And once it disappeared from the
calendar altogether. The Clerk of the House, when I demanded an
explanation, said that it was an oversight--a clerical error--and put
it back at the foot. I began to suspect jugglery, but I was not yet
sure of it.
One day while I was on this sentry duty, a lobbyist who was a member of
a fraternal order to which I belonged, came to me with the fraternal
greeting and a thousand dollars in bills. "Lindsey," he said, "this is
a legal fee for an argument we want you to make before the committee,
as a lawyer, against that insurance bill. It's perfectly legitimate.
We don't want you to do anything except in a legal way. You know our
other lawyer has made an able argument, showing how the extra tax will
come out of the people in increased premiums"--and so on. I refused
the money and continued trying to push along the bill. In a few days
he came back to me, with a grin. "Too bad you didn't take that money,"
he said. "There's lots of it going round. But the joke of it is, I
got the whole thing fixed up for $250. Watch Cannon." I watched
Cannon--Wilbur F. Cannon, a member of the House and a "floor leader"
there.
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