OCR Text |
Show , NOT ALL ROSES. That the life of tho average mem-berxof mem-berxof Congress is not beset with roses Is easily dlsccrnablo from recitals of pressures brought to bear when certain cer-tain legislation directly affecting constituents con-stituents comes up for consideration. Certain Interests urge the passage of certain legislation, whilo other Interests In-terests the same locality send letters and telegrams to their senator or congressman con-gressman avowing their displeasure and containing much that might bo construed as covert threats that the M. C.'s return to Washington might bo endangered in certain events. Tho recent disposition to cut out free passes on the railroads gave raise to no little agitation throughout tho country and the result of this attempted at-tempted move Is set forth rather pleasantly by Collier's, which sajs. "Tho Committee of the Wholo of tho United States Senate, in the consideration consid-eration of the Rate bill, adopted an amendment prohibiting the Issuance of passes. The "kicks from homo" were so cffectlvo that tho amendment was materially modified In tho Senate, to tho end that certain classes of cltUcns, among them those who are In the railroad business, and thoso whoso calling is religion, should continue in their enjoymentof free transportation. So liberal was tho Senate In Its maturcr deliberation that onc-Ulthof the entire population of the United States was excepted from the provl-slons provl-slons of tho antl-pass amendment. Then tho conferees of tho two houses did a surprising thing. They struck out all of tho excepted classes, thereby leaving a prohibition against tho giving giv-ing of free transportation which was drastic In character. Enter now the legislative representative of tho rail-road rail-road engineers, liremen, trainmen, and switchmen.- Hardly had the report re-port of the conferees been submitted than a message wont to every local lodge of the four great labor organizations organiza-tions Over seven thousand tele-grams tele-grams wcre;sent. The Instructions wero that tho lodges, or preferably the Individual members, wero to wire to their Jepresentatlves and senators, protesting against tho denial to them of the free-pass privilege. As a iciult, Washington was swamped. Never was there such a telegraphic protest. Messages began to pour In, and they could not be handled. Operators Wero borrowed from .Baltimore and Philadelphia. Phila-delphia. The wires tp the Capitol could not transmit , Uie telegrams. Messenger boys boarded street cars with bunches of yellow envelopes. One boy carried over a thousand. The pages of both houses were unable to deliver tho messages. In order to keep paco with tho bombardment, the telegrams had to be. put In the post-oflico post-oflico boxes of members of Congress, whence they were drawn out In lots or from twenty-tlve to one undrcd and fifty. One senator received re-ceived a message signed by one hundred hun-dred railroad men all constituents. Six thousand of these telegrams arrived ar-rived tho tlrst day, and the number during tho entire "engagement" was estimated at twenty thousand. If public-spirited citizens of the country, unorganized and without a legislative agent to give them, would telegraph Individually to their reprcscnatlvcs and senators, In order to secure the passage of any bill drawn In the public interest, Congress would not dare withstand this pressure from the source of its pocr. Any measure in the Interest of tho people at large could bo forced through Congress In this way. But telegrams are moro likely to be used for tho other purpose. |