Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-02-16
When Is a Lobbyist
BY Frederic ]. fIaslsin.


| All of these bills propose to control the
| LOBBYIST by making him register his name,
| his salary, his intentions and the name oil
/ the Organization lie represents.
Senator KENYON seems to base his OBJ
| lection Ia LOBBYISTS chiefly on the ground
Shat they arc pest. he declares that ne
/ carnot get from the street car TO bis oiliee
without bcirp buttonhnled. Whether
| n registered lobbyist would be any less
persistent about buttonhohrg, other legs
| lators think, may be reasonably doubted.
| The whole situation appears to be
| copfuscd by lack OF exact lrioimauoh
rs TO what q lobbyist is. When does
man who wants to talk to Congressman
about bill become a lobbyist We nave
been hearing about I'll sidious lohbics
and invisible governments" every few
wears for half a century, and yet there
seems 10 be 10 general agreement az to
the character of this sinister creature,
the lobbyist. He seems to have made his
first sensation back III the days OF the
Credit NIobilier when the lobbyists made
their headquarters in the House Commit
tee on Appropriations. The first lobby
investigation harper eel in those days, too
and ore Of the lobbyists made the Sc
sational admission that he had received
large sum Of morcy to be used in IL fire G
irg Conpressmen, and that he had used
it 10 build himself a large house, ieeili
that his influence would be II creased more
in that way than in any other.
BAR TO CORRUPTION
The methods of lobbyists have become
moro subtle since those DAYS, no doubt,
even as their numbers have increased. but
Il may be said that they still favor TINS
method of Indirect influence rather than
! direct Far from cOrrupting legislators
! nv the use of money. the lobbyist usually
/ stands heroically between the Congress
/ mon and the funds which are raised by
| various interests TO influence legislation.
/ Sone sugar planters few years ago
| raised a hundred thousand 20 keep \
! tariff on sugar Where did II go? Well
70 the lobbyists first And there good
f deal oft stuck The lobbyist courageouSly
/ hurl, himself before the Congrcssan and
! takes in his own breath the poisoned dart
of the slush fund He does all that he
! can 70 keep the lcgislat or the clean.hcartcd
4 innocent. impeCunlous creature that ne
should be He dispepscs talk with .a
/ lavish hand He directs il both toward the
| Congressman and toward his employer
Ruthe shows fine sensitive conscience
! about the use of money. especially on
4 otbors Tho methods and
/ achievements Of the lobbyist were given
( . GOOD airing q few years ago when the
! Iohhvist for great organization Of man
ufacturcrs WAS duly investigated by the
/ lohbv committee II was shown indeed
+bet this lobhvist had talked much and
clon,,ently that H. had filed many news
| naDer CLIPPINGS bills. resolutions, and
the like. 4 reasonable suspicion was
created that he had once given Cogress-
man a ffteer-ccnt cigar Il was shown
that every time bill passed which nigh
be considered favorable to his employers
he sent them q telegram Ct congratu-
lations in which he said eve have nwon
4 great victory or words 70 that effect
What was hard 70 prove was that he
had sctually Influenced the course Of
leUislation by so much as fly on the
steering wheel influences the course Of
/ car,
1 ar course, there may be lobbyists who
4 axercise a sinister irfuence but how are
vo,I Going 70 frd out which ores they are
] How are YOU going to draw the ike he
tween the man who is legitmatclv askls
for what he wants, and the ore who Is
[ tr,-,ra 10 be sn invisible government OF
balef,ll influence? This Is the question
that is p,lzzIir z come students Of the lobby
Question
svPREME COURT DECISIONS.
The difficulty Of drawir z this Ire seems
| 10 be Indicated by the feet that Il has
/ never been successfully draw here =
whole bunch az decisinrs bv the Supreme
| Cont ard other courts bearir on the
ouas+ior. hut they seem to differ widely.
/ Son1a NJ these decisions seem 10 imply
/ that ary man who seeks 70 influence the
course az legislation Is q lobbyist. and
therefore doing something wrOr & But a
! decision of the Supreme Court uIh0lGs
the obvious nigh, of the citizen to plead
his cause, ard 10 have II pleaded II Is
the night Of every citizen to employ
a maid agent 10 collect evlderce and draft
his bill this decision SAYS. ard II goes
+ an TO say this agent can explain the bill and
lIrce rs merits both before committees
ara 10 Individual legislators
In other words II seems that YOU have
q rerfect right 10 20 10 Nashr gton and 10
urge Congress 70 place tarltf or hides, for
instance. You can do this for yourself,
or YOU can go IS the PAID ageat OF Others
who want q duty ON hides
But what II YOU hare Cor gresham
acigar. or take hm to ilr ch, or give tim
q tip on the stock market Al Just what
point do YOU cease 70 be 4 legitimate
agent ara DecoiIlN Il ioJDE iS't i-lhS"i9er
how is il possible To f. d out which age-ts
or LOBBYISTS ,,se o. " logic at d elCque-ce,
af d which o. es also slip the Congress
men quarts Of liquor invite them 70
parties, ard tell them what to buy a. q
whep?
some critics OF the lobbyist say they
fear rot 50 much the dar ger Of actual
corruption which he bIu gs, as that he
+ offers the 60. gIcssm4n distorted facts
/ and sophis;ic aIgIIne. 4. II other words
! he presented the Cor gresham an ex-
parte view Of the matter. aId 50 adds
/ to his confusion rather than to his er-
lightenment But that perhaps is IN
/ eyitable, sirce lie Is peid to plead speclq9
cause
ore stude' Of lie lobby evil after
! considering FL Of these comphcatlors,
! reaches the radical COZ clU.0n that the
I only remedy for II Is 10 elect leg slatoTs
| who are TOO hOrest 10 accept brbes,
/ d'rcct or ;ad'rect, ard sUfhc entity IN
! tengeat 10 weigh ev'dc,ce and Judge
arguments prescribed TO theE1. u this were
/ done, he points out, the lobbyist would
/ become a harmless human asking for
what he wants Of those who have the
power to give II
/ If YOU proceed On the opposite assump-
ton. he argues, that legislators are more
or less irresponsible ard stupid tEen he
/ logical thing would be TO have them
/ lead sheltered lives, appoint committee
10 censor their callers ard 70 present all
necessary information 10 them IN words
I L .,slY VI