The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1911-11-17

Pacific cases. Colonel Ayres obtained |
advance information and furnished |
it to the railroad people who provided !
for him literally, He also engineered |
through congress a bill appropriating !
several million dollars for the inn
provement of the Delaware breakwa- |
ter so worded i'm the language of the
statute that but one firm could hope
To comply with the terms. For this
he received, il is said, a fee of $4,000. !
In 1880 he was placed In charge of
the stephen j. Field presidential boom
and worked to such good purpose that
in the Cincinnati convention he wasl
able 20 poll $50 votes for his canii-
date: but Hancock obtained the nom
| nation.
Another familiar figure in Washing
ton i'm the old days was Sam Ward
Of New York. lie represented various
railroad interests at the capital, and
| i'm his time was one of the greatest
entertainers the city ever knew. lie
legislated through the stomachs OF
statesmen. and from the close OF the
war to 1876 was famous as much TOT
the dinners that he gave as FOR the
practical results he was able to ac-
Complish on Capitol hill.
Robert Bruce Bradford.
Then. about 1876, came DIR. Robert
Rruce Bradford, also New York man.
|, and the intimate friend of Samuel j.
ridden and Fernando Wood, who was
ton times elected to congress ana
thrice mayor of New York city. Dr
+ bradford was himself a politician an
assemblvman in New York before ne
, could vote. His friends among states
men were many, and his influence
> greot He maintained bachelor apart
: ments I'm Thirteenth street. In th'
heart of then the fashionable SECTOR
Z of the city, home splendidly furhlsh'
, ed and decorated. where he entertain
cd his friends OF the official set an'
y ingratiated himself with those havlni
in their keeping the destinies OF IN
T terests his clients employed nm u
r represent
one night. in the reedbird season
he gave a reed-bird dinner, follower
n nv an ar-night poker party. to whicl
the elect of the capital We're invited
= Somebody the next day asked the ven
cradle Senator Vest if he had attends
j. the function.
n yes" replied Vest, somewha
; n,ournfully. 81 got a wing of reed
10 bird and lost 5000
N Many men OF this stamp, senior
fetal characters and as much a par
. Of the life of the capital as the preS'
\ dent himself, prospered and retire
y wealthy. Their calling was rated
q an honorable one then. and senator
,rd congressmen, who knew that the
would some day be called to vote w
an rroiects in which these men wei
interested. saw no impropriety In nc
cepting favors at their hands ea'ii'
their food, drinking their wines an
winning their money at cards. Sucn
man would have no influence today
II Lobbying Loses Favor.
The great interests have FOUND Nv
methods to attain their ends ea'
d more satisfactory than the old wa
a with lobbyists. In the first place u
q great corporations, the railroads. u
big industries. find 1t far more pron
oble and much easier to have the
representatives, not in the lobbies' p'
ON the floor of either senate or nous
or both. duly elected by the peop'
n but representing in no small measu
and wholly when their interests are
stake not Rhode Island or New Je
,, ar wyoming. or West Virgin
but rubber and cotton, and WOOD al
crockery. When a man is represen
ing his own business, and that oil
ossociates. from his seat in the sci
ato no doesn't have to employ lo
u bvist; and il the interests empl'
ottornevs 10 represent them at hea