The sun., 1909-01-03
VANISHED FROM THE CAPITOL
NO MORE CROWDS or OFFICE
SEEKERS IN WASHINGTON.
Gone. Too, Are the Hordes OF Men ami
women with Claims Before Congress
The Lobbyists Likewise Trims
OF the Past-Oid I.egeuds Pe-siS;.

be swooping upon Washington when M.
Taft takes up the rens of government,
said an old time Capitol official. Its
hard TO down such impressions.
sAs a matter OF fact the Office seeker
as a type is as extinct in Washington as
the dodo. Not only Is Washington not
swooped upon with officeseekers even at
the outset of a new administration anv
more, but the present generation q
Washingtonians hardly know what the
old time type of Office seeker in Wash
ington looked like.
aOfice seekers used to swarm hero
by the thousands and go dead broke while
waiting for the Office that never came and
camp out on the park benches at the fn-
ish. and all that sort Of dead and gore
thing, but that is ancient history.
The Joke still in active circulation
about the chap who at the beginning Of a
new administration comes TO Washington
with the idea of mailing the billet TO tho
Court of st. James's and who after long
period of hope deferred and dismal wait
ing finally accepts a job juggling waste
paper baskets in one of the departments
is lust about as live a joke at this stage
of the game as the custard pie at the picnic
and the throwing the bootjack at the cat
and the sewing the button on the shirt
jokes.
There are people coming here all the
time from all parts Of the country to taks
iobe in the Government employ. but
they re not Office seekers Of the type that
existed before the civil service law,
They're Office getters. They've got their
bilets before they get here. They've
passed their examinations. got their rat
ing papers. and most Of them their ap-
pointments, before ever setting foot In
Washington.
@Once in a while when a man has passed
a particularly good examination, with az
unusual percentage. he comes on to
Washington before actually receiving an
appontment, having excellent reason to
expect that the appointment will bo
forthcoming in duo time. Most OF thess
people, too, look around for something
10 do on the outside while waiting for
their Government appointments TO ma
terializo.
They don't haunt the corridors Of
the departments or clamor at the
doors OF officials and legislators nor sit
around hotel lobbies telling their woes,
because they know just where they stand,
have no woes and are in general just as
different from the old time typical Office
seokor as am from Papuan
Even when the administrator changes
there are no longer any clamorous crowds
here looking for the higher appointive
ard unclassified Offices
piece hunters. that is. Men engaged in
business or the professions come here, it
Ia true, at the request OF their Senators or
Representatives when administrations
change TO be introduced TO the new Pres-
dent and TO have their applications con-
sidered. but after n visit or so at the
White House these men quickly 60 back to
their homes.
up to about twenty years ago the
cheaper Washington hotels and boarding
houses were haunted by hundreds and
even thousands Of these seedy hunters
OF Governmental billets. They'd get away
in arrears with their board bills and after
long months and even years Of waiting
their few remaining friends would have
to take them In hand and ship them back
to their homes. They hung around Wash
inRton as long as they could because
they hated to go back TO their home towns
to acknowledge that their big imaginary
claims upon the party hadn't been rec
ognized
jogging about the country you'll
hear. too stun about the hordes Of crazy
or crooked folks who have claims before
the Congress. There's nothing whatever
of that sort any more.
a quarter OF century ago there were
a good many Of these plausible people
laaa hi spal ola hp-
fore the Congress. Some of them we're
quite noted characters. usually Of rather
a ptiable type but many of them. in
Guiding most Of the women were grafters
and cheerful workers of the most pro-
nounced description,
These people ussd TO prey for years
az a stretch upon trustful hotel and board
ing houss keepers. Their alleged claims
we're always just on the point of going
aud when the claims did 60
why, they were going 10 make
good all their bills, with big intorcs'
bonuses upon those who had trusted them
for so long.
Some Of the woman claimants used {"
hypnotize confding old boarding house
mistre sses by narTatng pipe dreams about
the enormous wealth that was bound
eventually 70 come to them. and 70 prom
Ise the boarding house women that they
would not. only pay them all the money
they owed them but contribute heavily
10 the education OF their children and all
hat sort Of thing. Not only that but
they d solemnly go through the motions
of assigning interests In their dreamfu
claims to the people who were trusting
them for board bills.
There were Of course occasional claim
ants whose claims were just. but these
we're in tremendous minority, There
s now nothing even remotely n resembling
he brood OF claimants who used to haunt
he Capitol session in and session out,
lodding and doing in the galleries and
outtonholing afflicted Senators and Rep
"esentatives as they strolled through the
corridors.
And the talk still going on up and
iown the country about the hordes OF
obbyists in Washington is bound to be
amusing to folks who know the real situa-
ion. II has been 30 many years since
lad a good square look NJ q genuine, sure
'nough Washington lobbyist that !
So uldn't know how to act II saw one
The lobbyist of Washington is almost
{ not altogether type Of the past, and
zone OF the old time lobbying methods
5 used any more, Those antique yarns
bout Representatives in Congress find
ng bundles of 81 900 bills in their over
cat pockets upon leaving dinners given
" famous lobbyists are still occasionally
evived. but everybody who knows which
ray Pennsylvania avenue runs knows
hat II ever those yarns had shadow Of
ruth in them they haven't now.
There are influential men coming To
Washington all the time, Of course, while
he Congress is in session TO represen'
pecial interests, as the phrase runs, Oh,