ul members are sent for at the last moment to labor with their
representatives, and to assure them that the sentiment of their
districts is in favor of the measure advocated by the railroads.
Telegrams pour in upon the unsuspecting members. Petitions in favor of
the proposed measure are also hastily circulated among the more
unsophisticated constituents of members sensitive to public opinion, and
are then presented to them as an unmistakable indication of the popular
will, although the total number of signers forms a very small percentage
of the total number of voters of the districts in which these petitions
were circulated. A common method employed by the railroad lobby in Iowa
has been to arouse, by ingenious arguments, the prejudices of the people
of one part of the State against those of another, or of one class
against those of another class; for instance, the East against the West,
or that portion of the State the least supplied with railroad facilities
against that which is best supplied; or the river cities against the
interior cities; or the country people against the city people; or the
farmer against the merchant, and always artfully keeping in view the
opportunity to utilize one side or the other in their own interest.

Another powerful reinforcement of the railroad lobby is not unfrequently
a subsidized press and its correspondents. The party organs at the
capital are especially selected to defend as sound measures, either from
a partisan or non-partisan standpoint, legislation of questionable
propriety desired by the railroads. When such measures are advocated by
party organs, partisan members, either from fear or prejudice, are apt
to "fall into line," and then to rely upon these organs to defend their
action. Editors, reporters and correspondents are even retained as
active lobbyists and give the railroad managers' cause the benefit of
their prestige. To such an extent has the abuse of the press been
carried that a considerable number of its unworthy representatives look
upon railroad subsidies as legitimate perquisites which they will exact
through blackmailing and other means of compulsion if they are not
offered. A case may be cited here to illustrate their mode of operation,
as well as the ethics of railroad lobbies. During one of the sessions of
the Iowa legislature a newspaper correspondent came in possession of
some information which reflected severely on the railroad lobby. He made
his informatio