The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1889-11-19

hlQh-plaC0Q men. Two m0mO0fS OIL
the Senate Judiciary Committee-Ido
not say the ablest, because compari-
sons are odious-but they are both of
them among the foremost men of the
country for talents and integrity
these gentlemen emphatically dissent
ed from me when j asserted that the
management of the railroads was not
a matter of business to be conducted
like private enterprise, merely for
the profit of the directors Dr. stock
holders. A heresy so supported is
entitled to serious r~efutation, ho wever
aburd it may seem on its face.
A PUBLIC DUTY MUST BE PERFORMED
WITH AN EYE SINGLE TO THE PUBLIC
INTEREST.
l aver that a man or a corporation
appointed to do u public duty must
perform it with an eye single 20 the
public interest. If he perverts his
authority to purposes of private gain
he is guilty of corruption, and all who
aid and abet him are his accomplices
in crime. He defzes himself IF he min
qles his own business wih that entrusted
10 him By the government and uses N
to promote the other. If a judge ex-
cuses himself for a false decision by
saying that he sold his judgment for
the highest price he could get, you
cover his character with infamy. A
ministerial officer, like a sheriff, for
instance, who EFFORTS from a defen-
dant, or even from a convict in his
custody, what the law does not allow
him to collect, and puts the surplus in
his pocket, is a knave upon whom you
have no mercy. You send county
commissioners to the penitentiary for
consulting their own financial advan.
tage to the injury of the general veal.
When the officers of a city corporation
make a business Of running it to en-
rich themselves at the expense of the
public, you can see at a glance that
they are the basest of criminals.
Why, then, a you not see that the
officers of a railway corporation are
equally guilty when they pervert the
authority with which they are clothed
to purposes purely selfish? A
railroad corporation IS as much
a part of the civil govern-
maent as a city corporation. The officers
of the former as much as the latter
are agents and trustees of the public,
and the public has an interest precise
ly similar in the fidelity of both.
Why, then, should partiality or extor-
ton be condemned as criminal in one
if it be tolerated as fair business
when practised by the other? Yet
there are virtuous and disinterested
statesmen among us who think that
faithful service ought not to be en-
forced against the railroad companies,
however loudly it may be claimed by
the body of the people as their just
due, and no matter how distinctly it
may be commanded by the Constitu-
ton itself
l am able to maintain that all the
corruption and misgovernment with
which the earth is cursed, grows out
of this fatal proclivity of public SER
wants to make a business of their
duty. Recall the worst cases that
have occurred in our history and see
if every n of them does not finally
resolve itself into that. Tweed and
his associates in New York; the
Philadelphia ring; the carpet bag
thieves; the Star Route conspirators;
all went into business for themselves
while pretending TO be engaged in the
!. public service. Cakes Ames distrib
uted the stock of the Credit Mobilier
where he thought it would do the
most good to himself and others with
whom he was connected, and that was
business in him who gave, and in them
THAT took his brides. Madison Wells,
when he proposed to Mr.. Kenner that
: he would make a true return Of the
election if he could be assured of get
ting "two hundred thousand dollars
a piece for himself and Jim Anderson,
and a less sum for the niggers," had
as keen an eye to business as if he had
been president of a railroad company,
instead of a returning board. Certain
{ greedy adventures made it a business
w AOO OA0 AN"O4OA VI aus IauQS, anu
!, uniting with Congress carried it on so
{ magnifcently that they got away with
an area nearly equal to nine States as
large as Pennsylvania. The imposi-
ton of the whisky tax, excluding
what was held on speculation, was
business to the officers and Legislators
who were sharp enough to anticipate
their own votes. You will see on re.
| Election that every base combination
t which officers have made with one
; another, or with outside parties, has
been a business arrangement, precise.
, ~ like that which the railroads Justify
on the sole ground that it is business.
The effect is not only to corrupt those
s who engage in such transactions, but
: to demoralize all who are tempted by