The San Juan County index., 1900-06-01
FIRST LOG ROLLER.
HowsAwYaREAHNEDTHETlTLE
Entertaining stony OF the Wisconsin Lam
Der Kings Method Of Securing Whn.
uo sourht Whuo ia Conrrcaa

Entertaining story of the wisconsin Lam.
Der Kings Method Of Securing Whn.
Re sought While 10 Congress
The late Phlletus Sawyer Of Wiscon
sin earned his first money by driving
a team for Messrs. Penheld g. Ham
mond, who had mines and timber
camps on the banks Of Lake Cham.
plain, and he managed to save S2,OOJ
on a salary Of S12 a month. With this
-,apieel he went to Wisconsin in 1S4i
and laid the foundation Of his enor-
nous fortune at an auction sale OF gov
ernment land. Mr.. Sawyer spent two
years tramping through the timber anc
marking the best tracts, and arranged
I with lumbermen I'm Boston to furnish
the money to buy on shares. He use,
to tell the story with great gusto. III,
older he grew the oftener he told It,
and the more he enjoyed the recollec
tion of the way In which he outwltteU
a party Of spectators from New York
/ The latter, knowing that Mr.. Sawye
was the only man who knew the actual
value of the lands. followed his b,u
/ ding and when he seemed anxious t.
| obtain q certain tract they would raise
him until they got IT, Mr. Sawyer soon
discovered how his rivals were avail.
ing themselves of the knowledge which
II took him two long years Of labor anC
hardship to acquire, and then turned
their game.
Placing the list Of lands he wished t,
purchase I'm the hands of an uncouth
rustic with instructions to bid each up
to n certain amount he bid frantically
himself for other tracts. but the New
York spectators perslstently Outbid
him. He showed so much chagrin that
II 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
ly every worthless piece of timber H.
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 q
generous proportion Of the lands h,
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 q
speech In his life, but no man enjoyed
the sensation of success more keenly
What he undertook he carried out. anC
If he couldn't do 1t one way he did It
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 81
the lumbermen in his own country.
who help each other 10 roll the logs
from the winter camp 10 the banks o.
the nearest stream, where they can
be caught by the spring rise. 1t was
the application of this neighborly prac-
dce 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 interdVted. Then he
would call them together at his house
or at his committee room and say:
Boys, we've got to do a 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 a 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
Wisconsin lumberman now prevail in
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's
log-rOlling system the members OF
Congress interested in such apprOpria-
tiOns organized a trust which finally
grew into a regular annual appropria-
ton bill and a special committee to
frame 1t.