polling-places, with the calm and quiet with which men deposit
their ballots today. For now every ballot is numbered and no one
is permitted to take a single copy from the room. Every voter
must prepare his ballot in the booth. And every polling-place is
an island of immunity in the sea of political excitement.

While the people were thus assuming control of the ballot, they
were proceeding to gain control of their legislatures. In 1890
Massachusetts enacted one of the first anti-lobby laws. It has
served as a model for many other States. It provided that the
sergeant-at-arms should keep dockets in which were enrolled the
names of all persons employed as counsel or agents before
legislative committees. Each counsel or agent was further
compelled to state the length of his engagement, the subjects or
bills for which he was employed, and the name and address of his
employer.

The first session after the passage of this law, many of the
professional lobbyists refused to enroll, and the most notorious
ones were seen no more in the State House. The regular counsel of
railroads, insurance companies, and other interests signed the
proper docket and appeared for their clients in open committee
meetings.

The law made it the duty of the Secretary of the Commonwealth to
report to the law officers of the State, for prosecution, all
those who failed to comply with the act. Sixty-seven such
delinquents were reported the first year. The Grand Jury refused
to indict them, but the number of recalcitrants has gradually
diminished.