The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-02-17
Frederic HasIkin'. Lette.


effect.
What was hard To prov. -.
- had actually influence j
course Of legislation s. = -
. ~ on the steering GhaS ;.as
enca% the course OF 4 a,
OF course, there NAV 1. ,.s,s
lists who exercise q sinists, -
ence. but how are Won 49,
and out which ones they ~
ere you going to draw ths ~
tween the man who Is lssitissa..
asking TOR what he wants. ~ NJ
one who il trying to BE- sn ~
bic government or Z balsgr, ~
sncs? This 10 the question ~ !
pushing some students Of IL ~
question.
Supreme Court DselsI,pr
Tho dimculty Of dravinr =.
line seems to be indicated !, ~
fact that 1t has never beers y. ae
cessfully drawn. There n ~.
bunch Of decisions by the suss.s.
court and other courts beari.. 4
the question, but they sesm = l.,
differ widely. Some Of der = !"
cisions seem to imply that =.
man who seeks to influenca \.
course Of legislation ia . lohh,,
and therefore doing somaSs.
wrong. But . decision Of tHals
preme court upholds the obyiss.
right Of tho citizen to plead n
cause, and to have it PLEADED n
is ........ the right Of every stl
gen ...... to employ q paid.ass,
TO collect evidence and dfaff n.
BILL" this decision says, and Il "a.
on to say this agent can exnjah
tho bill and urge its merits IN
before the committee and to isdL
vidual legislators.
In other words, it seems that Nm
have a perfect right to 20 70 MD,
ington to urge congress to piaca !,
tarin on hides, for instance. Yam
can DO this yourself, or you en- n
Is the paid agent of Others W.
want . duty on hides.
But what if you hand a connsn.
man a cigar, or take him to iubcb
or give him a tip on the stott
market. At just what point DO you
cease to become a legitimate agent
and become a lobbyist! Likevix
how 10 it possible to find out vhleh
agents or lobbyists use only loek
and eloquence, and which ones DIN
slip the congressman quarts q
liquor, invite them to parties, md
tell them what to buy and when:
Some critics of the lobbyist NJ
they fear not SO much the dsagsr
of actual corruption which n
brings, as that he offers the con.
gresham distorted facts and 70!
phistic arguments. In other words,
he presents the congressman u
ex-parte view of the matter. md
so adds to his confusion rather
than to his enlightenment But
that, perhaps. is inevitable, sinu
he IL paid TO plead a special csyse
One student OF the lobby evil,
after considering all Of these con.
plications, reaches the radical CO...
clusion that the only remedy for \
Is to elect legislators who are too
honest to accept brides. direct m
indirect. and sufficiently intelligent
to weigh evidence and Judge arJu.
ments presented to them. II this
ware done, he points out. the lobby.
list would become a harmless hu.
man asking for what he wants Of
those who have the power to give H.
If you proceed on the opposite
assumption. he argues. that legis.
lators are more or less irresponsi.
BILE and stupid, then the losiul
thing would be to have thsm led
sheltered lives. appoint a commit
tee to censor their callers and %
present all necessary informatict
to then. An words of one syllabls
This, he admits, is hardly practit.
able.
As long as the itching palm ant
the bonehead are found in legisla'
tive halls, there are bound to y
interested persons who will 0k'
advantage of both.