s making himself felt. He did not
intend to stultify himself, even for Graham's good "friends." I, of
course, went along with him, rejoicing.

He had another bill in hand (House Bill 235) to raise the tax on large
foreign insurance companies so as to help replenish the depleted
treasury of the state. Governor Thomas had been appealing for money;
the increased tax was conceded to be just, and it would add at least
$100,000 in revenue to the public coffers. Gardener handled it well in
the Senate, and--though we were indirectly offered a bribe of $2,500 to
drop it--he got it passed and returned it to the Lower House. He had
two other bills--one our "anguish of mind" provision and the second a
bill regulating the telephone companies; but he was not able to move
them out of committee. The opposition was silent but solid.

It became my duty to watch the two bills that we had been able to get
as far as the House calendar on final passage--to see that they were
given their turn for consideration. The jury bill came to the top very
soon, but it was passed over, and next day it was on the bottom of the
list. This happened more than once. 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. He had already voted in favour of the bill. But--to anticipate
somewhat the sequence of events--I saw Wilbur F. Cannon, in the
confusion