The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-03-12

of the cabinet by the appointment of Mr.
| Lamar to be Secretary OF the Interior
| Mr. Lamar was at the head Of the delega.
ton from Mississippi which went to Al
| bany to urge the appointment of Mr.
| Money, and the President-elect, who had
never seen him before, was so impressed
| with his personality that he said that Mis-
| sissippi could have a cabinet appointment
| only on condition that Mr.. Lamar would
| accept ii. Mr. Money thereupOn retired
| 10 private life and made his home In
| Washington, where he became recognize
| ed as one of the promoters of legislation
| and the puSher of claims before the depart
| ments. To the surprise of every one who
| knew him in Washington he was nomi-
| mated for congress again three years ago
| and elected, and he has been elected re-
Gently to the Senate to succeed Mr..
| George.
Some years ago a man who misrepre-
| scented newspaper at Wash
| ington was brought up before
an investigation committee and
had been paid him by a corporation which
was trying to influence the action Of con-
gress. This man testified that he had re-
| ceived the money for the influence he
| possessed and for distribution among 9TH
| er newspaper correspondents to influence
/ the tone of their comments on the propos-
| ed legislation. But he had TO confess that
no dollar of the money had gone beyond
| him to the other men connected with
the press gallery. He had sold out the
| correspondents when he knew he could
]
/ his double-dealing with his employers
would not become known. The investiga-
| ton discredited him forever in the eyes
| of public men.
! In tariff investigation some years ago,
/ when 1t was understood money had been
/ used for bribery committee of the House
! questioned some New England manufac-
| turers, who acknowledged that they had
| put certain sums of money in the hands Of
! agents here to influence the votes of MEM
| bers of the House. But these agents too
l haA IN n 81 to hai
employers-that the money with which
they were to obtain votes they put in their
| pockets.
There is a good deal of trickery i'm lob
bying but no more than there is in the
transaction of the legitimate business of
the House. The man who rushed to the
capitol with the news that Hancock was
dead and persuaded a member of the House
to offer a. resolution adjourning the House
because of his death was a clever lobbyist.
A bill he was opposing was the special or
der for the day on which Hancock died
He had exhausted every effort to defeat
ii; but he knew If it came to a vote it
would pass. There was no precedent for
the adjournment of the House on the death
of a man who had never held public office
or been anything more than an army OFF,
Ger and a candidate for the presifw.rcy.
But the House. when the resolution was
presented, could not very well vote II
down So the obnoxious bill lost its place
on the calendar. and it never came up for
consideration again.
There is a long line of strikers in Wash
ington though-men who are lying in wait
during the session of congress to prey on
people who come here to aid or prevent
certain legislation. They earn nothing.
They trade on their supposed influence
with members. Sometimes they scratch an
acquaintance with one or two of the new
members of the House, and make a great
parade of walking down the avenue with
them or talking with them on the floor of
the House. They are confidence men, pure
and simple.
This is a good winter for the lobbyist.
The Pacific railroad people, under the lead
ership of c. p Huntingdon himself. have
kept a very large and expensive lobby at
work. His agents swarm at both ends of
the capitol. The Pullman car people, fear
full of legislation on the lines of John Sher-
mans bill to reduce the price of the upper
BERTH have had several attorneys and men
of influence watching developments. Some
manufacturing interests, fearing change
in the tariff law, have had representatives
in the field
The lobbyist does not have the privilege
of the floor of the House or Senate now,
even II he is an ex-member. Once he did,
but he became a crying nuisance. and in
the Forty-ninth congress, steps were taken
to have every ex-member who was inter
ested in pending legislation barred from
the floor of the House. On the Senate
side In the same congress, a peculiar con-
dition of affairs was exposed through the
efforts Of Senator Riddleberger.