Rocky Ford enterprise., 1900-04-20
FIRST LOG ROLLER.
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
Eassstaiaiss sio'y Of the Wtse"asin Lu"'
bss kiag's Method Of feeasing what
as soskht WI bile In cessrsss

bss kihg's Nsthod at feeassng NhAs
he sosEhs While In cssss~s%
The late PhiieIus Sawyer u Wiseon'
sin earned his iirst money by driving
"a team for M"ss.,s. P.hiieid 4 Ham
moni, who had mines and timber
camps on the banks Of LAX. Cham
plain. and ic managed To sav. sa..o
on u salary Of 81. II month. With ihis
capital hc went To Wisconsin in 1877
and laid tile foundation OF his enor'
nous fortune al an auction sale OF GOV
ernment land. Mr. Sawyer spent Two
years trampins through III. timber ana
marking the b-st tracts, AMI arranged
with lumbcrncn in Boston 10 furnish
th. money To buy ON shares. lie used
10 tell the story with great snsiO. Tho
older lie grew the oft.ncr lie told II.
and III. more Il. enjoyed the rccollec-
lion Of the way In which lie ouiwlttei
u party or spe,-ulntors from New York.
The latter. knowing that Mr.. Sawyer
was the only man who knew the actual
value Of III. lands. followed his bid.
ding, nnd when lie seemed anxious 10
obtain a CERTAIN tract they would rails.
him until they got II. Mr.. Sawyer soon
discovered how his rivals wcr. avail
Ing themselves of the knowledge which
II took him two long years OF inl'or aud
hardship TO acquire. aud then turned
their game.
Placing the list OF lands he wished 10
purchase In the hands Of nm uncoulh
rustic with Instructions To bid each up
To certain amount. he bid frnniicaily
himself for other tracts. but the New
York Spectators pcrsisicniiy ou,hii
him. lie showed 50 much chngrin that
II Afforded them amusement. When
the sale wns over and the land was In.
sprctcd IL was found that the New
York spccnlaiors had purchased near.
ly every worthless piece Of timber In
the stale aud that the rustic lumber
man had secured nearly every choice
tract. The Boston people wer- very
liberal TO Mr., sawyer and gave him a
generous proportion OF the lands he
bought with their money. Some Of
them hv stili owncd.at the time OF his
death.
Mr.. Sawyer was the Inventor OF that
form Of legislation known ns '.iog.roll.
Ing" II was the practical result of his
ability to accomplish things. lie never
cared for show. lie never made n
the sensation of success more kccnly.
What he undertook he carried out. and
II lie couldn't do II one way he did u
In another. He had large siinrr OF
that faculty the Yankees called ''cun-
trivancc," which enabled him to devise
means FOR accomplishing his purpose
that would not have suggested them.
selves to nny other man. The 'log.rull.
Ing" method Of legislation was sue.
g.stcd 10 him by the familiar habits OF
the lumbcrmcn In his own country.
who help each other TO roll tho logs
from the winter camp 10 the banks Of
the nearest Str.im. where they eau
he caught 10y the spring rise. II was
the application OF this ncishboriy prac.
ticc 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 u good deal Of lcx.
islntion when he first came to Con.
crcss, and Mr.. sawyer secured more
than forty other men could have done. |
He Et his bills accumulate until to-
ward the end Of the session. when he
would take up the calendar and make |
memorandnms OF various measures In |
which influential men In the House
nnd Senate Were Interested Then he
would call them together AT his house
or nt his committee room and say:
Boys. we've got TO do n little log
rolling II we get our timber 10 the mill
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 WIS conduct
cd In secret and was almost always
successful. SO that the habits of the
Wisconsin lumbcrman now prevail In
every Legislative body in the world.
The river and harbor appropriation
bill originated In that way. Formerly
separate measure would be- passed for
each river or harbor that required i'm
proyemcnt. but under Mr.. Sawyer's
log-rolline system the members of
Congress Interested in such appropria-
tions organized n trust which finally
grew into n regular annual appropria-
tion bill and a special committee to
frame It.