The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-05-27
WASHINGTON LOBBYISTS

anything I do not know about helping OF
| hindering legisla ton. Please send q. not,
where an interview can be had.
Office.
l P. S.-You will have 500 offers. and my
advice is to have but one TO assist you
and be careful in making a choice, and de
not answer 100 many propositions. 1t i:
| not well to let your business be known
peyond attorney and confidential friends
II you VIII see me promptly I will give
you good advice, whether you employ me
Immediately replied to this letter say
ing: i am much impressed by your re.
spouse to my advertisement. Kindly SEND
me your business address that 1 may cal
In the meantime I would call on those
whose addresses were already in my pos
session First. however, 1 had to get
f feaoy y my important matter to bring be-
After going through the volume of hear.
tngs before the ways and means commit
tee of the House which were submitted
during the formation of the Wilson ill
nit upon an idea of
CHANGING THE TARIFF
ca button-forms from 10 per cent ad
Ealorem to . per cent. ad Valorem. Button
forms are the materials used in buttor
making. These materials are hastings
nloha1r, wooden and cotton cloth and silk
found that in the Mckinley act the VIII.
son bill and the bill now pending before
me senate a singular discrimina ton exists
IN favor OF the button maker who though
protected by a tax of 40 per cent. pays
tax on his importations of but 10 BEL
cent, Whlle everybody else importing the
20 ai le materials pays tax of from 50 tc
% per cent. This difference recounts to the
interests OF the button maker about $4,000
year, and operates with particular dis.
daIuNahJaSe TO the American braid makers
Ciie pulK OF cloth buttons used being made
OF mohair braid. This was all the data
! I G33u!Q OBTAIN relative to my proposed leg
lsIa Ilon. however, my plan was to de
peha not on data, but dollars, to do nv
business. - w ny
The first attorney 1 visited was the man
VINO VINO mad referred me to Chief Justice
w w d 1Ie L9r character | stated my case
70 Mr. X briefly. 1 had to be brief. for
! oian Know enough about the matter
10 be lengthy. l merely said that I
wa wanted TED the the tariff on button forms
indicated the discrimination existing in
favor of the button makers. I then said
mat dldnt propose to have anything
more 20 90 IN the case than pay the bills.
ana IKE the Chicago lady l represented
myself TO be, l set forth the fact that
l nad money enough behind me to change
the Ine declaration of Independence if l
quickly corrected me. when referred tn
MN as a lobbyist. He assured me that he
/ is an attorney, though he confessed at
the start that he knows a lobbyist, and
represented this acquaintance as the cap
ltal he would work in the case. This,
man." said he, lis one of the keene est
shrewdest lobbyists in Washington, and
ne is under obligations to me for favors
l nave peen able to secure for him. He
however, is only one of the channels
through which / would operate. You see.
my social position is such that 1 meet
puDIc men constantly in a familiar way
~ is quite in the natural order of inter
course among gentlemen for me to ask
any senator or member
TO DRINK A BOTTLE
/ of wine, or take dinner with me. and
therein lies a large measure of my
seignors are human after ali. and I as
sure you, more legislation emanates from
the stomachs than the heads of our res
pected and respectable lawmakers. 7
couIdnt nope to accomplish anything to
call a senator out into the marble room
and put to him a, cold FLOODED PROPOSE
ton to increase the tariff on button
forms or on anything else But under the
mellowing influence of a cold bottle com
Dlned with the penetrating generosity
that say terrapin stew inspires YOU
nave a statesman's spirit in condition to
properly receive a passing allusion to the
fact that there's little tariff matter
you are interested in, which YOU would
like to chat with him about. Then later,
through the enhancing haze of fragrant
tobacco smoke, you present the detail of
the case and the point you want made
may require an additional bottle,
more terrapin and another cigar but
is certain. How much will it cost? 1
could not inform you definitely as to that
until had talked with my friend the
lobbyist of whom 1 spoke. Offhand. 1
would say / might undertake the case
for a retainer fee of SO, S25 for drawing
up the amendment-the change you de-
sire would have to be accomplished by
means of an amendment-and a per diem
charge of S. to $40. with a contingent
fee of 800, you to bear all the expenses
of whatever arguments it might be nee
essary to advance in the form of winning
and dining
When 1 returned to Mr.. X next day
he had seen his friend, who is a lobby
ist," and said that after discussing the
matter with his friend, he had deter
mined that he would have to have 500
at the start and $500 or $500 contingent
fee.
I did not engage Mr.. X, for during
] had seen man, who, while not a lob
byist, Is he told me, had nevertheless put
seven special bills through Congress this
session, all of which have been signed by
the president. This was the man who
wrote to me that he had been '.moder-
ately successful Here said he, draw
ing an innocent-appearing slip of paper
from his pocket, here is something that
looks as if it does not amount to much
But in reality it is a bill involving the
title of 300 acres of land valued at $500
an acre which l passed without the
slightest trouble. The thing went through
at a single touch. 1t didn't cost me a
cent to do the work, and I pocketed a
fee of $1,000 I make a speciality of land
matters. / am not familiar with tariff
practice. But 1 will tell you of some one
who is just the man TO do this for you,
Mr.. Y. He has done a great deal in tariff
lines, and is specially equipped for the
service from the fact that he spent the
entire winter in New York in work which
brought him in such relations with the
treasury department that he has the in
fiuence of Secretary Carlisle to back any
6 n arif
will tell you in confidence that Mr.. Y
practically
HAS IN HIS HANDS
the formation of the conference commit
tee which finally shapes the tariff bill
in Congress.
1 lost no time in seeing Mr. Y. / laid
my case before him, and he Immediately
perceived in the provisions of the often
sve tariff on button-forms difficulties of
administration which would engage the
influence of the treasury department on
my behalf. He told me how he had
effected a similar change in the tariff by
the aid of this influence 1t was in the
matter of hat trimmings. Il was un-
able to present the case TO the committee
so as to incline them to my views. But
/ readily showed the treasury department
the impossibility OF administering the
tariff as it now stands, and the weight of
the opinion OF the treasury finally carried
the day for me in Congress. If take
your case, you have every promise of
success. l would expect a retainer fee of
$780, and, contingent upon success, not
less than 81 800 or 81, 00O.''
next called upon an attorney who was
formerly chief of division in one of the
departments. He told me l had come too
late to hope to do anything with the tariff
now.
But 1 have money! / urged.
1T is not easy to use money in the
Senate" he said; -and there is more
fancy than fact in the talk of the way
money can be used in the House. l had
a great deal to do with the manufacture
of the Mckinley act and the Wilson bill.
but | can tell you that success in lobby