The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1910-09-02
\ HE August number of the

Editor. Copyright, 1910. by The Quito
-- HE August number Of the
,NA Worlds Work contains an
XII n article which is of interest
NWEE to all who are concerned In
-%e the vital subject to which
we give the somewhat
toggy title Of political Reform" The
article, for obvious reasons anony-
nous, Is written by a member of con-
gress who, the editors of the Worlds
Work say, has served for more than
ten years in the house of representa-
t1ves, has acted on many important
committees, and has been successful
In getting things" for his constitu-
ency. The article is described as
showing the reason why the pork
BARREL special tariff favors, and pri-
vate pension bills become law" the
reason being, to quote the words of
the author, that "the dictum of the
constituency to the congressman is,
Get all you can for U.s. There are
no restrictions placed upon his meth
cd Of getting it.
Until the American people themselves
become more national and less local,
until constituencies cease to regard
their congressman as solicitors at the
national treasury, congress will con-
t1nue to enact iniquitous groups Of To-
cal favors into national legislation"
This serious charge against the
American people-for which there is
unquest1onably altogether too much
1ustification-the author proceeds to
substantiate by relating some of his
own experiences with constituents
which, however surprising they may
seem to the general reader, will seem
almost commonplace to all who know
how the average constituency does in
actual practise treat its congressman.
The writer sets forth the fact that,
In the first place, ninety per cent of
the letters which a congressman re-
ce1ves are requests for special favOrs
to be obtained in some way or other,
directly or indirectly, from the United
States treasury. For instance, while
the Payne-Aldrich tariff law was un-
der discussion, this particular con-
gresham received in May, 1909, the
following letter from the secretary OF
a powerful commercial association in
his district:
Il have been instructed by the board
Of directors of this association to ad-
wise you that at special meeting May
20, resolution, copy of which is in
closed, was unanimously adopted, urg-
ing our representatives in congress to
use every endeavc" to have The pres
ent tariff in mentioning three of the
products Of the industries referred toy
increased one cent per pound and the
present tariff on mentioning the 9th
er two products) increased half a cent
per pound. l wish to further advise
you that we have heard from Senator
and he informs us that he
will take care of this matter in the
senate"
When the bill was finally passed,
the congressman succeeded in adding
half cent pound to the duty on two
OF these products and in preventing
any reduction on the others. year
later, when the popular clamor against
the bill had become acute, the same
association that had asked him to
vote for increases wrote to the con-
gresham denouncing the bill as the
most Ubiquitous measure ever enacted
by congress- and requesting him to ex-
plain by letter why he had voted with
1.-The Reactionaries" to pass the bill.
When it was pointed out to the asso-
citation that it had urged the congress-
man to obtain an increase of duty on
the products In which it was inter-
ested, it dropped its demand for an
explanation. An influential newspa-
per published In his district editorial
ly commended him while the bill was
under debate for his Intelligent ef-
forts" to increase the duty on manu-
featured articles in which the district
was interested, and year later the
same newspaper in the same editorial
column denounced him as one of the
legislative banditt responsible for the
Payne-Aldrich measure"
River and harbor legislation Is an
other field In which local selfshness
busies itself, to the exclusion of ma
tional needs. In this case requests
are not made by letter but by delega-
! tons which come to Washington be-
sieging their senators and represent
atives. There is," says the frank
writer of this article, ''f1guratively
speaking, between $5O,000,000 and
$6O,0OO,O00 on the table to be divided.
The committee divides 1t so that ev.
cry one is satisfied, at least to a rea.
sonoble extent" Every one, that Is,
but the people at large, the people
who have no special interest to serve,
and who feel keenly indignant that
the rivers and harbors of the United
States are developed in fashion so
inferior to that Of Europe.
Nor are all the requests for legis.
lation merely. One constituent desired
to have this particular congressman
put his name On the free mailing list
for all public documents. That this
would be impossible, because 1t would
mean delivering to the applicant sew
eral tons Of documents every month
does not In the slightest detract from
the interest of the fact elected by an
investigation that the applicant was
the manufacturer of an article made
from waste paper, and the public doc