The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1918-06-06

ey out. If Mr. Sandstrom lost money
by representing the people at Bis
marck why does he seek to be re-
turned to the office Of Senator? It
seems to US that if we ventured into
a position in which while carrying
out u duties we lost money we would
not again seek that position. Just
what could be at the bottom of Mr..
Sandstrom's desire for the office Of
senator, if, as he claims, he lost mon
ey?
A prominent writer wrote the fol-
lowing in the American Review of
Reviews in a recent year: "These men
have gone into states and COMPRESSION
al districts, notably in the case Of the
National Association of Manufacture
ers, to elect candidates in sympathy
with their views and to defeat men
opposed to them.
Indeed, the ambition of some men
seeming to control the policy Of the
National Association Of Manufacture
ers, as disclosed by their own letters,
has scared to the point of influencing
the election of a president Of the
United States and the appointment
.of a member Of his cabinet. Literally,
the great interests have spent money
like water and found it profitable;
and in order to escape responsibility
for their acts, they have burned
books, sent unsigned instructions and
designated their employees by num-
bers instead Of by their proper names.
It is Illuminating to describe the
methods the testimony shows to have
been employed by Big Business to Sc
cure or defeat legislation. It has OBJ
tanned the services of the most skill
full men it could get. They may be
divided roughly into three classes,
The first is composed Of able lawyers,
prepared by legal argument to pre-
sent the side they are retained to adj
vocate. The second comprises legis-
lative lawyers, receiving enormous
salaries, whose business it is to
haunt the capitol and bring to bear
every art at their command to advance
legislation desired by their clients or
to obstruct and delyay legislation in
imical to the interests Of those clients.
This involves the use Of parliament
tary OF supplementary tactics, the
extension of social courtesies and the
attempt to place members Of the SEN
ate and house and officials of the adj
ministration under personal obliga-
tion. The third class is made up of
e~x-senators and ex-congressmen, who
exercise large influence with those act
ually in the senate and house by rea-
son Of the standing they enjoy thru
the confidence of the people of their
respective states and districts, by
reason of their long association with
members of the two houses; and by
reason Of their experience in legisla-
tive affairs.
The expense Of lobbying operations
is heavy. During the last six years,
it is alleged, $1,500,000 passed thru
the hands of the National Council of
Industrial Defense, an unincorporated
association organized largely on pa
fper and dominated, it would appear,
by agents of the manufacturers as a
means of evading the national statute
against campaign contributions by
corporations. This sum does not
represent all that was d%isbursed; for
a system was devised where all local
manufacturers contributed to local
congressional campaigns. The Sugar
Trust is said to have used more than
$750,O0O in fighting the Cuban reci-
procity treaty. During the past &c
years, men identified with the beef
sugar interests confessed to the ex.
penditure of $50,000; and the com
bined expenditure of all the sugar
lobbies in connection with the present
tariff revision is certainly $4,000
The funds were raised for the sugar
campaigns through a system of tax
alton upon production. In the cas-
of the National Council of Industria
Defense, attend to the financial en-.
Of the work.
Big Business is shown to have n,
politics. 1t has been as willing to de
bauch a Republican representative a
a Democratic representative. TIL
Republican party, however, is deep
ed in the mud than the Democrat
party is in the mire. Probably thi
is due to the fact that the Republican
party was so long in power and on
Of its representatives in Congress wa
worth four IF tho ~ninoritv