The New York herald., 1869-04-06
The Political aud Material Corruption Of
the Country.

the Country.
There is a marked difference between the
present time and the period just previous to
our war. In 1860 the man who became
marked in political or business immortality was
held up to public scorn and obloquy. Not so
to-day He who defrauds the government, his
business associates, or disgraces his constltu-
ents in Congress, is looked at with admiration
and as bright exemplar worthy of imitation.
The man who a few years since stole a few
hundred dollars from our City Council and
called down the wrath of every citizen may
now plunder the nation of millions and boast
of the honors which he wins in the exercise of
his peculiar ability.
The Union Credit Pacific Mobilier Company,
whose dirty face we tried to wash little yes
terday, is among the first of the gigantic
swindling combinations whose acts are now
having their natural rebound. The stagnant
mass of corruption which always follows in
the wake of war came upon us in the ratio of
the gigantic material we hurled upon the rebel
lion. The whole evil elements of the country
found full play and plenty to feed upon. How
well it fed let two thousand six hundred mil
lions of national debt answer How well it
still saps our prosperity let three hundred mil
lions of annual expenditures demonstrate.
Our great struggle for national preservation
was undertaken in the loftiest sentiment of
patriotism. The first year of the war the
people shouldered arms from principle. We
paid no bounty, and patriotism had not fixed
its price. Two years had scarcely passed
before the decentralization produced by the
prodgal outpouring Of national treasure ex-
tended from Congressman, government con-
tractors and the leading plunderers to the
lower grades Of society, and the nation became
one vast whirlpool of immortality. With the
incubation Of the masses the leading
brains grew bolder and felt surer of their
power to ina1gurate gigantic system of
| plunder which depended, in great part, for
success upon public opinion thus prepared.
| So education went on, reflected from high to
low and then from low to high, until the coun-
try could take, as a well played Jest, the be-
trayal of its political and material prosperity.
Congress naturally, in our system of govern
ment, represented our general condition, and
consequently was ripe for all measures that
aimed at the tapping OF the fountainhead of
wealth-the public treasury.
The country was ready-then were launched
in rapid succession the schemes for plunder
which have since staggered us and brought us
TO our senses. Then came the Union Pacific
Railroad, with its tens of millions of plumber,
and following this, the hungry financial
wolves, scenting the national blood, rushed In
and Pacific railroad charters from all sides
from Washington and from every State
flooded the market and filed the whole space
from Texas TO British America with imaginary
parallel lines of iron. The wolves tore the
national domain into shreds and parceled ou
the land spoils to their followers. If the In
dian residents stood in their way convenien
war destroyed their titles to consideration ant
despoiled them Of their possessions. This fail
ing, a trumped-up treaty between the plunder
ers and the tribe gave the former the courag,
and shamelessness to present a claim to th
property for the confirmation of the Senate
as witness the Cherokee land spolation still
awaiting its turn to prove the corruption o
our Legislative branch Of the government
The tide flows on and the vast ocean Of cor
ruption begins to feel a purifying pressure
! The bubbles are coming to the surface. an,