New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-03-31

| At various times sums ranging from $500
| to $4,000, the purpose of which he is utterly
| at loss TO imagine. Mr.. Van Vechten
never spent any money for Legislation ;
above all things he never bribed Sena-
| tor Tweed; but the books show that he
| paid over TO Mr.. Tweed at one time no less
than $4,000 "for legal disbursements" per
| order of Jay Gould, transaction OF
which he had no memory and could give no
explanation. 1t is curious fact, which IKE
wise needs to be explained, that while the
voucher in this case is dated April 25, 1871 the
payment seems not to have been made until
March II, 1872, the very day of the Sickles
revolution. But this was by no means the
only payment for illegal expenses" to that or
nament of the bar Mr.. William M. Tweed.
On the same page of the ledger appear two
other entries of money paid to him on the llth
of March-One of the sum of $4,000, the other
SCI, 900; and ex-Assistant Treasurer, Justin ID.
White, testifies that Mr. Tweed was In the
"habit of receiving large sums for legal ser
"yices, besides the $131,000 entered on the
"book as having been paid March H."
! OF the scandals bearing more particularly
upon the present management OF the COM
| pany we do not purpose yet to speak. They
seem to have been set afOOt by men who
have personal quarrel with the Board OF
| Directors, and it is by no means certain as
yet whether they are true or false. But
enough has been shown to awaken some very
serious reflections upon the current views OF
railway morality and the influence which the
great corporations are exerting upon the
| public character. The turmoil among the
Western farmers and the menaced deraDge-
ment we have just escaped in our postal sys-
tenn are striking illustrations of the dangerous
power they WELD in the economy of modern
society. The very existence of the largest class
of producers in the United States, and the
working of the entire system of correspondence
upon which every sort of business depends, are
shown to be at the mercy OF the railroads.
But this is trife compared to their inter
| ference with legislatures and their effect upon
the standard of public virtue. The foremost
men in the Republican party, the leaders of an
| organization whose purposes were more elevated
and whose morality was purer than those of
any previous political sect i'll American history,
withst0Od the many temptations OF public life
for years, only to sell themselves at last to the
| Union Pacific Railroad. A railroad has held the
State of New-Jersey in a species of slavery. A
railroad company made the judiciary of New
| York notorious all over the world for indecent
venality. A railroad company filled our State
Capitol with mass of corruption that in
fected both parties even to their remotest
branches. Already the railroads cut off our
supplies of food, tax our produce three
fourths of its value, ruin our farmers, obstruct
our means of communication, and stop our
letters; what are we coming to If besides all
this they reduce to servitude the legislatures
which ought to protect US against them, aud
corrupt the public conscience which might
purify the legislaturesf