Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 75, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 December 1914 — REGISTRATION OF LOBBYISTS. [ARTICLE]

REGISTRATION OF LOBBYISTS.

There is no doubt that the people of Indiana demand that the legislative lobbyists step up and register. 1 he articles that have been appearing in 1 lie News this week on legislative lobbies, their operations in Indiana, and the restraints in other states, show that Indiana has become conspicuous in the failure to bring her lobbyists under control. The report of the Marion county grand jury, and the operations of the lobbies in the past, make the situation notorious. it is remarkable that the people of the state should permit any men to try to influence legislation and the enactment of laws of a public nature without asking those men, and the interests behind them, to declare who and what they are, and why they are interested. It seems reasonable to many other states, also, to require them to state how much money they are spending.

The demand for such declarations is not impracticable—identification " orks in other states. It is not a new idea, to be applied by the state. We have only to turn to the safeguards which the state throws round the courts. Lawyers, for example, coming into court, must have been admitted to practice, and it is known for whom they do appear and for what purpose. If a lawyer violates the rules he is debarred. This is what Massachusetts, Maryland, Wisconsin, Ohio and other states are requiring oi lobbyists, and what Indiana should demand as one of the remedies for her bad legislative conditions. Registration and similar laws affecting lobbyists, are designed to raise such employment to the dignity of a legitimate calling, and to eliminate the crooked elements. Persons or interests affected by legislation, have the right to be heard, but the peopje have the right to know who is trying to affect their legislation, and the methods employed. The legislature wil have to face this issue when it meets in January, it can not be dodged, as in the past when the lobby has defeated all measures to control "it.—lndianapolis News.