The Elbert County tribune., 1900-04-19
FIRST LOG ROLLER.
SAWYER EREARNEprHE1rrLE
Entertaining Story of the wisconsin Lup-
Der Kings Method of Securing What
He Sought While In Congress.


Der Kings Method of Securing wha,
He Sought While In Congress-
The late PhIletus Sawyer of wiscon-
SIN earned his first money by driving
team for Messrs. Penfield & Ham
mond, who had mines and timber
camps on the banks of Lake Cham
plain, and he managed to save 5000
on salary Of SO month. With this
capital he went TO Wisconsin In Is47
and laid the foundation of his enor-
hious fortune at an auction sale of gov
ernment land. Mr.. Sawyer spent two
years tramping through the timber ana
marking the best tracts, and arranged
with lumbernren In Boston to furnish
the money to buy ON shares. He used
TO tell the story with great gusto. The
oluer he grew the oftener he told ii.
and the more he enjoyed the recollec-
tion or the way in which he outwitted
a party of spectators from New York.
The latter, knowing that Mr.. Sawyer
was the only man who knew the actual
value OF the lands. followed his bid
ding. and when he seemed anxious to
obtain certain tract they would raise
him until they got 1t. Mr. Sawyer soon
discovered how his rivals were avail
Ing themselves of the knowledge which
II took him two long years OF labor and
hardship to acquire, and then turned
their game.
Placing the list of lands he wished to
purchase In the hands of an uncouth
rustic with instructions to bid each I'D
to certain amount. he bid franticnlly
himself for other tracts. but the New
York spectators persistently outbid
him. He showed so much chagrin that
1t afforded them amusement. When
the sale was over and the land was in
spected 1t was found that the New
York spectators had purchased near
iy every worthless piece of timber in
the state and that the rustic lumber
man had secured nearly every choice
tract. The Boston people were very
liberal to Mr.. Sawyer and gave him a
generous proportion of the lands he
bought with their money Some of
them he still owned at the time of his
death.
Mr.. Sawyer was the inventor of that
form of legislation known as ''log-roll-
ing" 1t was the practical result of his
ability to accomplish things. He never
cared for show. He never made n
speech in his life, but no man enjoyed
the sensation of success more keenly.
What he undertook he carried out. and
If he couldn't do II one way he did II
in another. He had a large share OF
that faculty the Yankees called "con-
trivance," which enabled him TO devise
means for accomplishing his purpose
that would not have suggested them
selves to any other man. The 'log-roll-
ing method of Legislation was sug-
gested TO him by the familiar habits of
the lumbermen In his own country,
who holm aI ntl lnr 10 ,...n
from the winter camp TO the banks OF
the nearest stream. where they can
be caught by the spring rise. II was
the application of this neighborly prnc-
tice which enabled Mr.. Sawyer to Sc
cure legislation that could not other
wise have been passed, and he gave
the method its name.
Wisconsin needed good deal of leg
islation when he first came to Con
gress, and Mr.. Sawyer secured more
than forty other men could have done.
He let his bills accumulate until to-
ward the end Of the session. when he
would take up the calendar and make
memorandums of various measures In
which influential men in the House
and Senate were Interested. Then he
would call them together at his house
or at his committee room and say:
Boys, We've got to do little log
rolling If we get our timber TO the mill
this season." The result would be an
agreement to stand by each other and
throw all their combined influence In
favor of list of bills which he had
made out and handed to members of
the combine. The work was conduct
ed in secret and was almost always
successful, so that the habits of the
Il,
every legislative body in the world.
The river and harbor appropriation
bill originated in that way. Formerly a
separate measure would be passed for
each river or harbor that required i'm
provement. but under Mr.. Sawyer :
log-rolling system the members of
Congress interested In such approprla-
tions organized a trust which finally
grew into regular annual appropria-
ton bill and n special committee to
frame 1t.