The silver state news. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1907-1909, 1909-02-27
LOBBYING in WASH.
INCTON

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23.-The lob
byist is again in Washington in all his
glory. Optimistic reformers had rest
ed in the belief that public sentiment
had driven him forever from the cor
ridors of the capitol, but the framing
of a tariff bill has brought him and
his ilk here like buzzards focking to a
feast of carrion. The lobby will be on
the job day and night until President
Taft has signed the tariff bill.
In some instances single lobbyists
or organization of lobbyists are work
ing in the interests of a number of
protected industries, and in other in
stances single industries are maintain
ing Hobbies of their own. This is nota-
bly, true in the case of the lumber in
dustry. The present lumber lobby, it
is declared, is one of the largest and
most perfectly organized which ever
sought to influence congress in its de-
liberations. Lumber men got a big
scare when III was duuOuhCCu 10 INV
purpose of the Republican majority in
congress to entirely remove the duty
on lumber of So per thousand board
feet. Organization of the lobby fol
lowed close upon this announcement,
and it is composed of men of unusual
ability and character. As a result of
It's work there is an understanding
around the capitol that the lumber
schedule will not be removed, but that
probably it will be cut in half. Lum-
Der men are opposed to any reduction
in the tariff and the lumber lobby will
| fight it to the end.
The term "lobbyist" generally is
regarded as one of r~eproach, but all
lobbyists are not necessarily repre-
hensible. AS a matter of fact, few
measures go through congress without
more or less lobbying in their behalf.
When a delegation of prominent citi
zens from Four Corners comes to Wash
ington to urge Improvement in the
channel of Snake river, they are for
the time being termed lobbyists. The
president sends members of his cabi-
net to the capitol to lobby for mea-
sures in which he is especially inter
ested. One of the largest and most
persistent Hobbies Washington has
known for years is the one working
tor temperance legislation for the
District of Columbia and for the bill
to prevent express companies and other
carriers from taking liquor into pro-
hibition territory.
1t will be seen, therefore, that a dis
tinction should be made when we
speak of a man as a lobbyist. Lobby
lists might be divided roughly into
three groups. First come those, COM
prising the largest group. who receive
no pay for their services and who are
~actuated by patriotic, moral or civic
reasons. In the second group we will
place those who do not make a regular
business of lobbying, but who receive
compensation for such services as they
render. The members of this group
are mainly lawyers, sometimes sent to
| Washington by the corporations which
regularly employ them, and at other
times retained to advocate or oppose
specific measures of legislation. Some
of the most eminent members of the
American bar do not hesitate to en-
gage in practice of this kind, while
there are other lawyers who refuse to
accept retainers in cases where lobby
ing before congress or state leglsla
lures is involved. 1t is . question of
professional ethics, it would seem,
which each lawyer must decide n
himself. In this group alse probably
should be placed thoss Lobbyists who,
while receiving no specific ren.ancrt
ton for their services, hope to profit
financially by the measures while they
advocate. The things in which lobby
lists of this class are interested range
all the way from increasing the sala-
rles of government employees to private
pension bills.
The third and last class consists Of
the professional lobbyists, and this
class deserves separate treatment. The
professional lobbyist is sometimes a
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