The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1880-12-04

rect representation be not employed,
they 90 not hesitate to use bribes
upon Legislators, for there is abun-
dant testimony showing that they
have purchased the honor of Sena-
tors and Representative in many
Legislatures, and trampled manhood
in the co7etous dust of frail nature,
until in some States the debasement
of law makers has become a by
word and lasting shame. Even
now, while we deliberate upon the
means of restraining the monstrous
tyranny of railway power, those
who WELD it are plotting to send
send into the United States Senate
their paid attorney from the most
powerful State of this Union to
forestall the day of reckoning, and
in four other populous States SEN
ators, directly in the service of rail
ways, will soon be chosen if the
people do not make prompt and
vigorous protest. Already these
corporations have secured powerful
influence in the Senate, and they
have numerous willing and obse-
quious servants in the other branch
of Congress ready always to barter
away our rights in the interest of
the magnates they serve
Intrenched in the several State
capitals, domiciled in the central
citadel, confident and strong, the
the railway power to-day sways the
commerce of continent, and dom
mates its industries with cold neg
lect of the golden rule that is the
vitalizing spirit of free government,
and with cynical contempt of the
common honesty and homely vir.
tues that support the structure of
civil liberties. A power within the
State, accelerating in growth, Ii
censed by its own inordlnate greed,
usurping as desire advances, limit
less in aHdacity-how long will it
be before the State itself will be a
supplicant to its creature that lays
lustful hands upon the shreds of
authority yet preserved, swaggers
in every precinct Of the legislative
domain, with its mammon defiles
the ermine, and has towering scorn
for the people and especial contempt
for the class that suffers most by its
cruel exactions-tarmers? Shall
there be an organized effort by the
people to recover the rights filched
from them by the creatures Of their,
generosity? Will they mark the
limit of concession and thereafter
guard its boundaries? The time is
opportune, their strength equal to
the requirement-do they lack the
purpose? Will American farmers
join in positive, earnest, determined
effort to secure just protection,
through the peaceful medium OF
laws, wise in their design and just
in their operation, whereby railway
corporations shall be gently but
firmly restrained within the limits
SO defined? If they will, the day
is near at hand when their industry
will be free to distribute its profits
through all channels of trade in just
measure, according to deserts, and
thev will themselves share equltably
in the blessings that reward free,
untrammeled labor in the primary
avocations of man. 1t is not the
purpose now to mark with precis-
ion each step of the beneficent work,
nor can this be done at once by any
legislation; for there must be nice
adjustment Of the great forces en-
gaged-on the one hand in produc-
ton and on the other in transporta-
ton, essential to the development of
all useful industry. There must be
wholesome growth of common hon
esty, so that Legislator viii spurn
the bribe insidiously covered in a
railway pass, a Judge be abashed
and ashamed when the hint is given
that his palm can be tickled by the
favor, and a Senator of the United
States execrated when he betrays
the honor of his high position by
accepting a fee to carry the case OF
a railway corporation against the
Government he has sworn to serve
/, before a Judge whose appointment
he has procured, and by this damn
able prostitution of honor mulcts
| the people he is unworthy to serve.
1t is not yet enough that there must
be honor and honesty in high places
! Power will not be more pure than
its source; the people must be hon
est and delegate their power only
to those who are worthy OF the
| trust.
In answer to the assumption Of
private rights, vociferously. pro.
! claimed by railway a torneys, there
is the opinion of Chief Justice
:. Waite. delivered from the Benel