New-York tribune., 1873-04-14
OE LEGLSLATLHE CORRUPTION

The sckening revelations before the Erie
Committee justly arouse public Indignation.
1t is pity it should be wasted
IN calling names and wreaking ones
self upon expression. Denouncing Mr..
Jay Gould in itself does no good We
have often enough expressed our opinion of
him and of his works. But it does not seem
to us that the state of affairs revealed
in the Erie investigation is to be mended
by merely standing off and making faces
at him. after the silly fashion of some of our
neighbOrs And besides, there are too many
at whom we should have to make faces. The
new Erie board has been paying similar bills,
aniMr Vanderbilt is perfectly well known to be
likewise Wholesale and retail operator in the
same business. The very thirty thousand dol
lar payment voted by the Reform Erie Direc-
tory for the six Erie Senators was ex-
actly balanced by the check drawn by MIR.
Vanderbilt ostensbly for the six Central SEN
ators. What has been done by and for the
Midland would constitUe an interesting chap
ter by itself. And nobody needs to be told OF
Mr.. Thomas A. Scott and his achievements ;
or of the recent legislative trumphs of rail-
road corporations in the West.
AS to New York, it is childish to profess
surprise, or any fresh horror. The politician
who did not know that certain Albany legls-
lators always stood out to be bought by
the railroads, should be sent to an infant
school. At this very moment, the New-York
Central is refused the privilege of building
along its present line other tracks to accom-
modate the business which everybody knows
it cannot perform without more tracks, and
everybody abuses it for not performing.
Some of the legislators oppose 1t out
of anger at the Central for the very lack of
accommodation the new tracks are intended
to remedy, or for some personal or local slight
they wish to avenge ;-others merely know the
Central must have it carried and Is able to
pay for the votes to carry it.
Well. what is Mr.. Vanderbilt to do 1t is
shameful enough, and demOralizng enough ;
but does anybody doubt what Mr.. Vanderbilt
will doY Is it not morally certain that, unless
impossible safeguards for the fragile legislative
virtue can be invented, he piU do just what he
has donei Instead of shutting our eyes, and
screaming ourselves black in the face with
the ejaculation of hard names, is it not better
to consider remedyf
That remedy, we make make bold in word,
to propose. 1t is to make the popular branch
of the Legislature too big for Mr.. Wander
bilt, or Mr.. Jay Gould, or Mr.. Thomas
A. Scott to buy. Who ever heard of the
purchase of Connecticut Legislature
| The "Shad- eaters" are too numerous; there
are two of them from every town in the
| State. They go to the Legislature as they
get elected to be Justice of the Peace. 1t is q
little bit Of local honor,-not thing
to make money out of. The member
is personally known to well-nigh every
constituent he has. He is subject TO scru-
| tiny as to his acts. his associations
| his earnings at the State Capital, his
increase in wealth, which makes cor
ruption as dangerous to himself az the
number of his fellow-members makes il
difficult to the lobbyist Give us such q
House, for the New-York Legislature; and
| Gould and Vanderbilt would find it too big to
purchase, while the members would find it toe
| dangerous to be purchased.
Then put an end TO special legislation, from
which nine-ten Of the corruption springs,
and we may yet have the fountains of law
flow pure again. Our people are not wholly
corrupt. Give US a chance through a
large House, to get the people really repre-
sented, not merely the Office holders and the
ofIice-seekers take away the perpetual tempt
alton to bribe for this or that special interest,
and Jay Gould and Commodore Vanderbilt