The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1911-08-25

says that such and such an interest
contributed 10 "our~ campaign fund,
and must be dealt lightly with, the ar
gument is effective upon many mem
bers. The interest" gets It's protec'
ton. 1t pays in party contributions.
There is no other earthly reason why
they contribute to campaign funds. IL
is for immunity. And they must gen.
orally get what they pay for. or they
would have quit paying Only very
rich concerns could stand such ex-
pense. They Of course expect to and
do get their money back of the peo-
pie whose representatives they have
led to betray their trusts. Thus IL has
been that the great interests have
grown so enormously In this country.
They are Democrats where the Legis-
lature Is Democratic, and Republicans
where 1t is Republican. Their agents
are known as lobbyists. They are
partisan, bipartisan and omni-partisan.
They are always genial, kindly, cour-
teous and corrupt. They are cunning
and quiet. They hate noise, and light,
and the confusion Of public discussion.
Their ways are furtive, their influence
sinister, their power corroding. IL
these gentry should be curtailed in
their activities swo results may be ex-
pected-one, the campaign fund so
dear and so necessary to the main
! tenance Of party machine, is cut on;
and the other, the peoples representa-
/ tives in the Legislature would be un-
| trammeled by the influence of that
body in enacting laws. My notion is
to abolish the professional lobby. They
bring disgrace sooner or later-as wit
ness Ohio and Illinois; they bring In
evitably corruption; they retard pub
lie business; they deflle our statutes.
:. When you smash the lobby you will
have swatted the mother of party ma
chimes.
The business OF the professional lob
byist is to either procure legislation
which his employer wants enough to
pay we'll for IL, or to defeat general
legislation In behalf of the public when
It tends to curtail his lawless opera
lions. The lobbyist works for hire
works always against the public, and
always for interests conspiring to
fitch the public. His concern is only In
his pay. But his employers concern
is much larger. Hence he and his en-
ployer fight together against any one
or any party proposing to put them
on the same footing with the rest of
the public To be sure, they do not
maintain that a professional lobbyist
Is good thing; they do not care to
discuss that issue. They prefer that
1t be not discussed No more do they
desire the merits and dement's of their
particular business methods discussed.
But they know these matters will be
discussed unless public attention is
distracted by something else. Hence
they. and all who serve them and all
whom in turn they serve politically,
unite in a cIamor to drown discussions
of the main issue. False issues must
be raised instead. The people must
be fooled and enough additional
bought to outnumber those who listen,
think and act according to clear judg-
ment You need not be surprised
therefore in this campaign to hear me
most bitterly arraigned for all kinds of
imaginary or trumped-up things. Per
sonal abuse is an old-fashioned weapon
that has done much service in the past
in obscuring real issues. In the alb
; sence of any real matter for complaint
they will invent, lie SANDER, and de
stroy. Do not think that the interest
{
whole people would stop at any kind Of
injury to him who dares get in the
way. 1t has already begun in deadly
earnest. You might look to see who
II Is that speaks In behalf of these in
terests. They employ talent. where il
is for hire, always In preference tC
stupidity. They do not always pay in
! money. Office is both good and valu
able consideration in such transac
lions. Then by making their attack
under the name of a great politica
party they can get for nothing the serv
! ices of The bigoted class of partisans-
including newspapers of that class
, small men blinded by party fury ant
, consumed by small hatreds Such are
: their methods. and it Is this fgh
! which is now on in earnest before the
2 people of Kentucky.
Z Shall Liquor Interests or Constitution
Y Prevail?
There are a number of such interest;
! back of this fight against our tickle
! in Kentucky this year. | will from
! time to time speak of them and theil
methods in detail. Today ] will men
y ton one only. That is the liquor inter
= est. llo - 6ital. II 10 OiN "
the oldest, boldest and most successful
trusts-or rather, two trusts-in thu
country The public has not concerned
: itself much with the commercial fea
, lures of those trusts, because it wal
J. not concerned much whether the price
p of drinks was high or low. The con
{ dition Is wholly unlike that presented
b by manufacturers of other commodi
7 ties Hence the whisky trust and thu
/ beer trust have gone along unmolesteC
0 and uninvestigated in so far as they
y are simply trusts The public hal
Z dealt more with the question Of regu
D lating the retail business, as a matte
5 of policing, rather than with its com
3 mercial feature. Among the expedi
/, ents resorted to by the public is tina
I OF prohibiting the sale by retail at al
in certain localities, as in sparsely
I settled rural communities, In tn
!, neighborhood. of churches. schools, etc
Q Kentucky undertook in the beginning
r Of the discussion to regulate, not onl,
: where and how, but whether liquor