Arizona republican., 1907-03-02
LEGISLATIVE AGENTS
 LOBBYISTS NO MORE
How Opinion is Directed in Congress and Also How it is Moulded Outside of it.

consideration at the hands of the nex
 congress. Styles in lobbying hay,
 changed greatly in the past forty years
 Al the time of the land grant railroads
 the whiSkey ring star route. Louisiana
 lottery and other craft with rich booty
 the lobby w3s equipped with money
 and entertained laVishly. "Wine. wO-
 men and song" Were utilized freely
 though truth to tell. not much stress
 was laid upon song Stocks and
 bonds. and tips on the market were
 passed around freely and in some in-
 stances real money doubtless changed
 hands. But things are different now
 and the old style of lobbying" is dis
 appearing The old fashioned lobbyist
 is gone The last of the great ones dis appeared when the late Nat Mckay died. Of course there is some enter
 taining done Perry Belmont. Henry
 T. ONnard and several others keep up establishments here. Mir. Belmont can scarcely be called a lobbyist" in the usual acceptation of the term, for the only bill before congress in which he Is apparently interested is the one to pro-
 vide publicity for all national campaign contributions. There was no beet su- gar legislation before congress this winter. further than the deceased Phil ippine tariff bill. so MT. OXnard has not been much in evidence. These gentle men and others however. utilize en-
 tertaining for lobbying purposes diff ferent from the old lobbyists. for they are not employed as lobbyists. but are only concerned with matters of per sonal interest. Most of the entertain ing. except by paid lobbyists is at the
 hotels. and takes the form of recherche dinner parties.
 The gradual elimination of gambling in congressional circles has also a bear ing on the situation. Formerly lobby
 ists sometimes thought it advantageous to lose money at the card table to sen ators and members. or the latter being pressed for funds at cards, faro or rou- lette. would borrow from the accom- mOdating lobbyist. But the regular gambling houses are all closed, and faro and roulette are dead. Only one such establishment is within reach of the city. and that is run very quietly in an out Of the way place At the same time there are several poker clubs ire quented more or less by some members of congress. Of these the one having the largest congressional clientele is opposite the Arlington hotel They are all table stake games as a rule but S2 and 8 or even S1O limit are often played. Some congressman who have houses or adequate rooms give poker parties. at which the play runs high. But. as a rule. such games are con- fined to the congressional circle. and when a lobbyist gets in he generally plays hard to win. Probably the last attempt to pass money in this manner was when Charlie Clark was playing in a game with a senator on the commit lee considering his fathers case. TheI senator dropped to his game and de- clined to win. so that Clark's money went to the others. A semi -profession- al gambler in that game got about S2,- 800 that night.
 But the large games were practically stopped when John Chamberlain died. Tn those days a winning or losing Of 5000 or $lO.000 attracted little atten ton. and senators and members ire 1 Uently met at Chamberlain's to play ! for high stakes. Many years ago. in ! the later 7O's and early sos. it was a ! common sight to see senators and members at the public gaming tables, | the gambling houses being then wide open.
 But, as has been said. the style has ! changed. There are too many people ' on the watch-tower. If a lobbyist ' should blow in here with even a beg | garly ten thousand dollars to spend. in , these days, the news would be all over town and he would be approached by a | hundred professionals. The expendi- | ture of a hundred thousand dollars would make a noise like bursting of the treasury vaults. Consequently other methods are in vogue The first thing a wise man or corporation in terested in legislation does nowadays is to secure a Washington representa- tive. He may be an attorney or not, but he is some one familiar with the business in hand. and with congress sional and departmental methods. These men keep track of legislation in which their clients are interested and make a speciality Of hearings before congressional committees. There is d great art in properly managing such hearings. to see that the witnesses sayi what they have to say properly: to rush the hearings or drag them out as the case may be. Time was when pri- ate interviews with the chairman ort n few leading members was all that was necessary. Now, what is said in com- mittee is most important. Usually every word is taken down and the rec ord printed, and instead of only a handful of men knowing what argu ments were used. the record is open to the world. Consequently the proper service. which consists in keeping track of bills introduced, items in appropria ton bills, and other details, including the sounding of members on various propositions. This service is best per- formed through the regular bureaus, for they are equipped with men who, making a speciality of the work, know the ropes. Many legislative agents de- pend on their own resources but the most satisfactory results come through the regular bureaus.
 Finally comes the "press agent, who is becoming more and more i'm portant. From time to time an at tempt is made to sensationally exploit this business. As matter of fact thel press agent in Washington is the most harmless of creatures. The eyes of two hundred active and alert news paper correspondents are on him, to- say nothing Of hundreds of legislators. There was a time when this work was,