The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1939-08-24
The Cherry Tree
Where We Hutchet Out
The Truth
. LOBBYIST DEFINED
. DOES LABOR LOBBY?
. BILLS 'IN THE HOPPER"
. REAL LOBBYIST
What is a lobbyist?


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 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 interests of
their constituents and the country.
And their own political jobs. Hooey!
X x x
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 re-
lation to the real article that shysters
do to the legal profession.
In the first place, and obviously,
Congressman are not moronic boobs.
AS a 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 job
for boob or a crook.
True, there are political accidents
True, an occasional "tool of cor
ruption" fools the voters into electing
him. Usually once The mortality is
terrific even among the able conscien-
tious.
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, butchers
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 eff
fectiveness. Provided your lobbyist
knows his stuff and is on the level.
If he does not fulfill 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 presented.
How about railroads? Highway
transportation Water ways? Hydro
electric? +? Aviation? High Tariff? Low
Tariff? Social betterment, agricul
ture? 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 permanent coincidence, the
Civil Liberties Committee of the Sen
ate has just charged the National AS
sociation of Manufacturers, well
known for its lobbying activities, with
about every trick in the deck of out
worn 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
MANS pet phobia, collective bargain
ing.
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 away.
If they lack the qualifications for this
exacting service, they "last quick" If
they have them, they stay year after
year, becoming more effective as they
become better known.
X X
SO Congressman welcome lobbyists.
Not the cheap fixers or the uniform
ed or the downright crooks. But the
real articles. The ones who are more
able to present the case than anyone
else.
When every session of Congress
considers legislation which may make
or break great industries or big
groups of people or imperil the
country itself. When thousands of
bills, dealing with every interest of
l20,00O,0OO people, are "in the hop
per" each session. When one bill may
appropriate more money than the
whole expense of government few
years ago. When most Congressman
put in two forty-hour weeks every
seven days answering correspondence,
hunting jobs, running errands for in
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