New Britain herald., 1929-10-21
RAILROAD L0BB|ES
 HAD GREAT POWER
Got Huge Land Grants From
 Congress Back in 184O'S
BY RODNEY BUTCHER tNt,A Service WritCrD

road lobbyists were working on congress in the cightecn-fortics. For several decades they fought vigorously for grants Of money and land and collected both for their employers in large gob@.
 Activities Of the railroad lobby here in recent years hay" been largely confined 10 defensive tactics against further government rcGula- ton. but the old railroad lobby which functioncd in palmicr days sppears to hayo been the instrument of an astonishing amount of bribery and corruption in congress.
 The railroad lobbyists followed naturally in the wake Of the carly land lobbyists, canal company lobby ists and bank lobbyists. The job of each of these groups was to work on members of congress and officials who were not already controlled by the interests which the lobbyists represented-as many Of them were.
 < Lot of Bribery
 Tn chronological order, tho rail- road lobby rose 10 power on the heels Of the bank lobbyists, who had established a remarkable record in corrupting congress and state legis- lat1Ires. The United States bank. which Andrew Jackson fought and defeated was accustomed to dis count the worthless notes Of con- grcssmen and had Daniel Webster, for instance. on it's payroll at one time How much money the bank spent on congress does not appear in the records, but legislative con- mittec found in 1S40 that it had paid bribes amounting 10 $l30,o00 in Pennsylvania.
 The railroad men put in their earliest strokes on the legislatures, . but they soon had congress working for them. Hundreds of millions of dollars in cash were turned over to railroad companies and between 155. .000. .000 acres of land ether di- rectly 10 railroad corporations or to various states 10 be transferred to railroad corporations.
 Railroad representatives lobbiod here for laws which would mako . fraudulent processes easier and in cases where construction promises had not been kept were able 10 . persuade congress to extend the 2 period for construction if not to forget all about il. They had law after law passed removing the yari- ous restricting conditions, until the railroads had the hundreds of mil lions of acres under their absolute control.
 The Illinois Central was the first railroad 10 get land grant from congress. It received gift Of 2,60O,00o acres of Illinois land and later collected g. to $15 an acre from settlers on it. Thanks to na- tional and state generosity it was later estimated that the promoters Of the road obtained it at a bonus Of some s2,0Oo.000 over what they paid in.
 IL was during this pre- Civil war period that stigma came 10 be at tached 10 the name lobbyist" Op-
 
 great, both in Washington and the . state capitals that lobbyists repre- senting moneycd interests could hardly fail to be successful in their work.
 Steamship owners, headed by Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, also maintained a powerful lobby in this period which aided them in ob- taining enormous subsidies for mail carrying.
 Lohbt"s for and against various bills dealing with slavery were con spicuOuS. Tine Anti-Slayery socicety active in politics controlled somc senators and representatives iust as the Anti-SaloOn leaguc does today.
 One writer says that probably never has there been more per sistent and energetic lobby thar oNisted when President Buchanan tried to force slavery on Kansas with the Tccompton bill" The Lc- compton lobby WAS directed hy Cor nrlus Wendell who had tho ad. ministration behind him. Wcndrl had hc"n clearing up 10 sIpo.ono ; year from public printing contrart, and his bank arcount rose mil lion dollars in two ycare.
 He always had hr9 check LooI ready, one reads Nc" papers wcr, bought, suhsiIizud or founded tc 2ttaeE anti-Looomnton mrubrr and the friends Of tnos. members were discharged from their fercda iOhs in post offices customs houses government bureaus and navy yards
 In this period also 0ourishcd Prn dletons gambling h1uee on Penn sElvanla aNeuun, which PcAdletoI called "Thc Palace O. rortune.' bu which Wa commonly known il Washington a* "Tno Hall Of fin Bleeding Heart"
 Presidential candidates. cabin. members. senators aud r-pr.sonta lives gathered tA,~r at ni2at wt lobbyists.
 An Nid to thc Lobby
 "Pondl"'oG's 5n is pam.est day. might have h~ou railoI tnr yegt.igi of tho lobby" wrote Houtamfn Per Icy Poorc in his ramiujsrenou4. "Tt most dis'in@uiaArd urocoesor: ufgl b. found th"ra. They lont mono 10 their clients when rho 'annns scratched too roughly that is { say when th" play ran against thcr and they became broke. as inc sometimes did
 "Pendlo'on himself vas an of orator in tho lobby. Us prore. sional position gave hjm great r. cjlities. He aestsfed in th" pa-sal o' many useful bills of private us lure. involving considerable sum@ money. 4 broker in narjiamousai notes is an inevitable retainer . broker voters"
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