Pueblo chieftain., 1921-06-16
Ry Frederic j. Haskin

by EIeucElC. I1dSAm.
Washington. D. c.. June 1S.-The in
visible government has become one
OF the most evident and striking fea-
lures of the Washington scene.
For the term has always been ap,,
piled to loshies and lobbyists, and
Washington, most of which have Of
Aces and telephone numbers. and are
open to visitors. and will tell any hon
est enquirer just what they want of
congress and how they hope to set it.
The r;., right Of any citizen No. or as group re up
and petition congress or any mem
ber thereof. for what they want. is
indisputable, All the excitement about
invisible governments" has been
based upon the assumption that the
lobbyist is one who employs secret
Gress.
1t cannot be denied that congress-
man who is open to corruption can
, probably And someone to corrupt him
and this situation will probably never
change until ell congressman become
absolutely honest. But the fact that
there may be some dishonest con-
gressmen and some dishonest lobbyists.
1t is urged. should not be made the
occasion fo- trying to make a scandal
out of every honest and open effort
| to influence congress by argument and
show of voting strength.
THE GREAT LOBBY SCANDAL
Eight years ago there was great
excitement when congress set out to
investigate lobbyists. Weeks and
weeks of testimony followed the adop-
ton of the resolution Of investigat ton.
Sensation after sensation, some real.
some forced. were sprung on the pub
lie. Many professed to see the two
branches of congress clutched tight in
the tentacles Of the mysterious. mon
strous octopus, invisible government"
Senator's and representatives, ma ny
we're given to believe. were at the b. ck
and call OF the interests. Congress
was a sordid thing, its members In the
pay OF grea; corporations.
All of this nonsense blew up short
ly afterward. when the net result of
the investigation simmered down to
the besmrching of a lone member of
the house. out of total membership
OF 3S5. the disclosure that a negro en-
ploye at the capitol had received $50
a month to reveal to a certain lobby
ist the names of the people who were
received by the chairman of a pow
ifcation of IN enormous report which
nobody succeeded in reading all the
way thru
After that the grim spectre Of "fnvis-
ioie government" lay dormant for a lone
time. Only row is IL beginning to III,
'
vfval Of talk OF insidious lobbies op-
Grating in Washington. but these un-
dersround methods have no chance of
accomplishing anything of value in
competition with the frank and open
| lobofes maintained nere by many great
groups the country over.
The farmers. manufacturers. organ
lied labor. ex-service men. and scores
OF other EDoups have their national
orSanizs tions. and almost without ex-
ception have legislative agents In
very many cases these organizations
are going openly to congress and or
ganizing blocks or senators and repre-.
sentative5 who represent states and
districts where labor is strong. oil
where the farmer is strong These mer
are being pledged to support certain
legislative programs. There Is stfj
little or nothing secret about II. Otter
puofsc announcement IL made OF the
orsanization OF these groups in con.
gress.
| True. there have been revelation, in
the past of state legislatures havins