The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1907-05-07

hear the lobby and the third house
at Tallahassee" spoken of with bated
breath as a thing of unutterable hor-
ror- AS TO these the TimeS-UniOn
only holds that guilt should be pun
ished whenever proven and the man
who. by brides or deception. infiu-
ences legislation coTTuptly, by prom
lses or the hope of reward "cOrraIs
votes" should be punished to the ex-
tent of the law. But laws already
exist for the punishment of bribery
and corruption; each house has power
to punish its members, and we can
not be brought to believe that a ma
jority in either house is either cor
rupt or would wink at corruption.
Why, then, approve an attempt TO
make the lobby obnoxious or guilty
in public opinion. before the crime has
been defined? Here is an instance
from Tampa:
Last night Col. Palmer, who was
selected as the representative of the
Tampa Board of Trade to represent
that body before the legislature in ad-
vOcacy of the defeat of the measure.
gave detailed statement of the work
done and the present situation with
regard to the county division bill now
pending in the house, at a special
L.
The excellent work done by Col. Pal
mer, at Tallahassee, was heartily
commended and ne was unanimously
requested to return to the capital to-
morrow and continue his efforts in
behalf of the defeat of county divis-
ion. He announced that he would re-
turn to Tallahassee tonight and re-
sumo tomorrow his work to prevent
the passage of the measure.
No man in Florida stands higher
as citizen, Democrat and LAWYER than
Col. Palmer; the Tampa Board OF
Trade is certainly a reputable insti-
tuition, and its members are the bust
ness men of Tampa and HillsboTough
county. But here is a lobby under
the legal defnition-here is an at
tempt to Influence legislation" and
here are a number of men banded TO
gether in what has been called "a
conspiracy" by some candidates who
are either ignorant or believe their
hearers are both ignorant and pre-
JUDGED.
Believing their interests attacked, |
the people of Tampa send such men
as Palmer and Knight to protest
against proposed legislation. Are
they lobbyists or aiders and abettOrs
of corruption? No man will say so
until proof has been furnished that
they have used corrupt or improper
means. Now if Tampa can send up
a lobby" and her opponents can
send another without shocking the
moral sense, how can you write a bill |
that will punish some lobbyists and
not all? Believing its interests
threatened, a railroad might employ
Palmer or Knight to protest against
it as Tampa does; would they become !
lobbyists in the latter case and not
in the fOrmeT2 Why, when the same
men do the same work?
Thus we see clearly the position of |
the Times-UniOn toward the lobby as |
toward the corporation; punish the |
guilty and leave the innocent free to !
do necessary work. You can't elect !
corrupt legislators without making !
corruption, but no corruption of hon |
est Legislators is possible. The lobby |
has often done good work by giving |
valuable information to members will |
ing to hear as well as to Judge: some |
corporations do good work, likewise |
and the men who would denOunce all /
without discrimination convict them |
selves of something worse than folly |
We hear the president denOuncine
trusts one day and begging them for .
support and contributions the next
We hear candidates denouncing cor
pOratiOnS and begging for a seat on
the ground floor with them-we see
candidates prOclaiming a holy horror
of monopoly and fastening 10 set up
one Remember, we have laws TO
punish the guilty already, and it Is
very bad policy to burn your barn
to get rid of the rats. Blanket iegis-
latiOn cOnvictS nobody but hides
guilt by covering the innocent with
the guilty.