New Britain herald., 1929-10-22
FEMALE LOBBYISTS
 VERY INFLUENTIAL
Lavish Entertainment and
 Plenty Of Wine Produced Results

reason 10 doubt that she was con temporaneous with Washington and Hamilton and Jefferson.
 The outbreak of the Civil War found q battalion of them employed here for they had been found cffec- tive. Some of them earned the title of spider lobbyists" and were possessed of more charm than vir- tuous reputation.
 "Whilc the two houses of Con- gress were convulscd by sectional strife" says one writer who had observed them in action, there was no cessation in the prcscnta- ton of jobs, some of which were disgraceful schemes for plundering the treasury.
 From All Classes
 "Thc most active advocates of these swindles and Of some more mcritorious legislation which they were paid to advocate. were the lady lobbyists. Some of tlrem were the widows of officers of the army | or navy, others the daughters of 1 congressman, and others had drift ! ed in from home localities where l they had found themselves the | subjects of sclndaloUs comments. 1 The parlors of some of tl'ese danes were cXquisitcly furnished wi;h works of art and bric-a-brac. donat- | e. | 1I- al si,-1, ,fr they received, and in the winter ! their blazing wood fires were sur rounded by a distinguished circle.
 some would treat favored guests to a game of cuchre, and as mid night approached there was always an adjournment 10 the dining room, where q choice supper was ! served. X cold duck, d venison pie, broilcd oysters or some other ex- quisitely cooked dish with salads and cheese. generally constituted the repast. with iced champagne or I1urGundy at blood-hoat. Who could h.amc the congressman for leaving inc bad cooking of his hotel or boarding house, with an absence Of all home comforts, to walk into the parlor web which the adroit spider lobbyist had cunningly woven for him."
 A favoritc method of the old-timc lady lobbyist was to hire or acquire a husband merely to point out to congressman as the man who mis- understood her
 Back in the Van Buren admin;s- tration came D lovely lady from
 Europe who did some heavy lobby
 ing on her account, She called her self American Ncspucci and traded
 on an alleged lneal descent iron
 Amerigo Nespucci - the man who gave us Americans our name.
 America went 10 work on Johr
 Quincy Adams and Daniel Webster
 who became her closest friends
 and she was soon official society.
 pet.
 Then one day she coyly presented ', Congress with q petition asking fol
 citizenship and a corner O. land.' In view of the notorious lanj , frauds of the day, one wonders wh! 2 she failed to get it. Cortainl, through no lack Of amiabIry or the part of the committee which re ported on the measure.
 The Senate scrgcant-at-arm! . promptly started a subscription 10 America. Many members and gov
 crnment officials kicked in. A
 about the same time, however, al
 Italian prince came here and r.
 fused to meet her. passing out som
 interesting material about her pas ) career. America dropped out O the picture and was adopted for
 few years by a wealthy gentleman
 in New York state.
 - Mention of other prc-Civil Wa
 lobbios will help illustrate the di
 versity of the practice. Thoma
 Moore, Carlyle, the two Disraclis
 Hallam, SOuthcy, BUlWer-L vito
 and many other British author Q and poets in 1887 joined in pcti l lion to the Senate for protcctjo r against pirating Of their works D American book interests The - pointed to the tremendous Amer
 can popularity of Sir Walter Sco, f who never received q cent, and saj i that an "eqmtabic rcmuncratio
 might haze saved his life"
 But the hook and magazine pull
 fishers put their lobby right on tn
 job. They had already defcate l one copyright law and now the J had the petition consigned to th
 archives. The piracy went on. Tweed Put Ono Over NJ William M. Tweed, then a Ne.
 York congressman, got a rclatiy
 contract to supply the House wit
 summer chairs which turned out [ o be worthless. Horace H. Da V owner of the Chaffce crude rubb. ,, maccrating patent, ~headed q ban II of lobbyists here for two SassiOI .n trying to force extension of tl tt, patent, His lobby laborcd cNpal a sivcly and he always carried in h n pocket a list of "Chaffee congress ,- men," but he lost when many IS them turned out to be missing ( IS the day Of the vote.
 d In the Buchanan administratio h Laurence, Stone X Co. paid $5S.0l d to @ Colonel Wolcott, who can 10 here to lobby for Massachusot
 manufacturers When WOlcott s II into trouble everyone believed tn le some congressman had been bribc 'g but the suspects loudly proclaim, ot that Wolcott must have pocket, Il, all the money. Wolcott kept quiet 1T WANTS PROPERTY pARTiTIO' T. Claiming that he was forced