, 1900-04-19
FIRST LOG ROLLER.
Entertaining stos v Of the Wisconsin Lum-
Der Kings Method of securing
He sought hite In Congress.

Der Kings Method of securing what
He sought HE In Congress
The late Philetus Sawyer of Wiscou-
sin earned his first money by driving
a team for Messrs. Pentield & Ham
mond, who had mines and timber
camps on the banks of Lake Chan
plain, and he managed to save $500
on a salary of So a month. With this
capital he went to Wisconsin in 1871
and laid the foundation of his enor-
nous fortune nj al auction sale of gov
eminent land. Mr.. Sawyer spent two
years tramping through the tiInber am
marking the best tracts. and
, with lumbermen in Boston to furnish
the money to buy On shares. He use
TO tell the story with great gustO. Tn.
older he grew the oftener he told Il,
and h more he enjoyed the recollec
ton of the way in which he outwittet.
a party of spectators from New York
The latter, knowing that Mr.. Sawyc
was the only man who knew the actual
yalue of the lands. followed ms u..
ding. and when he seemed anxious to
obtain a certain tract they would rails,
him until they got IL. Mr.. Sawyer sooL
discovered how his rivals We're avail
Ing themselves of the knowledge which
1t took him two long years of labor ano
hardship to acquire, and then turned
their game.
Placing the list of lands he wished {
purchase in the hands of an uncoutu
rustic with instructions to bid each up
to a certain amount, he bid frantically
himself for other tracts. but the New
York spectators persistently outbiG
him. He showed so much chagrin tina
II afforded them amusement. When
the sale was over and the land was in
spected 1t was found that the New
York spectators nae purchased near
ly every worthless piece of timber ii
the state and that the rustic lumber
man had secured nearly every choice
tract. The Boston people We're very
liberal to Mr.. Sawyer and gave him Il
generous proportion Aof the lands Ii,
bought with their money. Some Of
them he still owned ut the time of his
death.
Mr.. Sawyer was the inventor of thai
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 cnioyrd
the sensation of success more keenly.
What lie undertook he carried out. anG
If he couldn't do it one way lie did 4;
in another. He had Il 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-roII-
Ing method of legislation was sug
gested to him by the familiar habits of
the lumbermen in his own country
who help each other to roll the logs
from the winter camp to the banks -.
the nearest stream, where they eau
De caught by the spring rise. Ii was
the application of this neighborly prac-
ice which enabled Mr.. Sawyer to Sc
cure legislation thai could not other
wise have been passed, and he gave
the method its name.
Wisconsin needed n good deal of leg
lslation 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
m~emorandums of various measures in
which influential men in the House
and Senate We're Interested. Then he
would call them together at his house
or at his committee room and say:
Boys. We've got to dc n 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 IL handed to members of
the combine. The work was conduct
ed in secret and vas 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 n
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 %approprlu-
tons organized a trust which finally
grew into a regular annual %appropria-
ton bill and a special committee to
frame ii.