The Republican journal., 1917-05-31
Our Washington Letter.

WASHINGTON, D. c., May "a. These are
not Ihalcyon days for the lobbyists here
in Washington Never have they been so
active, and seldom have their efforts
yielded so meagre results to their en-
ployers. Congressman are beginning to
see the clouds of discomfort which are
rising in the home country and the
knights of the ''pork barrel" are in dis
may But the lobbyist is busy. You will
find him in the Capitol, on the streets, in
the hotels, in the bar rooms and in the
Y. M. c. A. He is suave, polished, adroit
and can talk volubly on almost any sub
ject He knows the personal history of
every man whom he hopes to influence.
He knows his strong points and his weak
nesses, and knows who made his nominal
ton and election possible. His services
are for anyone who comes to Washington
for any sort of graft from the govern
ment. He is INSCRIPTIONS and sometimes
resorts to the vilest means to attain his
ends. There is a wide margin of differ
ences between these all round lobbyists
and another class of men who are often
called lobbyists. This latter class are
really attorneys who represent the vari-
GUS great businesses, such as the rail-
roads, the insurance companies and the
bankers. Of course these men look close
ly after the interests of their clients, but
as a rule they are men of the highest
ability, dignified, candid, and well in
formed in legislative procedure. They
have, perhaps deservedly, great influence
with congressional committees. Con-
gress seems to be rather slow in taking
action on matters of great Importance.
Some of the Congressman of each party
are considering things too much from the
political standpoint. A great many men
to be interference with their perogatives
by the President. The censorship of news
which is earnestly desired by the Presi-
dent is bitterly opposed by many Con-
gressmen. Mr.. Wilson has succeeded in
silencing his official subordinates, but the
press has appealed to Congress and ap-
parently Congress has heard the appeal.
Whether the nationwide criticism of
Secretary Baker and Secretary Daniels
has yet penetrated the inner conscious
ness of the President is not known.
When Mr.. Baker was appointed as Secre-
rotary of War, he is reported to have
said that he knew nothing whatever about
military affairs. This frank and abso-
lutely true statement was followed by
censorship of his utterances and very
little more has been heard from him. 1t
is unfortunate, of course, for the country
to have had as Secretary of War a man
who knew nothing about the job, but
under the ''watchful waiting" policy of
the government before, during and since
our farce of taking Villa dead or alive,
Secretary Baker has had ample time to
learn good deal about war Mr. Baker
is man having an ample amount of
brains and predict that when the history
of this overseas war is written we shall
see that Mr.. Baker has a favorable men,
ton. When Mr.. Daniels was appointed
Secretary of the Navy he did not tell us
that he had no knowledge of naval affairs.
He left that for us to find out. We have
discovered it and we have a suspicion
that instead of learning, he has been for
getting almost everything he had hither
to known except that he was a Demo-
crat.