The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1873-02-11
The Prevalence of the Disease.

The Prevalence of the Disease.
AS one after another Of the disgraceful
instances Of corruption and bribery and
fraud and perjury and other crimes, come
to light under the Examinations of investi-
gation,or public exposure by the press, or
the falling out of thieves with one an.
other, or other causes, we are beginning
TO realize the great prevalence Of the
disease which is eating out the vitality of
our national prosperity and threatening
to defeat the hope of successful expert.
mcnt in Republican government. How
teariully prevalent is this corruption,
may be guessed by the great number of
instances which have lately come to light.
These instances are not the disease itself,
but only the indications Of it-thc out
groupings of taint in the blood. Aud
that is the worst Of it While the disease
was breaking out upon the skin here and
there. we supposed it to be only local
disease needing only oca! treatment. As,
for instance, the corruptions of New York
city. But this general eruption proves
too much for our seEcomplacency. The
Commonwealth is evidently infected all
through. The faint is upon our faircst
and best The loathsomc presence is dis
covered everywhere. The poisonous Vi
rus is evidently permoating the whole
system Of our body polite, debauching
the courts and cheating justice, polutiug
the church and pcrverting its influence,
corrupting legislators and degrading leg.
islation, and even extending to the perver-
sion Of fiduciary trusts by private individ-
uas or scmi-public officials, until the
government in all its departments, society
in all its multiform phases, benevolent
institutions and even the church. seem to
be one roeking mass of rottenness and
pollution.
The occasion Of these remarks, not the
cause, is the revelations which have been
made in the Credit Mobilicr business.
We have long felt that the Nloblier Com
pany was in itself aswinding combination
by which a few undertook and succeeded in
gobbing up all the fatness Of the Union
Pacific Railroad grants and Of the money
paid on stock aud bonds for the construc-
ton of this great national work. We
have felt that it was distreditable for any
one, bat especially for those having the
direction of the Pacific Railroad to be in
any way connected with this scheme of
rascality. And this road being me-
diately under the direction and patron
age of the Government, Members Of Con-
gress are in certain sort trustees for
it, The parties who formed the Credit
Mobiler company knew it to be a de.
liberatc swindle. Every Congressman
knew that by taking stock in this side
scheme, virtually as gift, he was making
himself party to the swindlc for his own
private benefit. Stock paying such enor-
nous dividends is not scattered about
promiscuously but "placed" where 1t is
expected to do the most good. OF course
they knew that something was expected
OF them in return; and the only in
ference possible is that if legislation has
not been influenced by the possession of
this stock by the legislators, it is because
no opportunity has occurred
Then comes the evidence Of further
decentralization and deeper degradation.
1t is sought by falsehood and perjury to
cover up the evidences of guilt; and
some Of those whom we most trusted,
have been convicted beyond the possibili-
ty Of escape-not convicted in The inter-
est of truth and justice and purity, but
by the fortuitous circumstance Of dis.
agreement among the guilty ones. And !
so with our Mobiiers, our frequent and
unpublished murders, our elections secured
by direct and 7alpable bribery, as in the
case Of the Kansas Senators, our extern
sive defalcations, the ring stealing9 of
New York, the evident corruption OF
courts Of justice, the bribery and perjury
of witnesses, not only in New York city
but all over the country, the brazen
effrontery of crime and criminals, and
worse than ALL the manifest winking at
these crimes by the masses of our people .
who approvingly associate with the sue
cessful criminal-all these circumstances
combine to present before the mind
picture Of degradation, too foul for health
iul contemplation, and yet too real and
dangerous to be ignored
The answer to the question "whither
are we tending2 need not to be put into
words. We can all read that in the ter
ribe ruin which we know to be the legiti-
mate result Of these crimes. But how
to remedy the evil is now the great ques-
tion to be answered. The first step in the
process is evidently like the first step to
be taken by the physician in the treat
ment Of his patient. We must know the
worst. We must realize the virulence
OF the disease and the condition of the
patient. No Ignoring Of its existence
will hel T the matter. Let this work of
investigation be done thoroughly, let it
hit whom it may, and though its revela-
tions may shock us like the vibrations of
an earthquake.
INV n ~