The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1870-11-25
Harrisburg Correspondence.

M EdHor!-In my last, l endeav-
ored TO expose as briefly as possible,
the corruption which now pervades the
various branches of the government
aud certain classes of the community.
The first step towards the correction of
this demoralizing evil, will be to trace
it to its origin and its cause.
The history of all nations teaches,
that corruption follows in the wake OF
wealth and luxury and no people, in
the world, ever progressed more rapid
ly in the accumulation of individual
and national wealth than the people of
these United States. In addition to
this tendency to relaxation of public
morals, the discovery of gold, in Cali
fornia, in 1913, gave tremendous inn
pulse to speculation innumerable Rail
Road companies sprang up and applied
to the various State Legislatures for
charters, claiming privileges calculated
to alarm the representatives of the peo.
pie, who, up to that time, had been
taught to view the granting of such
privileges as 50 much power taken from
their constituents, to be conferred upon
associations likely to act from motives
different from those having in view the
greatest good of the greatest number.
1t then became necessary, ON the part
OF the Rail Road applicants TO over
come these honest scruples: and they
were not slow to initiate the example
of tho late bank of the United States,
that proved itself the first great corrup-
ter, which, by bribes, had debaucbed
eminent public men from the straight
path of their official duty.
The impunity with which this traffic
| in the consciences Of men was carried
on by the Rail Road operators, soon en-
couraged other applicants for legislative
favors, to follow their example; and
most State Legislatures, as well as Con-
gress itself, became open markets where
the most iniquitous laws were bought
and sold, without regard to the inter-
ests Of the people or the character of
the Legislators. TO this cause we may,
then ascribe, to "a great extent, the infa-
nous character acquired by our Legis-
latures.
The general dissemination of Rail
Road stock and bonds the individual
interests of shippers and consignees, and
especially free Rail Road passes, dis
tributed to the public press, the bench,
the bar, the clergy, and to every indi-
vidual exercising any social influence,
effectively closed the lips which might
other wise, have denounced those nefa-
rious transactions and corruption, un-
obstructed pursued its stealthy way,
until its hideous form finally assumed
such vast proportions, that apathy gave
place to horror and indignation, and
the public mind reused itself to realize
the dangers which now threaten the
liberties of the people. In connection
with this branch of my subject it may
further be remarked that, in those
States where vast rival Rail Road mo.
nopolieS have been established, the
fierce contests of Rail Road managers
for the supremacy, have brought the
combatants into the courts, where the
Rail Road corruption funds have been
boought to bear upon the Judges with
as much apparent success as they form
ery seduced the recreant representa-
tives of the people. So much for the
demoralizing influence exercised over
the government by the Rail Roads of
the country.
But there is another cause more fatal
to public virtue, than even the bare
faced corrupt practices of Rail Road
operators. Under the State Constitu-
tion of 1880, the people Of Pennsylva-
mia were restricted to the election of
their representative in Congress and
the State Legislature, their Sheriffs and
Coroners, and few other local officers
in which they were Immediately in ter
ested. They were deeply interested in
State and Federal legislation and there
fore took good care to choose proper
men to represent them in the Legisla-
lures of the State and Of the Union.
Their Judiciary, the guardians of their
civil rights and administrators of the
law, We're, by the Constitution protect
ed, as much as human ingenuity could
suggest, from the taint OF partizan in
fluences; and their Executive was in
vested with the power necessary to up
hold the dignity and the sovereignty of
what was then truly called the Key
stone State!
But in an evil hour, a few political
fanatics, aided by the demagogues of
that day, persuaded the people, by rails.
ing the deceitful cry of "popular sou
ereignty," to form themselves into a
committee of the whole, in permanent
session, to manage and control the Ex.
ecutive, Judicial and Representative
branches of the State Government, by
assuming the election of all the officers
of the govern ment.
This popular system, which trans
formed every private citizen into an
active politician, to the detriment of his
individual business, soon gave rise to
new class in the community, who, neg
lecting their legitimate means of living
made politics trade; trafiicked in Of
fees formed combinations and rings
and monopolized the power which the
amended constitution intended to be
exercised by the people Thus it was,
that the appointing power, the faithful
exercise of which was of such vast i'm
portance to the people, was wrested
from the highest Executive officer