Imperial Valley press., 1941-03-31

" "AOI1lINAT SAN, NAdAIAi -
There are more people with queer
jobs in Washington than perhaps
any other city in the country-not
government scientists making a
study of the love life of the frog
nor experts keeping tab on the rice
consumption in Puerto Rico, but
non official people. They operate on
the government in quasi-official
capacities keeping track OF what
the government may be doing in
anv particular field of endeavor
frcm 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 representatives
wouldn't be here.
There are. therefore, more WASH
ington listening posts and light
houses than traffic lights, and you
find these missionaries in all KINDS
of places. Some own their own
homes. and pretentious they are,
Commerce building just across from
the White House, daring visitors
to speculate on which runs the
country. Others operate more or
less from under the hat, one man
with a telephone and an expense
account in hotel room.
Between those two extremes are
hundreds of organizations with
Washington representatives., the
rich ones in modernistlc suites, the
not SO affluent ones crowded three
and four in a one room Office.
SMILE WHEN
YOU SAY THAT
ANY place but Washington lot
of these outfits might be called
plain rackets, but here you have TO
be careful of your language Tor
each and every representative is
convinced of the holiness OF MS
cause. 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 Stlr-
ring up someone back in the coun-
try.
Some of the work, however, IS
strictly on the up and up. Gov
eminent being as big as it Is, de-
partmental. 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 as
sociations.
Donald c. Blaisdell, a Depart
ment of Agriculture economist
loaned to the Temporary National
Economic comm tee, recently
brought up to date list of the
major organizations with lobbying
inclinations or potentialities, and
he ran the count up to 400, a
number as fearful in its implica-
tio-as as the old 400 of the social
register. Blaisdell calls them
pressure groups, a 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 Of
ficial names thus indicating the
broadneSs of their purposes and
operations. All, too. are intensely
patriotic in justifying their exist
ence, from the American Bankers
association What's best for the
nation 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
interests of their own members. 1t
is only when these interests run
counter to the best interests of the
majority Of the people that their
activities demand scrutiny. Too
many laws are made by the few
and for the few, and the inarticu-
late majority doesn't hear Of them
and might not understand them if
IL did.
Tie millions Of dollars sent by
these organizations are beyond