The Washington herald., 1908-01-06

ing Of a legislature State or national.
suggests 10 most minds the gathering Of
the lobby" In Washington this third
house" is neither as numerous nor as in
1uential as IL was twenty or thirty years
ago, but it is idle to say that the lob
byist has disappeared from the National
Capital. That he is not as successful as
he once was is due to the fact that the
awakened conscience Of the people VIII
not now tolerate practices that were once
considered all right That the lobby OF
the special interests is hghting harder
than ever before is not the only reason
why the public should have special
representation in the lobby. The lobby
/ ist gives FEWER wine suppers and out
right bribes. He has adopted a method
much more dangerous-the dissemination
/ Of poisoned information and garbled
/ facts, that tho wabbling Statesman may
I seize upon AS an excuse to accommodate
/ his lobbyist friend and at the same time
use as "A bumper between him and the
indignation of his constituents.
/ The Peoples Lobby is an organization
more often laughed at than anything else.
But many "a laugh at It's expense has
/ been from the lips outward. and no more.
4 The Peoples Lobby is entitled 70 a great
| share i'm the credit for the passage Of the
pure food bill, the meat inspection BILL
/ the bin limiting the hours Of employment
/ Of railroad workers, and other measures
/ Of equal popularity. The Peoples Lobby
/ has not worked as the lobby Of the spe-
Cial interests has worked II has not
+ paid for any champagne supper. II has
not taken care Of any j0b-seeking rela-
/ tives 1t has not bribed any members
/ Of Congress. il hasn't had the money to
DO any Of these things 1t has adopted
I but one Of the methods Of the old special
/ interest lObbyist-it has frightened several
! eminent statesmen half 10 death. The
/ members Of the old-time third house
/ scared Members of Congress by threats
( of using money to defeat them for re-
election-the Peoples Lobby frightens the
/ timid and Weakened statesman BY
/ threats Of exposure Of his record
/ Exposure, publicity, the white light Of
! truth! These are the weapons the argu-
ments the threats, the inducements Of
/ that aggregation OF semi-altruisuc men
who compose the Peoples Lobby. Con-
/ gress meets to-day Within less than a
month the Peoples Lobby viii have in
/ its files at its Offices, in the Munsey
| Building. complete record Of what
every leader in Congress has done for
the past four years. Soon this record
/ viii comprise the story of the legislative
activity of every member Of both Houses
of Congress. There Will be no muck
raking, no going back Of the returns.
/ What IL man did before he came TO
/ Congress the Peoples Lobby does not
inquire into. What he has done since he
arrived at the Capitol is something the
Peoples Lobby wants 10 know all about,
and soon viii know all about
Thus il will be possible for friend OF
foe 20 call upon the Peoples Lobby and
z obtain complete record of all that any
particular shining light in Congress has
done. These records viii show not mere
/ IS what his final votes have beensf0r
that is an easy matter u find in the open
record-but what each Congressman has
/ done in committee. what steps he has
taken TO emaScUlate a needed bill by
vitiating amendments while openly pre-
tending to favor the legislation, what
steps he has taken 10 obstTuct the pas
sage OF q particular measure; what he
has done on the quiet For instance, a
prominent United States Senator who is
now opposing the administration of Pres
ident Roosevelt has declared in public
speeches that ne has supported all OF
President 2caseyelts pet measures eN-
Ncept one. The Peoples Lobby records
will shsw that he has voted as he talks,
but that his record as d writer OF emas-
culatorv amendments and as an obstruc-
ZIONIST prove that he has seldom been in
D.
one Of the most distinguished living
/ Americans said after the close of the
last Congress: "The Peoples Lobby, an
organization which I regard not only as
having done peculiarly good work this
year. but as having within 1t the pos
sibility of doing very much greater work
in the future in the way of giving alb
solutely straight, fearless and independ-
ent account of. and judgment upon, what
is done by the servants of the public
here N Washington. That sentence
expresses not only the purpose of the
Peoples Lobby, but comprehends its
only possible field of usefulness. If this
organization is TO continue 10 do the
good that it has done, and To fulfill
the requirement which called it into ex-
istence. il must do so by diligent inquiry
into facts and by impartial publication
of those facts. Its reward will be in the
effect that the publicity will have upon
the people, and the consequent pressure
which the people win bring TO bear upon
their representatives in Washington.
The idea Of the Peoples Lobby was
born in the brain OF Harry Beach Need
ham, a magazine writer. He is now
secretary and the moving spirit of the
organization. It's chief officer is James
B. REYNOLDS, a welI-known economist
and reforTner. Both are bosom friends
of President Roosevelt and have profited
by that friendship. Neither is expected
TO desert the RoOseveltian standard be-
cause the President may sometimes think
more OF the Republican organization
than he does of immediate reform. Both
! REYNOLDS and Needham are human. Ney-
ertheIess, the true story OF the meat in
spection legislation. and of the great
whisky fight will show that Needham and
Reynolds often had greater weight at the
White House than the influence Of the
most powerful factors of the Republican
Organization.
Lobbyists of special interests-the va
lriety which floats about the corridors
of the New Willard and deals in innuendC
and anonymous interviews-will say that
the Peoples Lobby is a scheme 10 ex-
tract hard-earned dollars from fanatic:
in the country who think the republic
is in danger. For there isn't eHe OF thai
tribe who is willing 10 tell newspaper
what his business is, how he was hired
how much he gets. and who pays it
! These things the Peoples Lobby will tel
everybody who asks And at the sam,
time every mothers son of that New vii
lard tribe of lobbyists is mortally afrai(
the Peoples Lobby will get after then