The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1905-06-17
REVELATIONS BY
AN EX-SPEAKER
INSIDE HISTORY OF A STATE
LEGISLATURE BY ONE
WHO KNOWS.

LEGISLATURE BY ONE
WHO KNOWS.
The Railroad Pass stion-stEx-
| Speakers" Attitude-Use of Passes
! to influence Legis1ation-Leg isla-
i tors Deluged with Demands for
/ Passes from Prominent Constitu-
ents-sfS1aekmailo by Threats Of
| Defeat-Cleyer Ruse by Railroads
to Defeat Taxing Bill.
By an Ex-speaker Of the Legislature of
I One of the Largest States in the Union.
Copyright, 1906, by Joseph B. Bowles.)
Whether member OF the legislature
accepts a bribe when he pockets an IN
solicited railroad pass is a question
| which, I think, at least is open to de-
bate. we'll remember that a few days
after was first elected a member of
our general assembly the mails brought
| me annual passes from almost every
| railroad which operated in my state
| These bits of pasteboard, however, were
good only on the lines within the
boundaries of the state and each frank
! ly bore my new title.
1 / accepted them as matter of course
and in acknowledging receipt added my
thanks for the courtesy. Not then,
| nor now, did think I was selling
myself, body and soul to a railroad
! corporation, and not once during my
| several terms did l permit possession
| Of those much-coveted evidences of
railroad courtesy" to influence my
vote
The passes which the new1y-elected
house member receives without the
asking are not the passes which the
legislative agents of railroads issue for
the purpose of securing the good will
| or positive aid of lawmakers. This may
be news to some people, but the fact is
there is wide difference in the char
aeter of railroad passes given public Of
fcia1s. The ANNALS sent to members
direct from the Office of the general pas
senger agents. are regarded by almost
all members of any legislature as right
full perquisites to the Office The habit
of issuing such passes has become a
Well-recognized custom, almost. one
might say, an obligation upon the rail-
road companies. If the railroads
stopped there we would not hear So
much of the demoralizing influence of
railroad passes.
But in every state capitol, when a
legislature is in session, are two or
more men whose business it is to see
that the railroads suffer the minimum
amount of harm from the legislature.
These agents, or lobbyists, carry with
them books of passes, which they dis
tribute with experienced discrimina-
ton where they will do their principals
the most good. These men will tell you
that their free transportation is more
effective than filthy Tucre in taking the
edge off the legislative appetite Said |
one Of them to me:
You can get a man in lire and keep
him there with a railroad pass or two
when a straight offer of money would /
make him jump the reservation alto |
gether'
-
Undoubtedly an immense number of
passes are asked of railroads by legis-
lators. but a very small percentage of /
them are issued to the IaWmaker him
self. They are charged up to him by
the legal department Of the road. but
are made out in the names of his con
stltuents. The personal and political
friends and their friends and acquain-
tances are the men who place their rep
resentative in the position where
railroad or street car company can de-
mand his vote for value received. The
respectable citizen, the promine nt bust
ness man, the well-hnoWn farmer. the
leading banker, the influential lawyer
by asking their member in the legfsla-
ture to get free transportation for them
are largely responsible for the dominat-
ing influence which railroad companies
over a legislature And they
all ask him for passes. They come at
him from all sides with their miser-
able requests. They tell him fatty that
he can get what they want and they
expect him to do it: and these same
representative citizens have started
many decent man on the road which
eads to Doodle.
4 representative from city district
put it rather neatly when he said to me
one day:
i've just got my mail and ten of the
most prominent business men in my
district want to graft by proxy. They
Ill want me to get railroad passes for
hem"
This same legislator, talking to me
after a mornings session, said: j
You fellows from the country dis j
riots know nothing Of the enornity Of II
his curse Of railroad passes Here L
I'm delivered by my honest constituents, {
body, boots and breeches, to the railroad
The noble electors who /
3ent me here and who howl with an i
ger every time the word Doodle is
mentioned started out to make boodler {
i me an hour after the polls closed
nd they learned [ had been elected. And /
was my own preacher who started it. i
fe called ne up on the telephone and /
sked me if could get transportation {
or himself and his wife to a certain
Il, ~ -