Show I > THE CAPITAL SiRES SIllENSi i I Lady Lobbyists Who influence I Oar Legislators I BKECKLXEIDGE AS A MASHEK I Obdurate Wretches Who VTHI Not Listen to the Coolngs of the Fair Ones i WASHINGTON Juno Z 1S90 Special correspondence of THE HEUUDJ Hovr > far the inlluenca ol woman operates on legislation in this country can not even be estimated for such an estimation would t Lave not only to include the influence of legislators wives which doubtless is considerable con-siderable but it must go back and take in I the mothers at who o knees our lavMiiak 1 ers learned those earlier lessons which arc i f never qute forgotten But thero is a direct r di-rect foniiue influence which is tangible enough to form a basis for estimation or at I least for speculation i c A few weeks ago it was announced that because mere room was needed for the House committee on ways and means theE i the-E room in the south wing of tbo capitol which bad been used by the ladies as a place of 1 waiting for and meeting Representatives f to whom they had sent their cards would I t uavo 10 DO given UP 10 Luau committee f Easychairs and sofas were accordingly placed in one comer of Statuary hall as the old hall of Representatives is now called and here the ladies are provided with pages and the means of sending for f such members as they may wish to see I am informed that the change was made not 1 at the suggestion of the ways and means committee nor for its better accommodation accommoda-tion but at the instance of many ladiesuc i who had observed that women ol questionable question-able character were in the habit of coming > > to this room and using its dark corners as l places for meeting somewhat unobserved those members who were willing to meet them thereIn t there-In the bright light of Statuary hall and in the publicity of the corner set apart fort for-t them the ladies now find relief from this annoying association and as they sit end r wait for members they may study the ef E llgics of those great men who are memorialized memorial-ized here reflect upon the wickedness of Lewis Caars tailor and trust that for the peace of bis soul this statesmans coffin fits him better than his coat This waiting room accommodates merevi I ladies than the old one did since it is avery a-very desirable placo for those who are doing the capitol to stop and rest Being just at one side of the main routo of travel between the two wings of the building it gives a good view of the panorama of passw ing multitudes and Mr C H Ellis the venerable gentleman in charge is peculiarly peculi-arly courteous and painstaking in pointing out to the ladies such notables as may be passing Hero it is that the feminine lobbyist lob-byist congregate and exerciso their considerable consid-erable influence on the legislation of the republic The word lobbyist has come to be regarded re-garded as almost a term of reproach and when the name of woman is coupled with it we arc apt to think only oi that shorthaired short-haired long tongued boldfaced strident l voice creature who being neither man nor t woman is usually avoided by both But there arelobbyistsandlobbyists and among l those who come to this capitol very few of the feminine ones want in modesty gentleness gentle-ness or sweet persuasiveness These few I are bores the very worst of bores since I wearing the garb of woman they have to be treated with a show of courtesy But for tho most part the women who may be classed as lobbyists are respected by the i best members and treated with earnest consideration con-sideration In point of service Mrs Olive M Retch man is tho oldest I believe of the women L S f I ains OLIVE M mrrcnxAW now regularly engaged in lobbying in Washington For twentysix years she has been the selfelected champion friend and attorney of nil sorts of worthy claimants I claim-ants and while she has tirelessly labored through tho years for such as were other wise friendless and unaided she has stead I lastly refused to accept any commissions or remuneration in money for her work Jt is and over has been a labor of love the result of good principles earnestly adhered to and a boundless sympathy for tho un I ortunatcs or our race I am credibly in I formed that through her mediation no less than ten thousand pension claims have been adjudicated that in every case tho pen L Biouor has been or has been believed to be worthy and in need Yet this is but a portion t por-tion of Mrs Hctchmans work She has interested herself in behalf of thousands or claimants other than pensioners and in aU sorts of reforms of the general laws look log toward tho relief of oppressed classes She knows persoaally moro inllucntla men perhaps than any other women in I America and though her famo has not one ns far as that of many women who work for lesser ends but with more ostentation she has probably dono more in her quiet t practical way for tho really needy that most of those whoso names are familiar to i fr the tongues of this nation and tho world j If this bo an extravagant claim I have r I made it in a frame of mind quite free from V prejudice for I have no personal acquaintance acquaint-ance with tho lady I know her only by her P 1 works and I judge her only by a long record r F rec-ord of consistently good results a record which began in the hospitals mado uumcr I ous and frightful by our civil war and has a been continued through the years of peace 1 with unabated energy and faithfulness Of course Mrs Hutchinan is in comfortable circumstances financially No woman who was not could thus devote hercelf to others without living by the charity of friends She has a share of this worlds goods and is striving to see that thoso who have not be raised from their condition of distress In personal appearance Mrs Hetchman is a delicate fragilelooking lady whose snowy hair disputes tho question of ago with her clear eyes her vigorous tones and alert movements She is an earnest believer in that spiritual b spirit-ual science which has come to us from the Orient under the name of the Wisdom re 1i Ion and attributes her success in the practical work to which sho devotes herself her-self to the influence of tho other world with which sho claims continual though I restricted intercourse For this of course she is often called a crank but the sincerity sincer-ity of her faith and the trudy glorious re suits which she must be conscious of having I tl t hav-ing achieved give to her I have no doubt I it I the fortitude to bear all such epithets or k4 rather perhaps I ought to say raise her ton I i to-n height whereon fortitude is unnecessary j since the shafts of such raillery can not reach her there There Is another woman of whom I i should like to write a few words here Sho 1 is not now a lobbyist though for man 11 years abe was one I refer to Dr Mary Walker a woman who because she wears mans attire has long been jeered by thoso who let us in charity presume do noi know that she adopted this attire because in the ordinary dress of her sex she could not be as useful as sho wished to bo on the field of battlo and in tho field of hospitals where mew lay bleeding to death If Dr Mary Walker Is a crank or even if trouble real or fancied has at last disturbed the equilibrium of her mind does it follow that ho should be licld up through all tho years of piping hence as a subject for cheap and shelfworn wit because in time of awful war site went where skirts would have been an annoyance if not a positive obstruction ob-struction f There are dozens of women lobbyists whose faces are as familiar about tho capi I Ez 5 4 ASr 1t lt J 1J j n i 1 XI fJ i Jot fi I I 1 1 18 jl Oji1 D t 1 Ni fIf A J < IY ZJ 1 7 ft IK 5it 7 f t l to if t tti j i LI < I r iJJ J 1 1 1e r t I I f I ft i J t1 M 2 DU MART WALKER tel ns that of tho funny little woman in I orkscretv curls who has sold knicknacks 111 the House wing corridor ever since Cap ito hill vas a holo in the ground Prominent Promi-nent among these are Mrs Johnson Mrs sainuci and Charlotte Smith who devote hcmsclves to various reforms and work or glprv much more zealously than some of the male lobbyists labor for gold Indeed women lobbyists frequently do tho work for which men of tho profession get the pa > y and some of them work for no remuneration remu-neration but the glory of success There aro other women who have labored year after year upon special measures such as cmperanco reform women suffrage and hers still who have become familiar tig urcs in tho lobbies end committee rooms where they have through session after Oision told over and over again the stories or their claims against the government Among those who have waited patiently for what they deem to be justice to them elves und who have quietly laid their claims before Senator after Senator and congressman after congressman aro the wIdows of General Walling and General ulpatrick Mrs Walling a plain middle aged woman has been a most persevering visItor at the capitol day after day send ng her card to members only to receive ho unsatisfactory answer Busy in com nittee or not in or if a member could b 0 seen getting only a committal couldn and n courteous adieu from him A few weeks ace however Mrs Wallings daugh er a beautiful and attractive girl of t wcnty joined her mother in the weary watch and whether this fact had any ro ation to the main question or not it hap p cncd that Mrs Wailings pension was ery soon increased from t5Q to 100 Colonel Casey Young the wellknown ucrepresontative from Alabama a man who is as most southerners aro uniformly courteous and kind to all who come to hIm for help says it is as dangerous for a member of Congress to acquire a reputa tion of being a goodnatured sympathetic nan as to achieve the distinction of being a brute In the ono instance ho says ho is assailed with tears and in the other assaulted as-saulted with epithets and it need not asre I more than said that the tears aro much the more difficult to hold out against Then too if he be a man of reputed good nature ic will bo singled out by all the women lobbyists who come to Washingtonby hem and their sisters and their cousins and their auntsnot to speak of their sec ondcrop relations If a congressman wants to lead a tolerable toler-able life secure alike from hot feminine tears and hotter feminine vituperation ando t and-o escape from what is oven worse than either the extravagant attentions and unreasonable un-reasonable confidences of some women says Colonel Young ho must maintain a stolid neutrality he must retire within himself and pull down tho blinds A chat with a few of those women lobby i ists soon sets ono right ns to the character sties i of tho men who make our laws For I example one learns that while there mae r b ma-e other representatives who are as susceptible sus-ceptible to feminine influence as Mr Brcckinridge of Kentucky there is none whose manner is more pleasing to the ladles His politeness gentleness deference and i patience under all circumstances where women are concerned make him they tell me their especial favorite Why said I a pretty little lady who had but recently procured tho adjudication of a claim upon which she had long beet at work Mr I Breckinridgo could not help me ho told me 1 so In sush a perfectly lovely way that I fell a good deal more comforted by it than I die by the manner in which a certain other 11 congressman told me ho would help me This other man made me feel as if i were guilty of somo unpardonable rudeness in merely asking him to help me though he did help me very considerably Speaking of Mr Townsend of Colorado a little bevy of these women agreed that hi is j the handsomest man in the House but < insisted i that this lisrs a great responsibilitj upon him since as ono of them put it a handsome man in Congress must lire up to his beautythat is to say tho ladies mans are his mental and moral nature by the luster l of his eye and the classic cut of his nose The most obdurate men in the House according ac-cording to the women who have bon pressing pres-sing pension claims aro Messrs Stone ol Missouri Kilgore of Texas und Enloo ol Tennessee On one occasion not lout aeo these men were corraled in Statuary hall and all the wit lozic persuasiveness nd modest blandishments of several of these women WAre used upon them in tho inter ih I J G Jji It I c Lb f t il J Y IL J < Iv I rFJ t f I I I I Jr1 r 7 < f 1 I Jit t nnECrcixmnoE AS A MASHER est of a certain pension measure Whether the logic convinced or tho blandishment I persuaded does not appear in tho columns of the Congrtjtitonal jRccoid but that 01 teemed contemporary does set forth iho j seemingly relevant fact that not one of I these men was in his seat when tIle vote I upon tho measure In question was taken Did you celebrate your victory with a 1 j champagne dinner as men untlor the cir L j cumstnnces would have done I asked i No tho ladies answered wo didnt I I I even put these men on tho saints list but I we put them down as among the hopefcl I I ones and made them subjects of prayer f Among the members of the House inou j called for by temperance women arc Messrs Morse of Massachusetts Kerr of Iowa Picker of South Dakota and Stewart Stew-art of Georgia Mr Mudd tho Maryland i 1 I member who recently obtained his scat after a lone contest with Mr Cmpten is pavuyr dearly Ion his honors Ho is not t only importuned by men front his conveniently j I iently near slate but every time he poe is his noso out of tho houses ho is bcsoiped with women most of them wishing pay for property confiscated during tho war many of them demanding pensions and no inconsiderable incon-siderable number seeking places tho government gov-ernment employ for themselves or their relatives and when ho does not poke his nose out they poke their cards in Mr Mudd is to be pitied for more things than the name ho is striving to bear on to glory I Billy Mason of Illinois Is of course well liked by these ladies He is always i cheerful and has learned that by means of jest ho can sometimes dispose of a very erious and perplexing < matter Why said one of tho ladles I have I CALLED FOR HELP bad him start and run and call for help when he saw mo coming But you cant bo angry at him you know Frank Lawler of Chicago used to be much sought by the lady lobbyists but his Brothermembers made so much fun of him for having so many lady visitors that he turned a cold shouldcd upon tho sex and is now described by the ladies as every bit as hard to get at as any of them Representative Hopkinsthe ladies says i say-s not much given to palaver but always sees them when ho is 1 no too busy and treats them exactly as he would treat men who came to him on the same business busi-ness We always know exactly where to llnd him they agreed for he tells us just what he will do and just what he wont do and theres tho end of it Yes said ono elderly lady and if i the rest of them would be as outspoken wo should save a great deal of our own timed an time-d not bother them so often WILLIS B HAWKINS |