The Labor enquirer., 1884-11-01

the house railrosd< committse. From;
1858 until 1876 the efforts Of The railroad
ring were confined almost wholly In
Washington to prevent hostile leeislae
ton, to ward of Investigation ~ Tar =
possible, and to fight the Tom Scott
scheme of a competing line on the thirty
second parallel. It was in this latter
purpose that Huntington was specially
engaged VIXEN he wrote those famous
Cotton letters, in which he revealed 80
much of his peculiar methods. Those
whom he caved down the hank those
who had Jumped the track and had to
be switched back their names were
all gwen to the world in that correspond
ence. That correspondence further show
ed that throughout Mr.. Blaine's various
terms of speakership the railway ring
had nothing to fear from the house COM
mlttee on Pacific railroads. If Mr..
.Oakes Ames and Mr. Huntington had
had had the naming of it themselves
they could not have suited their wishes
better.
In fact, in every congress until the
Forty sixth, the Pacific railway compa-
nies and their lobby had practically the
naming of the railway committees in
both houses. The Thurman-Ed Edmunds
bill, which was first introduced in the
Forty-fourth congress and considered in
the house, happily came before the judi
ciary committee, and the railway lobby
was for once confronted with difficulties.
But they made little efforttoifght it in
the house IN that congress. They al
lowed their contingent to vote on it as
they pleased, and it went through by a
vote of 159 to9 These figures are taken
from MePherson's s Handbook, which is
reliable authority in such matters. In
the same congress the senate, at the ses
sion of 1877, considered the bill, but the
railway lobby was too strong at that
time, and they prevented final vote.
Senator Booth, the only California sena.
tor that ever sat in congress whom the
lobby could not reach, sought to amend
the bill, in various respects making it
stronger, but was in every case voted
down, A record of these votes as con-
tanned in McPherson's Handbook for
1878, shows that half dozen members
were invariably recorded as voting on
the side of the railways They were
Sargent, Blaine, Clayton, Conover, Dor
sey, Patterson. Spencer and Hereford.
In the Forty-fifth congress Messrs. Thur
man and Edmunds perfected their bill,
and the lobby brought all their forces to
bear to again defeat it in the senate.
There was a long debate. Never before
had the methods of the railways re-
ceived such an exposure as in the
speeches of Thurman, Edmunds, and
Booth of California, Again the lobby
attacked the bill with amendments de-
signed to kill it altogether, or al least de-
stroy its force, and invariably voting in
favor of these amendments appear the
names of the same old crowd, or such as
were then in the senate-Blaine, Como
yer, Sargent, Dorsey, Spencer, and Kel-
logg On the day of the final passage of
the bill, Mr.. Blaine, as a last resort,
offered an amendment specially designed
to take away from congress its reserved
power as contained in both the acts of
1852 and 1864, to further legislate on the
subject. In other words, seeing that the
bill would pass, the railway magnates
said to congress, if this bill is not further
contested and we allow it to pass, will
you guarantee never again disturb us?
As Mr. Thurman said, this adroit move
of the lobby to save great point from
the wreck was quickly seen through and
quickly opposed and finally beaten.
Following were the "yeas" in full: .Alli-
son, Barnum, Blaine, Bruce, Conover,
Dennis, Eaton, Ferry, Gordon, Hill, In
gals, Jones of Florida, kellogg,
Matthews, Mitchell, Paddock, Plumb
Sargent, Saunders, Spencer,
Teller and Voorhees,.
On the final passage of the bill the fol-
lowing voted nay" Allison, Barnum,
Blaine, Bruce, Conover, Dennis, Dorsey,
Eaton, Ferry, Gordon, Hill, Howe, Kel-
losg, Matthews, Mitchell, Paddock, Ran.
dolph, Sargent, Saunders and Spencer.
This ended the fight. When the bill
came up IN the democratic house the
lobby fled, and il received only two neg
ative votes. s'r~
The act has not been wholly successful.
The railway companies have evaded its
every way, and it seems
the executive department and the courts
are not powerful enough to enforce it. So
grrat is the influence of this formidable
railroad power, that although six yeais
have elapsed, nothing has been done at
Washington to enforce the Thurman bill,
and last spring (lSs4) committee of the
senate, of which Mr.. Edmunds is chair
man, prepared a report, which has not
yet reached the senate, showing that the
Union Pacific railroad company, up. to
that time, had not paid into the United
States treasury cent of the % per cent