The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-01-12
LOBBYISTS ARE
 BLOCKING TO
 ALBANY CAPITOL
Unusually Tempting Field For Their Activities Off, fered in Proposed Legisla- tion.

ton.
 Albany, Jan. 12.-What a year for lobbyists! The Capitol expects to be swamped with them before this ses- sion is over. If the Legislature gets through without scandal, it will be a l testimonial to a changed standard on the part of both the big interests in- volved and the individual members 1 of the Senate and Assembly. Not in years has proposed legisla- tion offered so tempting a field for | corruption. Food-supply regulation, anti-saloon bills of one sort and ah- l other, notably Gov. Whitman's propo- sal to extend the principle of local op- l tion to the cities of the State, and Sen ator Elon R. Browns joint commit tee of the Senate and Assembly to in vestigate whether the moving picture industry is proper subject of State taxation-these are but three of the undertakings of the Legislature now in session sure to get under the skin of interests which are extremely pow erful in this State, and will strain every muscle to defeat adverse legis- lation.
 Registered Lobbyists. There is law-it was passed under the spur of Gov. .Hughes-requiring all paid lobbyists to register their names and businesses with the Secretary of State. So far this year only seven have done so. One is the brewers Albany representative; two are here to wage the anti-saIoon fight. ic Io iSt of so far this year:
 Al Park Row, New York, retained as agent by Citizens Union of the City of New York.
 January 3-John H. Jenkins, of 197 Main Street, Ossining, N. Y., retained as agent by Westchester County Board of Supervisors. | William H. Hirsch, of IS William Street, New York city, retained as counsel and agent by the Lager Beer Brewers Board of Trade of New York and vicinity, and for the New York State Brewers Association.
 William H. Hirsch, of 15 William Street, New York city, retained as counsel by the Society of Restaurant teurs.
 |, L. L. Boothby, Room 3, 45 Maiden Lane, Albany, N. Y., retained as agent by the Boothby Legislative Agency. Abner B. Brown, of 233 Sterling St., Watertown, N. Y., retained as counsel and agent by New York Anti-Saloon League.
 Haight, Sanford & Smith (by Ed ward Sanford), of 27 William St.. New York city, retained as counsel and agent by Johnson & Higgins, 49 Wall Street, New York city
 Edward Sanford, of 27 William St., New York city, retained as counsel and agent by Johnson & Higgins, 4s Wall Street, New York city.
 Geo. H. West, of 452 Broadway, AL bany, N. Y, retained as agent by the New York, Civic League, office, 452 Broadway, Albany, N. Y.
 Case of the Film Industry.
 ls Take the moving-picture committee as an example of the kind of proposal whose development will be fraught with obvious dangers of this kind. Senator John Knight, of Wyoming County, a man of good reputation, has already been named as chairman of this committee. It was created pur- suant to the following resolution in troduced by Senator Brown the first day of the session.:
 Resolved eff the Assembly concur) i, That joint committee of the Sem ate and Assembly be hereby created to consist of three members of the Senate, to be appointed by the Pres ident of the Senate, and five mem bers of the Assembly, to be appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly, to investigate whether the moving-pic- ture industry is a proper subject of State taxation, and if the committee so determine, the kind and amount of taxes to be imposed
 Now if that resolution had been iI troduced by some obscure member, with a questionable reputation, it would probably have been hailed as strike" measlire- proposal intfo- duced for the purpose of scaring some body into looming across with con- sideration to persuade the introducer not to press the thing. But in this case there could be no such sugges- tion The resolution came from the majority leader of the upper house, and was plainly bonafide proposal lO ulSCONCI II pOSS1D1C O. AiO" SOdA CC of revenue to the State
 But the possible significance of the thing, especially to the interests in volved, is enormous. If the commit tee reports in favor of a tax on the movies, it will be worth in the long run milloins of dollars to the moving picture interests to defeat that leg islation. And other interests would
 
 set which might sooner or later draw them into the taxables, if such legis- la ton were to be allowed to pass.
 You'll be proposing to tax cigar stores and haberdasheries next,'' said Senator J. Henry Walters, of Syra- cuse, when the resolution came up in the Senate for debate. Where are you going to stop?"