The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1913-06-26
By ARTHUR w. DUNN.

can assert that the main trouble will
such committees is the fact that they
go out after irrelevant matter. pursue
false trails and fail to stick to the sub
ject under investigation. If the rule
which is applied in every court of law
should be invoked. and the invest
gators compelled to keep within the
subject of inquiry. the long drawn out
hearings. the volumes Of printed testi
mony of no account whatever, and
page upon page of matter which means
nothing. could be avoided and some
tangible results reached
am moved to make this assertion
after watching the committee inves
tigating the lobby in Washington. II
will take days and weeks to digest
the vast amount Of irrelevant testi
mony which has been submitted. The
lawyers on the committee know thai
they are going far outside of the do
main which would be permitted in g
court of law and yet they will defy al
legal restraints in asking all kinds OF
questions of every witness.
"Dry HauIs" the Results.
As a consequence dry hauls'' are
the result From actual lobbyists
those who make business of inf1uenc
ing legislation. the present committee
has gone into the domain Of newspa
per influence. public opinion as exert
ed through the press and the period
Gals. OF course it is known that news
papers print just what the editors de
cree shall be printed. no matter wheth
er the reading matter is furnished free
or is paid for by the papers And yet
much time has been taken by this lob
by committee to find out If the press
uses undue influence.
Pressure Needed.
If President Wilson and Secretary
Bryan put through the arbitration
treaty with Great Britain it will be
necessary for the administration to ex
ert influence upon the senate and cal
off opposition which Senator O'Gor
man has aroused to the new treaty
No doubt the contention of Senator
O'Gorman is correct that the cana
tolls will be subject to arbitration in
case the treaty is ratified.
In fact, Great Britain has already
made that claim. And there is wide
spread opposition against submitting
such vitality domestic question to d
foreign tribunal. Washington's fare
well address. warning his people
against foreign entapglements. seems
to be the handspring of opposition te
the new treaties.
Keeps Marshall Busy.
'The senate is body which does
public business by unanimous consent.
oftentimes asserted Uncle Joe Cannon
when he was in a contest with the SC
called upper branch" of the national
legislature. And Senator Jones OF
Washington has demonstrated that II
there should be objections which would
do away with Unanimous consent the
senate will find itself powerless or will
be forced to amend its rules so as t.
make lone man power impossible.
Jones only presses his advantage to
reasonable limit. He does not objec,
to everything; he lets a lot slide
through. which makes it easy at times
And yet he raises SO many questions
that he keeps Vice President Marshall
busy examining the rules and prece
dents. The vice presidents examine
tons thus far seem to bear out the idea
that the senate could be absolutely
tied up If real. persistent and deter
mined objector should 60 on the job
His Flow Of Words.
We are not going to be allowed te
forget that Senator Ashurst has dow
of words and Is not afraid to use them
He does not say much In the senate
but when he does he bubbles over with
0ratory. Various organizations hun
gering for free speech have frequently
secured the Arizona senator for speech
making occasions.
An Ambassador Among Them.
Although 1t was not guessed at the
time there was future ambassador
among the members of the Roosevelt
country life commission. Walter n
Page. then magazine editor. had
given considerable thought to the sub.
ject of country life. and Roosevelt
chose him as member because he
was hard working. practical man
who could write about what he saw
Years afterward President Wilson
chose the same man for the most i'm.
portant diplomatic post abroad
What Is a lobbyist
SO far the senate investigating com.
mittee has. not been able to really de-
termine what is lobbyist Several
dictionaries Of repnte have been quot
ed, Different senators have given
their opinions. but nothing has been
determined SO as to Ok the definition
OF the term. Now. II lobbyist can
not be defined how Is he to be detect
I'd in his Eefarious work or legitimate
operations.