The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1877-08-27
County and city OI'iria! Press.
Monday, August 81, 1877.
EFFECT A!fD CAUSE.
a late exc aug. says:

pany by the destruction of It's property
during the recent troublcs. and the
prolonged interruption Of traffic, To-
getber with the necessity of immeil
ately restoring the rolling stock aud
buildings destroyed, rendered I. dividend
on the capital sock at this ti;na mex
pedient."
This item affords fitting coinmen-
tary upon the suggestive statements
which we append, in the way OF dcvel-
opments brought out III the Pennsyi-
vanis Constitutional debates hclc five
or six years ago. The subject under
discussion being proposition to adj
minister an "iron-clad oath" to men,
bers elect Of til, Legislature against
accepting brides, ard to the effect that
they had offered none to secure election
Judge Jere S. Black said:
"By dereliction of duty on the part
of the legislature, that corporation
pennsylvania Railroad Company has
grown so mighty that it, li.tls finger is
thicker than the loins of the common
wealth which created ii. dc,not say
that 1t bestrides your narrow State like
a Colossus, for tho ancient Colossus of
Rhodes was but tho image Of pigmy
III comparison with this Colossus of
railroads. Her stride is across the
continent from ocean to OCEAN. Her
head il in the clouds aud the arms of
her gigantic power stretch out on either
side from one horizon to the ot4iur.
| will take it for granted that there
is not man belonging To the Pennsyl-
vania railroad that would not run away
from any proposition to make money
for it or by it. My friend from the city
may say. If he pleases, that they have
impoverished themselves by going
about to do good tor the pubic, or that
it they have little more than their
share Of wealth, it has been thrust upon
them against their will But this de-
say that the several legislatures Winch
have stripped me nua my tllnw- citlzrns
of their just rights. to ciuthe tins cor
pnrstion with imperial power wer.
trencherous to their duty and b,s..Iy
ubfaithtul Ia their high trust Ih,
whole SYSTEM is saturated with cnrru;,.
ton from the crown Ia the toe 1t he,
gone so far hat the veto power il az
'erly incapable of stopping IL Ii the
governor would try To stop If. com Dina
tions would be made AK .inst hun, aud
render him as powerlc as the driver
OF u runaway team after his reins are
broken. No man holding the office oi
treasurer can by any possibility make
out ut II one cent more than the 5000
year allowed him by law. without be
ing guilty of some net as dishonest as
the plainest steiting that ever was done
by II common thief. Yet somehow the
Treasurer gets off his Office enough to
buy up q majority Of the legislature,
and after making all the deductions
necessary for his reimbursement of
that expense. there is enough left
in his own pocket To enrich him
beyond any ether office. The
Treasurer does not take all of this sum
ut one grab; nor does he buy up All the
members by wholesale. He has to
make separate bargain with each indi.
vidusl. If you could suppose one of
these Trcasurers to be convicted of
every distinct offensc that be has been
guilty Of in year. aud then suppose
him to DO sentenced according to law,
upon each conviction what would be-
come Of him. At the most moderate
calculation you can make, it would take
him at least l 500 years to serve his
time out in the penitentiary. and for =
portion Of that period he would be
accompanied by . majority Of the
members OF the Legislature.
My friend spoke of Legislation under
the figure Of a stream. which. he said,
ought always to flow with crystal wa
ter. II is true that the Legislature is
the fountain from which the current of
OR social and political life must run.
or We must bear no life; but as it now
is, We keep it merely as "cistern for
foul toads to knot and gender In He
has described the tree of liberty, ms
his poetic fancy sees it. in the good
time coming. when weary men shall
rest under its shade. and singing birds
shall inhabit its branches aud make
most agreeable music. But what is
the condition Of that tree nows Weary
men do. indeed, rest andcr il. but
they rest in unrest and the longer
they remain there the more weary they
become. And the birds il is not the
wood-lark, nor the thrush. nor the
nightingale. nor any Of the musical
tribe that inhab:t the branches Of our
tree. The foulest birds that wing the
cir have made it their resting place.
and their obscene droppings cover all
the plains about them the kite, with
his beak always sharpened for some
cruel repast the vulturs ever ready To
scoop upon his prey; the bu,rard d.
costing ais filthy meal and watching
for the moment when he can gorge
himself again upon the prsstrate car
cas- OF the commonwealth. And the
raven Is hosrse that sits there croaking
despair to oil who approach for any
clean or honest purpose.
I'm deciding upon the nature Of the
punishment which these grea, criminals
ought to suffer, we must not consul, our
blood but our Judgment. No sesti-
ment Of vengeance must seek its graft
hsasiou here. II the honest citizens of
the State who have been 50 basely be-
tIayed by these miscresnts would obey
the impulse Of their natural indignation
e0d had infinite power 10 work their