Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. IV.djvu/266

224 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS It is well known that every revision of the tariff in the past half a century has been accompanied by a strong lobby of the interests which had com mercial or industrial issues at stake. After the Underwood bill had gone to the Senate, President Wilson had occasion to inform the Senate that he had information that "a numerous, industrious and insidious lobby" was at work. The President s statement, which aroused the country, was, in full, as follows: "I think that the public ought to know the extra ordinary exertions being made by the lobby in Washington to gain recognition for certain altera tions of the tariff bill. Washington has seldom seen so numerous, so industrious, or so insidious a lobby. The newspapers are being filled with paid advertisements calculated to mislead the judgment of public men not only, but also the public opinion of the country itself. There is every evidence that money without limit is being spent to sustain this lobby and to create an appearance of a pressure of public opinion antagonistic to some of the chief items of the tariff bill. It is of serious interest to the country that the people at large should have no lobby and be voiceless in these matters while great bodies of astute men seek to create an arti ficial opinion and to overcome the interests of the public for their private profit. It is thoroughly worth the while of the people of this country to