The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-03-29

GU8UW eTIllSIlb AIlhy bO doing in any particular field of endeavor from aviation to birth control to coal exporting. All these activities they report fully to someone who is interested and there are apparently plenty of people about the country who are interested, or their representa- tives wouldn't be here.
 There are therefore more Wash ington listening posts and light houses than trafflc lights, and you find these missionaries in all kinds of places Some own their own homes, and pretentious they are, too like the U. s. Chamber of Coi1l- merce building just across from the White House, daring visitors to spec ulate on which runs the country. Others operate more or less from under the hat, one man with tele- phone and an expense account in a hotel room.
 Between those two extremes are hundreds of organizations with Washington representatives" the rich ones in modernistic suites, the not SO affluent ones crowded three and four in a one room office.
 SMILE WHEN
 YOU SAY THAT
 Any place but Washington, a lot of these outfits might be called plain rackets, but here you have to be careful of your language for each and every representative is convicned of the holiness of his cuse. You even have to smile, stranger, when you call him lob- byist, but lobbyists they all are, for though some may not know more than a congressman apiece, the technique of lobbying now is not by direct pressure, but by stirring up someone back in the country.
 Some of the work, however, is strictly on the up and up. Gov- ernment being as big as 1t is, de- partinental, commission and bu- reau regulations have to be fol- lowed closely from day to day, then interpreted and reported back to trade papers, industries or associations.
 Donald o. Baisdell, 8 Depart ment of Agriculture economist loaned to the Temporary National Economic Committe, recently brought up to dats e list of the major organizations with lobbying inclinations or potentialities, and he ran the count up to 400, a number as fearful in It's implica- tions as the old 400 of the social register. Blaisdell calls them pressure groups" Q polite name which might be adopted with profit by almost any outfit having shake-down or hold-up ambitions, but which doesn't begin to tell the story of their activities in Washington.
 BIG SPENDERS
 ON THE LOOSE
 More than half of the 400 have the word American or National or United States as part of their ofii- cial names, thus indicating the broadness of their purposes and op- erations. All, too, are intensely pa- triotic in justifying their existence, from the American Bankers As- sociation Whats best for the na- ton is best for banking" to the American Federation of Labor's ceaseless campaign to maintain the American standard of living"
 All organizations are defensible to the extent that they protect the in- terests of their own members. It is only when these inerests run coun- ter to the best interests of the ma jority of the people that their ac- tivities demand scrutiny. Too many laws are made by the few and for the few, and the inarticulate rna- jority doesn't hear of them and might not understand them if 1t did.
 TOP sPENDERs
 RUN INTO MILLIONS
 The millions of dollars spent by these organizations are beyond computation. Only some of the most fortnight have dared open their books, but on the records are expenditures of $l,A00000 by the National Association of Manufac- turers in 1897 and $l00 million by the Association of American Rail- roads in the 20 years from 1918 to 1888. Those are the top spend. CTS, but taking any common de- nomination you choose and multi plying 1t by 400 gives you an alarming total.
 To 1t must be added the fees for individual lawyers, fixers, real and phony, unregistered special repre- sentatives, defeated politicians with a pull and the knowledge that the most important work done by Con- gress is not on the floor, but in offices and subcommittee rooms.
 One of Blaisdell's recommenda- tions is for bringing the records of lobbyists into the open. Maybe it's an idea. We have required all foreign propagandists to register with the Department of State, so that their activities may be checked. But we are allergic to home brew propaganda, and the sooner we put the labels on the bottles, the better 1t may be for mir own ii1nardg.