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Show j ! Reflations of an x-$peaker ' 1 nv AN BX-SrBAKER OF A STAT13 m l pi Art LEGISLATURE & I (Copyright. IMS. by Joseph B. Bowles.) ft ' up-to-dftto Leglelaturc-i have abandoned 1 I the old-fashloncil methods of making easy 1 one)'. The law-bulldcrs who are so mod-J mod-J t "L that they bclonp to tho "up-to-tho- ! mlnuio" class, and who get themaclvcs 1 tlfCtcd to serve the jcop!o In general an-51 an-51 Kmbly, with their own dcllnltlon of the !; ""serve," do not boodlo, It thoy boo-1 boo-1 dla at nil. In the clumsy, hand-up style of tAme years ago 2 i This mtxlernlslng of the great game of I i rrit has rcaPy been of public benefit, for I frere Is not to much bribery In State Lcg-I Lcg-I 'i i.Hturea as there was less thun ten years '"' tea Thu old-time methods of sandbag-S sandbag-S 3 ems have given way to the new methoo I -1 Y protection; tho former "rough work' I ? lis been displaced by smooth practices. It 5 i nT longer Is possible to deilnltcly locate a bwdler by his voting record, for some of 1 ; turnout finished ratals who ever went r 1 to a State capital to make laws and mon- j jj- hnve unimpeachable- records In tho bal- - ' 1CTcam'vk'ork has taken tho placo of lndl- rldual efforts; the ayndlcuto has pushed 2 1 out tho single man. Tho new way of "do- inc" business In State Legislatures Is to y ? prevent sandbagging bills from getting jfl 't Ut committees; tho corporations aro un-R un-R "; protected theso days, not menaced. H I In former days, when tho "boys" woro '. In need of ready money, It was tho prac-bs prac-bs ' lice to Introduce several bills which would ii? t have tho offect of bringing to the State- house the legislative agents of tho thrcnt-! thrcnt-! tned Interests. Tho agents would then CJ '' dve up more or less handsomely, and tho I :! -borg," their fortunes repaired, would J -' We their corporative prey alone for a I ' time. Boodlo bills then were the rule; to-! to-! day thev aro tho exception. 19 i u ' ' 1 ' Long beforo a Legislature convenes tho '1 ' (indicate, composed of holdover Sonators I and Senators and Hopresentatlves-clcct, I i etis together and its members lay out fl tbslr campaign "When tho Legislature. I neets certain Interests have been selected X i kWch Ihe syndicate has agreed to pro- 1 tVct; that Is to keep out of tho hands of J! t the sandbaggcrs and petty grafters. For h : this service the Interests In quostlon ) rromUe to pay to tho members of the i indicate certains sums of money, This iwj ( trransenient Is something llko the con-a con-a tract which Chinese doctors maker with their patients, so long as tho doctor keeps I Itt patient well he Is paid, when the pa-fi pa-fi ? tlflfalls Bick tho payment stops. T t &s kind of a protective syndicate, of m l takes In the ruling members of i bid houses, although It works well when U Jit one 'branch of tho Legislature Is rep-5 rep-5 j ruentcd In the syndicate. Tho cotorlo a A rjnnot prevent tho Introduction of sand- ; Upglng bills, but such measures die a dell de-ll ) rred death tho Instant they reach the ) ccmmlttee-room. I say "deserved" death, 5 1 ?or even' sandbagging bill should bo a killed. By throttling suoh mooaures tho m a ipdlcato actually performs a public ser- ! Nov, hero is where the clever work of i - the jyndicatc comes In, It will not .stand r letween its clients and meritorious meas-Ti meas-Ti . vres which might Injure them Tho syn- i dlfate, In short, says to its clients: "We 111, for a consideration, stand between ou and tho petty grafter. AVo will guard Jou Trom harm when such harm Is threatened threat-ened by men who seek to Injure vou for corrupt purposes. But wo will not pro-r?J?'ou pro-r?J?'ou w,1"n tno re,lI Interests of tho people aro Involved. When honest bills, tthoso effect is prejudicial to your Interests, Inter-ests, aro introduced, you must look out for yourHelves." Corporations, who long have been regarded re-garded as "meat" by dishonest members or a Legislature do not fear honest efforts ef-forts to control or limit them, but they dread the bleeding by boodlers and graft-, graft-, ,wh,n tho syndlcato comes forward for-ward with its proposition to keep off tho leeches, tho corporations gladly accept, pay out a lump sum. charge it to legal -ervlces or Incidental expenses and figure they are ahead bf tho game. In order to mako good Its pledges the iyndlcato must have undisputed control of at least one branch of the Legislature. It 11 no,$ necessary to havo the Speaker of tho House or tho Governor of tho Stato in harmony with tho syndlcato. for Its I 7Vork J2t0 Prevent, not forward, legislation. legisla-tion. Tho syndlcato works on the prlncl-plo prlncl-plo of negation, that means no bills passed. When I was Speaker a syndicate such a2 1 Llavo described, prevented ovory bill of a hold-up or eandbagglng naturo from getting past tho doors of committeo-rooms. committeo-rooms. Yet tho very leaders of that syndicate syn-dicate were tho leaders in forwarding public scrvlco bills which were opposed, in every particular, to tho selfish interests of Its clients. Ana tho record of that general gen-eral assembly marked it ns one of tho most efficient for real public good over held in the State. Tho question arises: "Aro such methods meth-ods as tho syndlcato employs boodllng?" To boodle or graft Is to take money for votes. The syndlcato Likes money to prevent pre-vent voting. A Stato Senator who belonged be-longed to :-. syndlcato contended that ho and his associates must not, should not and could not bo classed with boodlors. Ho. said: "We aro reformers; we havo cleaned out tho Senate. There aro no graftors on our sldo of tho fence. By pre'entlng graft we have killed tho game. Slnco wo have bossed tho Job there hasn't been a boodlo bill got out of committee; thoro hasn't been a sandbagging resolution which got post its Introduction stage." Sorao of tho "boys." however, whose perquisites were curtailed by tho operations opera-tions of tho syndicate, took another viow of tho situation. Ono of them put it this way: "Tho protectlvo committee are hogs. They have all the graft, nnd nono of us can even get a look-in. They havo killed tho game for evory one but themselves, and It will not bo long before they kill the gamo for themselves." If I were asked: "What Is the root of tho boodle evil In lhC Legislature?" I should reply: "The self-interest of prominent prom-inent mon and the civic indifference of tho respectable citizen." Boodle Is a two-handed game, and more often than la suspected tho llrst lead. Is mado by men who stand at the head of .'inanclaJ, commercial or manufacturing affairs. Such men want special privileges. They must go to tho Lcglslaturo for them. Special privileges, without adequate compensation com-pensation to tho public, aro wrong. The big business men figure that it is cheaper to pay money for votes than to pay money into the public treasury far the special privilege. They have that thought when thoy go to tho Stato capital with their bills, and they begin to buy votes at once. Such men are of tho bl-standard kind: they have ono rule for their private and another for their public business. Thoy would not dual a customer, steal a penny or break a contract. Yet they will deliberately delib-erately go out to buy votes, and make such purchases in a methodical, business llko way. In short, they look upon ovory man who ha3 a scat In a State Legislature, Legisla-ture, City Council or county board as a purchasable commodity, and their consciences con-sciences are so well trained that they never whisper when they commit tho crlino of briber'. Such conditions could not last long If the so-called respectable citizen would shako off his civic indifference for two elections, the second Immediately following follow-ing the llrst. Any tlmo tho highly respectable respect-able citizen gets busy, and gets busy the right way, the briber and his tool In tho Legislature aro in trouble. But tho dishonest dis-honest lavmakcrs havo no real fear of a general awakening. They know that tho ppasm called public indignation seldom lasts over night, for tho public Is a lazy animal when it comes to exorcising Its civic duties. So when tho agitation arrives, ar-rives, the boodlor simply lies low, waits for the storm to blow over, then sneaks out of his cyclono collar and starts In to muko up for lost tlmo. I havo attempted, in this scries of papers, pa-pers, to show now partisan politics, factional fac-tional strife, local conditions, sectional Jealousies and personal ambitions moved as factors in tho great problem of legislation, legisla-tion, but the most powerful of all factors for ovll is tho supremo selfishness and utter lock of patriotism of men listed as "prominent citizens." Such men stand ready to sond members of Legislatures to perdition so they can got from tho Stato somo things they havo no right to. Up to date, reform organizations, voters' leagues, citizens' committees and llko bodies havo directed their efforts to reforming re-forming Legislatures. Thoy are working on wrong lines. They should begin their work for tho uplifting of public morals by reforming tho men who head our great Industrial In-dustrial and commercial institutions, and tho best way to reform some is to send them to tho penitentiary. When laws are passed which will punish the vole-buyer twlco as severely as tho vote-seller and which will permit any vote-sellor to go free who will testify against a vote-buyer, you will find boodllng becoming a mighty unpopular game In Genernl Assemblies. I shall never forget tho confession made to mo by a fellow-member who had gone tho downward road. Ho lived In a county adjoining mine Ho was looked upon ns an exemplary citizen. Never a word of scandal was connected with him, yet he, in time, became a. self-confessed boodlcr. Wo wore riding a country road together, when he told mo how ho fell from honesty. hon-esty. Ho said. "I was asked tho other day to sound you. They want to got you In tho game, and I promised to help them got vour vote If 1 get It for them I get $&00. Do you know who It Is asked me to talk to you'" Ho then gavo mo tho name of one of tho best-known lawyers In the principal city In my State, a man who had been honored by elevation to the bench. Continuing, my friend said: "It is that same d d rascal who got me frst, J hnd no Intention of getting wrong when I went to the Legislature. I had enough money of my own. and did not caro for, more. But soon after tho House met I fell In with some -fellows, and wo had some good times, and good times cost money. . I found that I was spending more than I should, but when I began to cut down expenses yds lawyer came to mo with n nrnnosltlon. He sntd ho tvantod a good rellablo man in the House simply to watch things nnd report to him when certain cer-tain bl-ls can o up, l oitcreu ie tno place, and with it a good salary. He said n did not care how I voted; ho did not wnnt my vote but my information. So 1 said 'all right,' and for a month did nothing noth-ing but cash tho checks he sent me. for there was nothing doing In his line "Ono day a bill came up for passatrc. and my boss appeared on tho scene. Ho sent for me and I went to hl3 room and he told mo ho needed my help and mv vote to pass that bill. So 1 said 'all right and went out and hustled, and we put the bi through. Tho next day somo of the fellows came to mo nnd said tho lawver had to d them I would fix It up with them, and whllo they were in my room another fellow came In with a package. I opened It and found it wa3 a package of currency and thero I was caught, with tho goods on "Now, what could I do or say? Those fellows knew I had been running errands for tho lawyer Ho had told them I was his agent, and Just ot tho right tlmo he sends the money. Well, I asked each one how much ho was to get and paid him then and there. It was the rawest thing J ever saw, but no one ever peeped, and when I had paid up all I found thero was $500 left. I telegraphed the lawyer: 'What shall I do with tho balance?' and he wired back: 'Keop it yourself.' So I kept it, nnd after that It was easy money all tho time." And that la the simple, true story of how a dpcent, although weak, man was trapped and mado a boodlcr, and tho man who wrought the curse today stands well up In tho head of his profession. |