The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1939-08-25
TheCherry
|" Where with our
roo Little Ratchet we
tell the truth
about many things, sometimes pre-
fsundly. Sometimes nippantly,
sometimes recklessly.
What is a lobbyist?

According to a considerable section
of public opinion, an oily individual
who lures curiously weak or foolish
Senators and Congressman to "po-
litical fate worse than DEATH" Fills
their innocent minds with lies. Traps
them in compromising situations.
Buys them.
Or, slick gigolo, who does the
same job with chorus girls, cham
pagne, yachting parties, night clubs.
Or a beauteous social light, fairly
oozing charm, who dazzles the poor
hicks from the tall grass.
Deceiving the unsophisticated men,
bers of the Greatest Legislative
Body in the World until they dither
away, Willingly or otherwise, the in
terests of their constituents and the
country. And their own political jobs.
Hooey!
Lobbying has become, by the COM
plication of our public affairs, one of
the most useful and necessary public
services.
There are fake lobbyists like those
described. But they bear the same
relation to the real article that shys-
ters do to the legal profession.
In the first place, and obviously,
Congressman are not moronic boobs.
AS class, they know their way
around in one of the most complicated
professions in the world, politics. Or
they do not get to Washington in the
first place. Or stay there long.
They are elected by getting more
votes than their rivals. They stay
there by continuing to do so. No jot
for boob or a crook
True, there are political accidents
True, an occasional "tool of corrup
ton" fools the voters into electing
him. Usually once. The mortality is
terrific even among the able and con-
scientious.
Anyway, what is lobbying? If you
write letter to your Congressman
asking his vote for or against bill,
you are lobbying. But you are also,
by that token, performing one of the
fundamental functions of democracy.
Suppose thousand of you, butch
ers or bakers or candlestick-makers,
pick out your ablest advocate and send
him to Washington to say in your
name, what you have been saying in
your letters? What is the difference ?
No difference in ethics but lot in
effectiveness. Provided your lobbyist
knows his stuff and is on the level.
If he does not fulfil both qualifica-
tions Congressman will know it more
quickly than you.
So, in these feverish days, the in
terest best protected is that which
has the best case, most ably pre-
sented.
How about railroads? Highway
transportation Waterways? Hy-
droelectric? Aviation? High tar
iff? Low tariff :? Social betterment,
agriculture? And what have you ?
They all, workers and bosses, lobby
Because they have to.
If they don't, or they pick a sour
one, down comes their legislative
shanty.
AS a pertinent coincidence, the Civil
Liberties Committee of the Senate has
just charged the National Associa-
tion of Manufacturers, well known
for it's lobbying activities, with about
every trick in the deck of outworn
and discredited but sometimes still
strangely effective lobbying. Among
these charges is that of the subsidized
use of floods of inspired letters and
postcards. This time it is stated to
be largely devoted to the N. A. M S
pet phobia, collective bargaining.
Does labor lobby? Sure it does,
and effectively. 1t has to, in the face
of such things as the Civil Liberties
Committee is unearthing. The A. F.
of L., the railroad brotherhoods, the
big internationals, have legislative
representatives in Washington.
And they operate in the open. Their
effectiveness is in knowing all the
answers and working like dogs to see
that the Congressman also know them.
If they don't, or they peddle wrong
DOPE" their effectiveness fades fast
away. If they lack the qualifications
for this exacting service, they '1ast
quick" If they have them, they stay
year after year, becoming more ef-
fective as they become better known
SO Congressman welcome lobbyists
Not the cheap fxers or the unin-
formed or the downright crooks. But
raoj or+iplos Tho onac who arp more