Pueblo chieftain., 1921-02-16
By Frederic ]. Haskln

Washington. d. c. Feb. lt-With
three bills introduced into congress to
regulate his operations, and senators
and representatives denounciny him on
the floor OF the house. the Washington
lobbyist seems to be in for one more
of those attacks upon his honor and his
salary OF which he has already wealth
cred several.
All OF these bits propose TO control
the lobbyist by making him register his
name. his salary. his intentions and the
name of the organization he represents.
Senator Kenyon seems TO base his OBJ
lection to lobbyists chiefly on the
ground that they arc a pest. He dc
clares that he cannot get from tho
street car to his Office without being
buttonholed. Whether a registered lob
byist would be any less persistent
about buttonholins. other legislators
think, may be reasonably doubted.
Tho whole situation appears to hc
confused by IA Jack of exact iuformn-
tion as to what a lobbyist is. when
does a man who wants to talk to Il
congressman al bout n bill become lob
byist? We have been hearing about
"insidious lobbies" and invisible gov
crnmcnts" every few years for half "A
century. and yet there seems TO be no
general agreement as to the character
q
He seems to have made his first scnsa-
ton back in the days or the Credit Mo
bilier when tho lobbyists made their
headquarters in the house committee
on appropriations. The first lobby in
vcstigation happened in those days.
too, and one OF the lobbyists made the
sensational admission that he had re
coived a large sum of money to be used
in influencing congressman. and that he
had used 1t to build himself a large
house. feeling that his influence would
DO increased more in that way than in
any other.
Dnr TO Corruption
The methods of lobbyists have be-
come moro subtle since those days. no
doubt. even as their numbers have in
creased. but 1t may be said that they
still favor this method OF indirect in
fiuence rather than direct. Far from
corruptlng legislators by the use OF
money. the lobbyist usually stands he
roically between tho congressman and
tho funds which are raised by various
interests to influence legislation. Some
sugar planters a few years ago raised
hundred thousand to keep a tariff on
sugar. Where did 1t go? Wen. to the
lobbyist first. And there Il good deal Of
IL stuck. Tho lobbyist CONTINUOUSLY
hurls himself before tho congressman
and takes in his own breast the poi
soned dart OF the slush fund lie does
all that he can to keep the legislator
the clean hearted innocent impccunl-
GUS creature that he should be. lie
dlspenses talk with lavish hand. He
directs 1T both toward the congressman
and toward his employer. But he shows
hne sensitive conscience about the
use of money, especially on others
Thc methods and achievements OF tho
Aaf r-t.r l~N..
years ago when the lobbyis, for great
organization of manufacturers was du-
ly investigated by the lobby committee
1t was shown indeed that this lobbyist
had talked much and cioquently. that
he had filed many newspapef~clippIngR.
bills, resolutions, and the Ike. rea-
sonablc suspicion was created that he
had once given a congressman nf-
tcen-ccnt cigar. 1t was shown that cy-
cry time n bill passed which might be
considered favorable to his employers
he sent them a telegram of congratu-
lations in which he said I'VE have won
n great victory or words to that of-
feet
What was hard to prove was that
nc had actually influenced the course
OF legislation by so much as "a ny on
the steering wheel influences the course
of n car.
OF course. there may be lobbyists who
exercise a sinister influence. but how
are you going to find out which ones
they are? How arc you going to draw
the line between the man who is IeSiti-
mately asking for what he wants and
tho one who is trying to be an invisi-
bic government or n baleful inrucnccg
This is the question that is puzzlinE
somo students of the lobby question.
Supreme Court Decisions
Tho difficulty OF drawing this line
seems TO be indicated by the fact that
II has never been successfully drawn.
There Is a whole bunch of decisions
by the supreme court and other courts
bearing on the question. but they seem
to differ widely. Some of these dcci-
sions seem to ifhply that any man who
seeks to influence the course of lcgisla-
ton is a lobbyist and therefore doing
something wronS- Elu L decision OF