The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-05-31
THOSE LOBBYISTS.

editorial discussion on lobbying, and
being near the scene Of operations,
gives some information that may be
new to western eyes,. Speaking about
the presidents blunt statement regard
ing lobbying, which The Forum dis
cussed recently The Post avs
President Wilson's plain words yes
terday about the pressure Of selfish in
terests upon congress to defeat the
moderate reduction Of the tariff pro-
posed by the Underwood bill, are sig
nificant both for what they say and for
what they imply. The president is
sure of his facts. It is known that for
some time specific evidence has been
coming to him of the truth Of what he
asserts. But his blunt utterance of it.
self will do a great deal to thwart the
secret efforts of which he speaks. His
deliverance will have a double effect.
It will serve notice on the tariff lobby
list that their schemes are under close
observation. And it will be a constant
warning, and a kind of useful external
conscience, to members of congress
who are exposed to temptation. They
will know that any SWerVing on their
part will subject them to the most
odious suspicion. And behind all there
is seen the obvious readiness Of Mr..
Wilson to be "a talking president in
his matter Of tariff revision; one who
will blurt out the truth about men as
we'll as about measures, and who will,
If necessary, &C straight to the country
with his appeals. 1t is the due weigh
ing of all this which makes the Wash
ington correspondents feel that the
presidents speaking out has cleared
the air and smoothed the path Of the
tariff bill.
There are of course, lobbyists and
lobbyists. By no means all Of the men
who go to Washington to get a hearing
on the tariff rates affecting their own
business are either ~dishonorable in
their motives or subterranean in their
methods. Some of them go openly to
committee rooms to max their err
rands Known. And when they do this
in the spirit of Offering information for
the trainers Of the bill, pointing out,
perhaps, Oversights or inconsistencies
or injustices or unavoidable provisions
in the measure as it passed the house,
they not only are entitled to consider
alton, but are doing a public service.
The finance committee of the senate
has announced that it's doors will be
open to such visitors. It is not to them
that President Wilson refers. He does
not object to minor changes and COR
rections in the Underwood bill. In the
nature of the case there must be a
certain number of crudities in that
measure, and to help get them intelli-
gently set right is justification enough
for the journey to Washington Of any
manufacturer or business a
1t is, however, to wholly different
procedures that President Wilson al
Iudes. The men whom he has in his
eye are, firstly, those gentlemen who,
without any visible occupation, live
we'll in Washington hotels and profess
to have political Influence at their
disposal. There is no question of open
corruption. Only the right man is
to be employed to get the matter prop
erly presented to the committee. or to
see that the thing is considered pri-
Vately-and Of course dislnterestedly-
by the senators who have the most to
say. Then there are the gentry who
have advantageous personal relations
with important legislators. One may
be a brother-in-laW of a representa-
tive; another may live at home next
door to a senator; another may have
married the sister Of the committees
clerk. In addition, there are the
agents who ply the press with argu-
ments and advertisements. And, then,
far away from Washington there are
the little organizations in Boston and
New York and Philadelphia and Chica-
go and San Francisco that quietly
raise none and have their meetings
and send their letters and kilograms
to Washington, all in the belief hat if
only the weakest point in the line of
resistance car be pressed upon hard
enough, the administrations tariff
plans may be brought to the ground.
The opportunity for this kind Of lob
bying is as plain as is it's motive. The
democratic majority in the senate is
SO narrow that the possibility Of de-
taching three or four senators appears
very tempting to the lobbyists. They
attempted little or nothing in the.
house, since the democratic ~preponder-
nee there is so overwhelming. But
the sending of the tariff bill to the
senate was the signal for the rallying
Of the practical tariff workers at
Washington, together with the great
stirring Of their principals who sit in
distant cities and direct their opera
tons. Finally, the multiplying signs
of their activity led President Wilson
to sound his warning.
In part, this tariff lobbying is a kind
Of survival from the past. Old habits
are too strong for our protected I'M
facturers. They have been long &C
customed to seeing" somebody in
Washington. They used to see Nc
Kinley; then Dingley. Four years ago,
the sovereign recipe was to "see AL
drich." What President Wilson insists
upon is that those days are forever
past, and that at the present the only
ones to See are congress in the open
and the people of the United States.