The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1881-07-28
TAlmaeE.

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The Great DrOOklym Divine ON F3rib-
cry and the Degradation Of Amcrl-
can Politics.
The Legislature Of New York is now
busy investigating charges Of bribery.
That body and the whole country,
North, South. East andWest, wakes up
in holy horror at the charge that 81, 900
have been offered to influence Legis-
lative vote. As though this was some
thing new As though in the United
States hundreds of thousands of dollars
were not paid in brides As though in
one State 1915, 900 had not been paid a
Legislature and the State Government
by q railroad company to get through a
charter and secure donation Of public
lands. As though three-fourths of the
Legislatures Of the United States had
not through bribery gone into putre-
faction whose stencil reaches heaven.
Oh, yes hunt down that 81, 900 at Al
bany by all means Keep the Commit
tee Of Investigation busy! Put all the
witnesses on the gridiron and broil them
till you get the whole truth After d
few weeks hunting that squirrel that has
been stealing hickory-nuts, perhaps the
honesty Of the land may 60 to work and
hunt down the bears and tigers and
panthers and lions and behemoths Of po-
litical corruption with which the
land is being devoured. Oh, yes,
gentlemen of the New York Leg
islature do as according to your
testimony You have been doing Search
out wrong by day, and then go to the
Delavan House and play poker and old
sledge all night When, after many
sessions Of corrupt Legislation, involving
millions Of dollars, the New York Leg
islature goes into . paroxysm ct this pal
try g. 600, it seems a. though in 1873
the whole country, with $4,000 Of
lawsuit against William Tweed, had sud-
denly gone into mysteries about his theft
Of box Of steel pens. Go on, Commit.
tee of Investigation, and strain at the
gnat, but do not swallow the camel.
The lobbies Of the Legislature, by which
l mean the bribers, now control the
most Of the States. They have COM
pletely submerged California by putting
it in the grip Of great monopoly. You
remember the great bribery case in
Kansas involving United States Sena-
tor. Congressional elections in Con-
necticut are bought with no more en-
barrassment than you would buy box
Of strawberries. You know which is the
State Ct Camden and Amboy. Last
year persons were convicted Of attempt
ed bribery in Pennsylvania. The Court
OF Pardons, excepting two Judges, i'm
mediately consented to the liberation of
the political felons, and the two Judges
who held out against the demand for
justice were bluntly told that they were
cnt off from all political preferment. A
United States Senator from Pennsyl-
attach price to many of the Legisla-
tors, just a as Kentuckian puts price up
on his ace-horses-this one worth
$4,000. that one worth 5000.
The railroads are the common carriers
Of the people, and should be impartial,
but by form Of contract, which is only
another mode Of bribery, the great rail-
roads favor this or that business. The
Standard Oil Company in eighteen
months had paid to it in rebates by
great railroad trunk company $40, l5l,-
600, thus disadvantaging other compa-
mics. That Standard OIL Company pro-
duces only one-fifth of our petroleum,
Jet it controls the price of all that kin.i
Of light which now belts the earth. The
great merchandise in grains and proyis-
ions and cattle, by the favor of the rail-
roads, In many Of tho cities il gradually
being put in the hands of one or more
firms, and all others in the same hIsi-
ness get hard pushed. Bribery under
so many forms, can only hint ut them.
How much did it cost the elevated rail-
roads Of = certain city to keep the fare
from dropping from 10 to cents? l
have been told 100000. Very seldom
does bill pass through any oil our Leg
islatures if there be no money in it.
Sometimes the bribe is in bank bills,
sometimes in railroad passes, sometimes
in political preferment, sometimes by
the monopolist giving to the Legislators
Who desire to speculate in Wall street
what are called .polnts. Perhaps you
may not understand what .points" are
The other language Of Wall street has
gone into common use, and most
Of us know what is Meant by .corner, !"
flyer" "cover," buyer B." "sell-
er 8" carrying Stock s~ashing the
street, "long in stocks" "salting
down, 'ten up. but many OF yon may
not know what is meant when monopo-
list gives to a member Of the Legislature
"poln.s." DO You really want to know
what "points" are? Ask bribed men,
hers at Albany and Harrisburg. But
bribery begins away back of this in the
money subscribed for election expenses.
Unless man has large wealth he can
not afford to run for Congress or any
other position. The question asked be-
fore nomination is how much money has
he, and how much will he spend for his
election? or, how much will his friends
subscribe And from the great big
reservoir of subscribed election expenses
the little rills roll down in ten thousand
directions, and by the time that our
great Gnbernatorial, and Congressional,
and Presidential elections are over, the
land is drunk with bribery. I pity that
little orphaned $1,000 wandering about
the streets Of Albany. and finding no
parentage. 1t strayed of from family
Of big brothers. who ought to take charge
Of the founding laid at tho Legislators
door. What a striking phenomenon,
that. in the last fifty years, among the
millions Of dollars expended in the New
York Legislature. only s., 900 have mis-.
carried! 1t shows that if there was no
God and no Judgment day, the safest
business in the United States is bribery.
What other great enterprise, what other
great business, involving millions ot
dollars, can be carried on for ten years
with only loss Of $1,000?
All this contertion for the spoils Of
Office, which kept the Senate of the
United States for four months playing
the fool. and for the last one month has
made the private parlors of the Delayan
House the center Of national interest, il
only another phase Of bribery. It is not
SO much bribery in cash paid down. bnt
bribery in the way Of offices promised.
"You help me into one Office aud will
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