The Grange advance., 1874-06-17

betray the freedom Of his country. When |
he died the freedom Of Rome expired. The
old story of Lot and the destruction Of |
Sodom illustrates further the same point. !
When the country becomes universally
corrupt the nation must ANONYMOUSLY per-
ish. Notwithstanding the political atmos-
phere of our republic is putried with cor
ruptions, that vast horde of men have
abandoned the legitimate pursuits of life
and fastened themselves like harpies
wherever plumber is to he gathered-yet
the great mass of our people are as true to
the republic, and her free institutions, as
at any former period. To have such men
as Prof. Henry, of the Smithsonian Insti-
tute, Hon. Charles Francis Adams, Hon.
Charles Russell of Boston, Prof. Dwight.
Rev. A. P. Peabody and many others of
the same character unite with the reform
party of the country, is sign of present
good cheer and of hopeful future. We
hail the advent Of this magazine with
pleasure, as the joint labor of a body of
honorable gentlemen, we'll known to the
country for many years past as standing
far above the mercenary and licentious
spirit of the age.
We give few extracts to exhibit the
tone of the leading article:
"As slavery before the war, so since the
war CORRUPTION has been over our country
like cloud The earth stood aghast be-
fore our frauds. A reckoning came. At
our great commercial centre (New York;
began the purgation, and the perpetrators
of the rings, if not all punished, are at
least exposed and execrated. Justice then
passed over to our national capitol, there
to cut another tangled web of corruption.
Since the two processes commenced, some
of the actors have been stamped with in
| fanny; some have been driven into social
exile; one perished by pistol; others
died from mortifcation-allh have been tor
tured by chagrin, or remorse, or despair.
''The work will not stop. Individuals
and monopolies will be sifted before all
ends. No man and no corporation will
stand where there is not beneath a basis
of solid property and sterling integrity.
We resemble those walking over bridge
crowded by rushing thousands who know
the arches are trembling and the billows
tottering, and that any moment may tum
BILE them into the abyss. Dreadful as is
the catastrophe, there can be no security
until it is over. Our Republic is preparing
by discipline of suffering to fulfill that
mission for humanity destined by Heaven"
RAILWAYS.
"Now certainly the business of railways
is to convey They are organized, incor-
poratea, and intended to transport values
In America, however, their sphere has
been indefinitely enlarged. They would
populate the wilderness, invite immigra.
ton, construct harbors, navigate oceans,
sell lands, speculate in iron-beds and coal
fields, and oil-wells land wheat crops
Ed.) nominate candidates. influence cleo
tions, use Legislatures, govern Congress,
siege, hold and direct the operations OF
society and government"
There is something grand in all this.
The Railroad King is a true monarch. He
has his dependents, his revenues, his
court, his palace-sverything but throne,
crown, sceptre and pedigree.
|
sadly fear, indeed that widows and orphans
have contributed their pennies. Laborers
have risked their hard earnings. Lawyers,
doctors, professors, especially clergymen,
have been drawn into the venture. Even
the hard fsted farmer has been persuaded
to turn his butter and eggs into mortgage
bonds.'
The spirit Of speculation began in the
midst Of our civil war, and our rush Of ex.
travagance with its close. While patriots
were fighting, contractors were plunder-
ing. Fraud followed our flag almost into
the blaze of battle. Williams preyed on
heroes. Not only the food and clothing
and arms of our soldiers were means Of
amassing fortunes, but there were doubtless
men who traded in the cofins and graves
of patriots-making profit out of death it
self. What was gained by cowardly ras-
cality was squandered in ostentatious folly.
ESPECIALLY in our great commercial
metropolis New York; was species Of
barbaric display and crime carried to the
most extreme extravaganza. The Erie ven-
ture- at once lunic and tragio-ludicrous,
grotesque and terrible begun in fraud, ,
fourished on robbery, ended in murder.
Justice was bought and sold in our streets
Whatever equaled that systematic villiany
which held by the throat the city and the
State Of New York, and supported by its
plunderings men who with their rufians
and retainers kept a species of baronial
state like that ofsome old feudal lord whose
business was to raid and battle? A debt
of more than a hundred millions was piled
upon her treasury. The money taken from
New York alone would make her piers and
! docks superior to those of Liverpool, and
her harbor unriva!ed in the world.'
| ho