Evening star., 1934-09-30

MS 1dInerS S DdIlk, OUT ne SpeuL more
than he made, and the finan-
cial crash about 10 years later made
him a bankrupt. This was at the
time Of the California gold fever,
so Sam Ward went to California.
In San Francisco he was in turn
and merchant and he soon
accumulated large fortune. A big
fire wiped it all out, however. and
we next find him among the Piute
Indians. where he played the part of
an Indian chief. Savage cooking did
not agree with him, so, in '53, he
again became broker in Wall Street.
Here he made enough money to live
well and for the next 10 years he
led a rowing life through Mexico
and the South American states. In
1865 he came here to Washington
with $4,000 in his pocket, from which
time on until Garfield's death he was
one of the best livers and most
courted characters of the Capital
In 1881 he went back to New York,
where he kept up an extravagant
establishment out of his Wall Street
speculations. After one coup, which
netted him $5O0,000, he left for
Europe about two years ago. Sam
Ward belonged to the higher class
of lobbyists. He dealt only with
prominent men and big measures. He
really had influence and he did not
stoop to petty means to gain his ends.
Washington Lobbyists.
The people of the country hold
an exaggerated idea of the extent
greSSmen do not often sell their votes
for actual money and a great deal of
lobbying done here is perfectly legiti-
mate and honorable. Any man who
seeks to control legislation by influ-
encing votes of Congressman by argu-
mentS or otherwise is called a lob
byiSt. During the agitation in re-
gard to wool tariff this year many
prominent wool men were here lob
bying. among them little Dave Harp
ster of Northern Ohio. No one would
ever think of accusing Farmer Dave
of doing anything illegitimate. Still,
the large part of the Washington
lobbyists consists of just such men
as he, and of the hundreds of varie-
ties of pension lobbyists, national
bank lobbyists, tariff lobbyists, steam
ship lobbyists. mail contract lobbyists
and others, nine-tenths of whom are
sound business men who would not
think of offering money to secure
votes.
There are number of State claims
lobbyists and there are offlce-seeking
lobbyists innumerable. Charles Shir-
rell is a tall, bent, gray-whiskered
man who represents C. P. Hunting
ton here I am told that he gets
$4,000 a year for doing so. Hunting
ton often comes from New York to
help him and you have no doubt
read the account of how one of the
Senators refused to come out into
the hall to meet this railroad king
here this Winter.
1t is said that the newspaper man
who represents the Pennsylvania
Railroad in Washington gets a cool
$4,000 every year. At present the
laws against lobbying are strong
enough to send any one who engaged
in it to the penitentiry for three
years; as to a Congressman, it i'm
poses a like penance upon him and
diSableS him from ever after holding
an office under the Government.
Presidential campaign gossip con-
tinues to be the main topic of con-
verSation in Washington. In the ho-
tells, in the departments, at the White
House and in the halls Of Congress
little else is now heard. Arthur's
boom has been strong one from the
beginning, though it has risen and
fallen like the waves Of the sea,
dancing along beside the Blaine boom,
now sinking below and now rising
above it. 1t is gathering strength,
however, as it approaches the shores
of Chicago, and at present is higher
than it has been since the start. Ben
Harrison'S boom has started late, and
it grows slowly.
Early Typewriters.
1t is wonderful how fast the type
writer is coming into use here. In
nearly every department you will hear
it clicking as you pass along the
aisles, and in the Department of JUS
tice alone there are 20 machines. I
suppose, all told, there are as many
as thousand in use in the city, and
the agents of both the Remington
machine and the Caligraph tell me
their sales are increasing daily. Al
ready typewriting is becoming busi-
ness and there are number of off,
ces here devoted solely to it. These
are in many cases operated by ladies
who will copy speech, take down
letter from your dictation or prepare
copies of documents at a fixed rate.
The rate now prevailing is cents per
hundred words, and some operators
make as high as $40 day. The
average is, am told, 50 to SO a day.
In addition to these, the typewriter
is now found in almost every lawyers
Office and in many of the large busi-
ness establishments of the country.
A number of newspaper men here use
them in preference to the pen; these
words are being written on Cali
graph. The copy is easier to read
and there is less liability to mistakes,
and expect to see the day, that not
very 1dI lSLdllU, WllcItH GllC CdICl
part of business correspondence of
all kinds will be done by typewriters.
The world is too fast for the pen, and
life is too short for writer to waste
valuable time in manual labor.
Shorthand.
I have received several letters ask
ing me for an article giving informa-
ton on photographic or shorthand
work here. I find on investigation
that shorthand writing is fast becom-
ing one of the leading professions of
Washington. In the days of Andrew
Jackson hardly a public man pos
seSSed the luxury of a private secre-
tary, to say nothing of shorthand
amanuensis. Now there is scarce a
man in public life of any prominence
who has not a photographic secretary
accompanying him on all occasions.
Senators Seward and Sumner were
among the first to bring shorthand to
aid in there work. This was early in
the sos. Since that time the prac-
tice has grown like Johan's gourd,
and now all the leading lawyers and
business men, together with nearly
oF I,,ra