Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 May 1884 — “THE THIRD HOUSE.” [ARTICLE]

“THE THIRD HOUSE.”

It* Good and Bad Members—The Remark, Experience of a dose Observer o I Its IVorUtnjti During a Dong Residence a ll Washington. V *7T u [Correspondence Rochester Democrat.] No city upon the American continent has s larger floating population than Washington, It i 6 estimated that during the sessions ot Congress 25,000 people, whose homes are in various parts of this and other countries, make this city their 1 place of residence. Some come here, attracted by the advantages the city offers for making the acquaintance of public men; others'have various claims which they wi‘h to present, while the great majority gather here, as the crows flock to the carrion, for the sole purpose of getting a mors :! at the publie crib. The latter class, as a general thing, originate the many schemes which terminate in vicarious bills, all of which are either directed at the publfc treasury or toward that revenue which the black-mailing of corporations or private enterprises may bring. _ - A While walking down Pennsylvania avenue the other day, I met Mr. William M. Ashley, formerly of your city, whose long residence here has made him unusually well acquainted' with the operations of the lobby. Having made my wants in this particular direction known, in answer to an interrogative, Mr Ashley said: f “Yes, during my residence here I have be come well acquainted with the workings o » the ‘Third House,’ as it is termed, and eoulr tell you of numerous jobs which, like ‘Heathen Chinee,’ are peculiar. “You do not regard the lobby, as a body' vicious, do you S'" V “Not necessarily so; there are good anbad mon comprising' that body; yet ther have been times when it must be admitte that the combined power of the ‘Third House has overridden the will of the people. Tb., bad influence of the lobby,can be seen in tlZ 1 numerous blood-bills that are introduced “ r every session.” sh “But how can these be discovered?’’ “Easily enough, to the person who h'. ■ made the thing a study. I can detect thr* 1 at a glance.’’ vh “Tell me, to what bills do you refer?” “Well, take the annual gras bills, for stance. They are introduced for the purpe of bleeding the Washington Gas Light Co. pany. They usually result in an investig i ing committee which never amounts to ai c thing more than a draft upon the putPt treasury for the expenses of the in vest U tion. Another squeeze is the abattoir bit as they are called. These, of course, a fought by the butchers and market me The first attempt to force a bill of this c' serlption was in 1877, when a promine- ( Washington politician offered a fabulous su for the franchise.” 11l “Anything else in this line that you thim T of, Mr. Ashley?” f 1 “Yes, there's the job to reclaim the Potir mac flats; which, had it become a law, woul . have resulted in an enormous steal. Th work is now being done by the Governmen itself, and will rid the place of that malarir 1 atmosphere of which we hear so much out side the city.” 0 “During your residence here have you ex£ perienced the bad results of living in thi. climate?” —.—— ——b “Well, while I have not at all times en joyed goed be ilth, I am certain that the difculty which laid me up so long was not malarial. It was something that had troubled me for years. A shooflng, stinging pain that, at times attacked different parts of my bady ’ One day my rigbtarm and leg would torture' me with pain, there would be great redness, heat, anfl swelling of the parts; ant} perhaps the next day the left arm and leg! would be simi.arly affected. Then again it would locate in some particular part of my body and produce a tenderness which would] well nigh drive me frantic. There would be weeks at a time that 1 would bo afflicted with an intermitting kind of pain that would co.ue on every afternoon and leave me comparatively free from pain suffering the balance of the twenty-four hours. Then T would have terrible paroxysms of pain coming on at any time during the day or night, when I would bo obliged to lie upon my back for hours ar;d keep as motionless as possible. Every time I attempted to move a chilly sensation would pass over my body, or I would faint from hot flashes. I suffered from a spasmodic contraction of the muscles and a soreness of the back and bowels, and even my eyeballs became sore and distressed me greatly whenever I wiped my face. I became ill-tempered, peevish, fretful, initable, and desperately despondent.” “Of course you consulted the doctors regarding your difficulty?” “Consulted them? well I should say 1 did. Some told me I had neuralgia; others that I had inflammatory rheumatism, for which there was no cure; that I would be afflicted all my life, and that time alone would mitigate my sufferings.” “ But didn’t they try to relieve your miseries?” “ Yes, they vomited and pbysiced me, blistered and bled me, plastered and oiled me, sweat, steamed and everything but froze me, but without avail.” • “But how did you finally recover?” “1 had a friend living in Michigan who had been afflicted in a similar way aDd had beei' cured. He wrote me regarding his recovery ani advised me to try the remedy which cured blur I procured a bottle and commenced its use taking a tablespoonful after each meal anat bed time. 1 had used it about a weoH when 1 noticed a decrease of the soreness e,, the joints and a general feeling of relief, persevered in its use and finally got so'l could move around without limping, when r told my friends that it was Warner’s Safj Rheumatic Cure that had put me on my feet. “And do you regard your cure as pei(, manent?" “Certainly. I haven't been so well in year' as I am now, and although 1 have been But' jeeted to frequent and severe changes o* weather this winter, I have not felt the firs ' intimation of the return of my rheumatif trouble.” ~ , ' 4

“Do you object to toe publication of thia interview, Mr. Ashleyf* “Not at all, sir. I look aipon it as a duty I owe my fellow creatures to alleviate their sufferings so far as I am able, and any communication regarding my symptoms and cure that may be sent to me at 50 i Maine avenue will receive prompt and caretul attentten.’’ . —L ■— ' “Judging from vnnr recital. Mr. Ashley. there must be wonderful curative properties about this medicine ‘.‘lndeed, there is, sir, for no man suffered more nor longer than did! before this remedy gave me relief.” “To go back to the orignal subject, Mr. Ashley, I suppose you see the same familiar faces about the lobby session after session:” “No, not so much so as you might think. New faces are constantly seen and old ones disappear. The strain upon lobbyists Is neo-e-sarlly very great, and when you add tc this the demoralizing effect of late hours and intemperate habits and the fact that they are after found out in their steals, their pearance can eas'ly be accounted for.” “What proportion of these blood-bills are successful!” “A very small percentage, sir. Notwithstanding the power and influence of the lobby, but few of these vicious measures pass. Were they successful it would be a sad commentary upon Our system of government, and would virtually annlbi’ate one branch of it. Tbe great majority of them are either reported adverseliy or smothered in committee by the watchfulness and loyalty

of our Congressmen.”

J. E. D.