The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-03-30
BY RUTH FINNEY
Tines Special Writer

ever. Il has more lives than a cat
more heads than the hydra. more
colors than a chameleon
Years ago its methods we're bru-
tally direct. II relied. principally
on seduction and blackmaL. Con-
rressmen we're lured 20 sam Ward S
parties. where wine and women we're
supposed % turn the trick for the
luers. Or they were taken 70
Pendleton's gambling hall: or they
we're framed and photographed IN a
compromising situation.
Even as recently as the days OF
The Ku-Kiux Khan. William Yum
brunn. its Washington agent. kept a
yacht anchored on the Potomac.
provisioned with food and liquor and
ready for a party al a moments
notice. Sometimes FOllieS girls were
an added attraction
But congressman became wary
and the public became outraged.
Eventually the lobby had 70 buy it
self a dinner jacket or plus fOurs
and resort 10 subtlety and indirec-
ton. Every lobby that could start
ed operating through a Washington
drawing room: and most Of those
that couldn't fell prey 70 the claims
Of gentlemen who represented them
selves as very close" 10 this official
or that ore. a friend Of a sister or a
cousin Of some one. and ready 70 sell
their influence for a price.
The Era of Petitions
Usually the employers Of these
gentlemen found they had been
biIked and this establishment may
have had something 10 do with
lodgings new deal. The success
enjoyed BY prohibirionists and vet
Grams Immediately after the war
probably had something TO do with
II also.
At any rate. the Hobbies discov-
cred that Just one thing counts with
a CONGRESSMAN today. tomorrow and
all the time-the approval OF his
individual constituents. They swung
into the spirit Of mass production
and started molding opinion whole
sale. BY states instead Of statesmen.
The era OF associations. leagues
and declarations began. Every lobby
list for a tariff schedule or against a
tax rate tried TO impress Congress
with the number of voters he repre-
sented. They began carrying in pc
titiOns. some of them with genuine
names. some OF them inspired by
tOmbstOneS.
Then the electric power industry
decided to pioneer in the slower.
more impressive task OF actually
stirring the voters themselves.
speakers Are Trained
They began their ambitious cam
paign Of training speakers to go be-
fore SUNDAY schools. Boy Scouts.
wOmen'S clubs. mems luncheon
clubs. and every other kind of or
ganizauon: Of preparing text books
for use in kindergartens. grade
schools and high schools: Of finding
remunerative research work for col
lege professors and other members
OF the starving professions. Of
buying newspapers and hiring news
paper men
They also evolved the idea Of Gus
toner ownership. Wherever they
could. they sold small blocks OF
stock and then argued 10 their Gus
toners that their financial stake in
the industry outweighed their in
tereSt in getting lower power rates.
This campaign laid the ground
work for tOday's crusade against the
holding company bill. Lobbying in
1885 is .graSSroOt" lobbying. Every
investor in utilities has been in
formed. either by a company or by
the American Federation Of Utility
Investors. soon TO be investigated by
Congress. that his investment is in
danger. Ways Of protesting 70 his
congressman are suggested.
Defends Patriotic Drive
Congressman charge that form let
tiers and kilograms are provided.
AT any rate. protest mail Is being
hauled 10 Capitol Hill by the truck
load and congressman are either
working their clerks overtime 20
answer il or are having il swept
out unopened according TO their in
dividual temperamentS.
There has never been a drive on
Congress IN which il was more diff
ficult TO distinguish between the
right Of petition and the political
lobby.
DIT Hugh S. Magil. president Of
the American Federation Of Utility
Investors. calls his campaign "a
great patriotic movement"
He says: If the democratic pro-
cess Of petitiOning Congress. con-
Stitutionally guaranteed as an in
alienable right Of citizens. is de-
nounced BY the trainers Of this bill.
then they have indeed arrived at a
new philosophy Of government IN
der which the brain truSter dictates
and the people are ignored"
Roosevelt Hits Propaganda
But Of the same campaign. Presi-
dent Roosevelt says:
Z have watched the use Of in
veStorS' money 10 make the investor
believe that the efforts OF govern
ment 70 protect him are designed 10
defraud him. I have seen much Of
the propaganda prepared against
such legiSlation-even down 10
mimeographed sheets o. instructions
for propaganda 70 exploit the most
far-fetched and fallaciouS fears.
7 have seen enough TO be as IN
impressed BY II as I was by the
similar effort 70 stir up the country
against the Securities Exchange bill
last spring"
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Come
Home TO ROOst.
DOLL SHOW HELD HERE
Norma HuSe Wins Honors at Taber-