The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1888-10-27
thereby divesting the people of all the power

thereby divesting the people Of all the power
to recover their property that had been dis.
honestly taken from them.
leone now to the sale of the Missouri Pa
cific Road. AT the time of the sales Of these
roads they were worth not less than $25,000,-
600 and they were sold by the Republican leg
~islators by enactment of law for 81, 325, 900.
The sale Of the Pacific Railroad was made by
virtue Of an act of the Legislature and there
is no part Of legislative history that can com
pare with the corrupt and dishonest action OF
that General Assembly in this matter. The
road was sold to the Pacific Railroad Com.
pany and 1t was procured by means more dis.
graceful than any other that has ever been
employed in the history Of this or any other
State.
The report Of the committee appointed by
the board Il of directors of the Pacific Railroad
Company to lobby the ~''relcase act'' through
the Legislature, filed as Exhibit A" in the
suit of James L. Lamle ct al. VS.. the Pacific
Railroad Company, in the United States Cir
cult Court of Missouri, is too long to quote at
length, but the following quotations explain
the whole character Of the transaction and
the influence that was brought to bear upon
the members of that body who voted for the
bill. / read:
Our next move was to engage or employ
a. pSAoSAo va oaSh p1AAtaSoA sAA2AA-
ties, standing and power with the dominant
party in the Legislature as would enable US
to go before that body tRepublican) Endorsed
by some high in the faith. Through them we
| were let into the secret of how things are
sometimes done when all other means are in
effectual. 1t was terribly costly for an or
binary job, but te are going for millions. (The
sum of 5000, 900 is the price, the State
abating Sc, DOC, 000). 1t was obtained through
our exertions at a cost to the company and
stockholders of So 1913 60, already paid, and
Sl34,S 63, to be paid, the whole aggregating
S192, 176 co."
And thus it was, fellow-citizens that a Re.
publican Legislature, disregarding their du-
ties to the public, disregarding the great trust
that had been reposed in their hands by the
confiding citizens of this State, utterly un-
mindful of the public interests and influenced
by this S192, 176 60 thus corIuptly expended
in and among them, deliberately abated S6,-
000, 600 of the claims of the State against that
road, when the terminal property of the Pa
cific Road in the city of st. Louis alone wai
worth twice as much money as the State got
for the entire road.
In the whole history of this State there has
been no such wilful and sinful sacrifice OF
the public interests as was shown by the re-
suit of the corrupting influence of the money
Bol0 AibO Lhlb SCbC4h IL Assembly ny bAS uAIGC-
tors of the Pacific Railroad Company.
Fellow citizens, the management of the
affairs of this State Dy our Republican friends
during the eight years they were in power is
e matter of history. What ! say here to-day
is the statement of official documents made
by a Republican Auditor and passed upon by
Republican courts. Judging by their record
In the two or three instances to which / have
called your attention, are you of opinion that
to return that party to power prosperity
would come to the people, that their lands
would be enhanced in valuei That emigrants
| would come in our borders, that honest
settlers would desire to locate in a State
where the hard earnings of the farmer and
the day laborer and the mechanic are thus
ruthlessly wasted and squanderedi l think
not. The people desire no such change.
Under Republican rule large sums OF money
came into the possession of the Secretary OF
State, who was and is q salaried officer. II
has been charged, and is believed, that sums
ranging from $4,000 to 4 1000 per annum
were collected by the Secretary Of State
(Francis Rodman) as fees OF his Office. How
have the Democratic party managed that
object During the years from 1876 to 1887, In
elusive, instead of the Secretary Of State
pocketing fees amounting to, as l have
said, nearly $4,000 per annum, the Demo.
cratic Secretary of State has collected and
paid into the treasury of the State S405,5 7i SIS,
which is in excess of the cost Of his office by
more than $3.50, 600.
During the Republican rule the lreasurers
of the State held and kept the moneys OF the
State as their own, and deposited it in banks
from one end of the State to the other wher-
ever they could receive the highest rate of in
terest, all of which was regarded as per-
quisites OF their Office, and put into their
private Golfers. How so with the Democrats!
When they came into power in 1876, by law
they required that these moneys should be
deposited in a bank in the State giving the
highest rate of interest and the bank should
deposit bonds of the United States or of the
State of Missouri as security for whatever
money was deposited with it. Under this law
in the years between 1878 aud 1887, inclusive,
there has been paid into the State treasury
$50, 900, which largely more than paid the ex-
penses of the Treasury Department Of the
State.
1t may we'll be asked: 'Where did the
Legislature get the money to pay the enor-
nous expenditures which they incurred dur
ing the six years Of their reignF' In the
matter of printing, the Republican admins
tration paid S4l1, 600 for six years, and during
the twelve years Of Democratic administra-
ton, from January, 1878, to January, 1885,
there was S259, 900, or S151, 900 less for twelve
years of Democratic rule than for six years
of Republican control. And so with the
Penitentiary. In the six years under their
control they paid S54l 900 for the main
tenance of that institution, whilst the
Democratic party, from 1873 TO 1855
being six biennial periods, paid sl,06S,O 900.
Taking the number of ~convicts at the end Of
each period and making an average for each
Deriod we find that thera was 71O convictS