Evening star., 1935-01-06

ERBERI ftOOVEn, WHeIl
President, referred once with
considerable evaporation to
L i the locust swarm of lobby
lists" which had descended on
Washington to plague Congress. The
phrase found instant shelter in the
speech of many a Congressman, as he
sputtered over the growth of law by
lobby.
That was a few years ago when We
thought We had reached the peak OF
the system. The minor lobbies were
many. The major lobbies were pow
erful. notably the big Three"-the
dry lobby, fighting possible repeal OF
the eighteenth amendment; the SOL
dier lobby and the many-headed and
not always mutually-agreeing farm
lobby.
The prohibition lobby was fought by
the repeal lobby, in which pretty Polly
Sabin and her lady vets" played such
a decisive part. These two powerful
lobbies disappeared from the scene
theoretically at least. but the depres-
sion sharpened the spearhead of the
soldier lobby, with its determined
fight for the bonus
The A. A. A. spurred on the farm
lobby to offer still more plans for
agricultural relief. The N. r. A.
strengthened the position of organized
labor, and the labor lobby, long a
strong one, is ready for a big battle
in favor of the 30-hour week.
In addition, the new emphasis
on social security has spurred on
the Uomen'S organizations, to-
gether Uith many others, to push
for unemployment insurance, old
age pensions and other details of
q social program. The Women,
howeper, still fight shy of that
lDord lobbyist" They prefer to
call their porkers Legislative
chairmen"
Besides these major interests, which
will have their emissaries button-h -hol-
ing Senators this Winter, there are
literally hundreds of pet projects and
silly schemes which will have envoyS
at court.
All of which moved a cynical Rep
resentative to remark the other day:
THE leaders are busy shaping plans
for the Seventy fourth Congress. It's
really a waste of time. The lobbyists
have had Congress work laid out for
months"
And what is this work?
Labor Lobby Active.
One of the most important lobbies
this year will be the soldier lobby,
fighting for immediate payment OF
the bonus.
The labor lobby, mouthpiece for
William Green, president of the Amer
ican Federation of Labor, will push for
passage of the new 30-hour bill, which
Alabama's Senator Black will again
introduce and which the admins
tration is not very crazy about.
And, since lobbying, like politics
makes some strange bedfellows, we find
organizations which may or may not
be in favor of the bonus or the Black
bill, smiling sweetly on both the
American Legion and the A. F. of L.,
because both these groups have come
out in favor of the child labor amend
ment, which the other organizations
(National League Of Women Voters,
National Council of Parent-Teacher
Associations, etc. have so heartily in
dorsed.
For gears now. every hearing
before the Agriculture Committee
OF either Senate or House has been
packed iDith gentlemen iUith brief
cases and speeches in them
gentlemen pho maintained that
they spoke for the farmer. But
Invariably eacT, has spoken a dit-
terent piece, until the beUildered
Congressman doesn't knoU uho
represents the farmer.
Up until a few years ago, every
time a Legislative chairman for a
womafl's organization appeared to
testify at congressional hearing, she
would preface her remarks with the
imposing statistics that Il speak for
100000 American mothers" or II