Evening star., 1932-05-15
Locust Swarm" of Lobbyists
Writer Finds They Sometimes Do Themselves More
Harm Than Good, as in Defeating the Sales
Tax-Some Have Little Influence.
t for q chance to chisel something for

out for q chance to chisel something for
themselves.
When o bill Is introduced that looks
as II 1t might damage some sufficiently
prosperous interest, they have them
selves appointed to defend that interest,
and no matter what happens to the bill,
the lobbyist usually gets his money.
And besides the regular Legislative
agents and the chiselers there are the
earnest, responsible people who come
down to Washington only In times of
crisis, when their industry Is threaten
ed. Among these Is Writ Franklin Of
Ardmore. Okla, whose work as captain
Of the oil lobby last Winter aroused
plenty Of admiration. even among peo-
pie who hated its results.
Ncutralixe One Another.
Every tariff bill sees many such
pleaders around the Capitol, and Of
them out. too; but they largely neu-
traliEe one another. Almost every one
OF them says, don't tax my industry,
tax the other fellows industry" In a
game like that somebody Is bound to
lose: and 1t Ia not unnatural that the
big loser In the long run Is the man in
the lower brackets Of the income tax,
the man with q profession, q small
business or small salary, who has no
body to represent him.
As for the methods Of lobbyists, you
do not hear anything around Wash
ington Of bribery and similar crude
methods that used to flourish, and may
still survive In some State capitals.
There are lobbyists who try to conquer
by entertainment Of legislators and Of
newspapermen, but they seldom get
very far. What really counts against a
Congressman Is the starting Of a back
fire against him back home, and these
are the tactics more and more en-
ployed by lobbyists who want to get
somewhere. When the Veterans Of For
e1gn Wars, some weeks ago, got the
written pledges Of 167 members of the
House Of Representatives to vote for
the bonus bill, they did not do 1t by
buttonholing them around the Capitol
They wrote home, to prominent ex-
service men In each Representative s
district, and got them to inquire the
Congressman's views.
Practice Being Overdone.
Whether this technique was invented
by the late Wayne B. Wheeler or not,
he was one Of the first and most bril-
liant Of its practitioners, but there are
signs that even this practice is being
overdone.
They don't even stop to see which
side you're on" complained one Rep
resentative. II have had literally hun
dreds OF telegrams, identical In wording,
urging me, with polite threats implied,
been standing up for 90 hard as could
for years past"
One such enterprise was revealed by
ruary a., ut q time when there was
talk Of imposing an excise Of o cent a
gallon on gasoline sales. Mr.. Crisp got
hold Of O letter which the American
Petroleum Institute had had generally
distributed at filling stations urging
that on q given day kilograms Of pro-
test should be sent to Congress; the
form was provided and the messages.
by arrangement with the telegraph
companies, would be accepted collect.
They were not paid for In Washing
ton, but they were not paid for by the
senders, either; presumably the Petro-
leum Institute arranged that. You can
imagine the filling station proprietor
saying 70 every customer who stopped
in, "You don't want to pay an extra
cent ShllOu, 40 your IneD sign tHlS.
But 1t happened that the day Mr.
Crisp recited the whole plan In the
House was the day set for the deluge
OF kilograms, which had already begun
to arrive. and that very day two SEN
ators made speeches indicating that
they had not heard Of the Crisp state
ment, but had got the kilograms and
had been turned against the tax by this
spontaneous uprising Of their con-
stituents.
Telegraph companies report that there
has been q tremendous increase in mes
sages delivered at the Capitol this ses-
sion. That is about the only way the
lobbyist can influence the average mem
Der Of Congress, but II he works UP
enough OF o deluge to persuade a Con-
gresham that any large number OF
his constituents feel strongly about a
bill, II takes O rather rare Congress
man TO disregard all this and vote the
way he meant to.
In the main the lobby business has
been very profitable for the lobbyists
and for the telegraph companies, and
has neither done much good to the
interests who hired the lobbyists nor
much harm to the general welfare.