soon become known by everybody,
and that is just what he doesn't want. The
successful lobbyist, at least in my line of
work, does not want to be a marked man.
He must be able to go and come in the
city, visit members at their rooms or be seen
walking with them on the avenue, without
having the word passed along, there goes
so and so, the lobbyist. Three years ago l
had on hand very important and delicate
operation. During the whole winter | never
left my lodgings till after dark. | never
went out except i'll closed carriage. And
during the whole of that winter was never
at the Capitol.
1.-The common notions about lobbyists and
lobbying are very erroneous. The general
belief is that lobbying consists of the use of
money directly. | venture to say that there
has not been u congress in the last ten years
which contained more than half dozen men
whom it would be safe to approach with
proposition to pay money for their votes.
There are few such men in every congress,
and one or two of that sort have managed to
secure reelection time after time. But these
men are as well known as the names of the
streets, at least to men who are engaged in
the business of influencing legislation Their
influence is worth nothing, and they are
never bothered with except in cases where
the vote is likely to he close, and "A few friends
are needed, no matter where or how pro-
cured, or in the few instances in which it is
found necessary to buy such man out of his
opposition to your measure.
"While there are but few men who can
be approached in person with actual brides
there are many who can be reached indirect
ly. professional infuencer of legislation,
like myself, has little to do with the con
sideration which is held out to members of
congress. That is the work of others who
come after U.S. Our part is ascertaining how
the ground lays and in preparing the pre-
liminares. The first thing IA man in charge
of a measure wants to know is how it stands
He wants to know how many friends he has,
and how strong and loyal they are. Then he
wants to know who his enemies are, what
motives or feelings influence them, and how
they can best be reached. 1t is in this work
that professional like myself finds his great
est field of usefulness | have sized up con-
gress six or eight times during my work in
Washington, and it usually takes about a
month of patient, hard work. My terms for
sizing up the house of representatives are
$500 and for the senate $3.50. The senate has
not one-half SO many members rs the house,
1t is true, but the senators are harder to
reach AS rule you can get at a member
of the house in about half the time it takes TO
see a senator, and after you have reached the
latter the chances are he won't give you an
inkling of what his standing is ON the ques-
ton in which you are interested.
Managers of bills often make the mistake
of going to work without knowing who their
friends are. | well remember western rail
way case. The manager was lawyer, as
smart a steel trap, but without experience
in this particular line of work. He spent
several weeks here, and did not seem to be
making much progress. He was somewhat
discouraged, when a friend sent him to me-
talked with him little while and very
soon discovered that the trouble was he
didn't know his friends from his enemies, and
that he was working too much in the dark.
AS like as not said |, you have beer
wasting your efforts ON your friends, who
are all right, anyway. That is a mistak,
often made here. A man wastes his time il
taking care Of men who are with him, anC
who are bound to stay with him, at the sam,
time neglecting the very men who hold tn,
fate of the measure i'm their hands