The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-10-17
NORTH CAROLINA'AND WASHING
TON.

1dlFlCk Henry WlustOu, VI opohdHC
Washington, has an article in his bright
weekly paper upon the domi
nation of politics and legislation in that
State that is full of interest. There is ne
State of the Republic, it seems, where an
attempt is not made by some great rail
roads to exert an undue influence in poll
tics. Mr.. Winston thus describes condi-
tions in the State of Washington:
when people submit for long time
to injustice, it ripens into custom, and
custom has the binding force of law. The
oppressor, who at first proceeds cautious
ly, gradually grows holder and finally ends
by publicly proclaiming his mastery.
1.-The railroads in this State furnish the
most striking example of this. A few
years ago, the political departments of the
railroads operated clandestinely; when, for
instance, they intended to buy legislative
votes, they sent secret agent to Olympia
who operated with great caution and by
stealth. They maintained no lobby there
to disguest and offend; they did not
swagger around hotel corridors, threaten
islators, and openly and brazenly boast of
their power to control. Step by step, how
ever, they have gone on until they have
thrown aside all disguise and now, like the
bold highwayman, they take by the throat
the people of the State and command them
to halt and deliver
There was a time when the railroad
bosses disclaimed any participation in poll
ties. They protested, if they went to
Olympia at all, that they were forced to
go there to ward off hostile legislation
that they went there for the purpose of
preventing the people from robbing the
railroads; that it was very much against
their wishes to be there; and that as soon
as the danger was over, they would gladly
leave.
Now they are the first to arrive and
the last to leave.
''They openly and brazenly establish
headquarters and employ an array of hired
retainers, hangers-on, strikers, informers
and spies, and proceed to corrupt de-
bauch and buy such members of the leg
islature as are purchasable. They then
organize these purchased chattels, pre-
vent the passage of any bill, no matter
what its object or merits, unless its au-
thor and friends submit their necks to the
railroad yoke.
They have reached a still higher plane
of audacity.
''They take part in Senatorial, Congress
sional and Gubernatorial contests, public
ly proclaiming that they will not allow
this or that man to be nominated: that
they have the power ito kill and the power
to make alive
Perhaps they have. 1t may be that
the people of this State have become so
accustomed to the lash that the railroad
bosses have applied to their backs that.
like slaves, they are cowed, and have
lost the courage to resist and resent. We
will know certainly how this is after the
next election
In North Carolina the railroad men have
never quite dared to avow their purpose
SO plainly and openly as they seem now
TO be doing in the State of Washington
They did not do this when they exerted a
potential influence, when applicants for
office did not dare to incur their hostility,
and when aspirants were wont to court
their support. Even then there had to
be a pretense that the railroad boss was
not The Boss. Now that things have
changed somewhat, the candidate for office
who wishes to win knows he is ruined if
those railroad men known to be in politics
support his candidacy. 1t is death to
any man. for example, in North Carolina
for it to be known that he is the candi-
date of the Southern Railway crowd. The
political managers of that political cor
poration have not given up the desire to
punish their enemies and reward their
friends, but they have learned that public
sentiment will not tolerate their attempt
to control. Therefore, they work in the
dark, not daring to expose their candi
date to the defeat which their support
would invite. The change has been
brought about by pubhcity-one of the
chief agencies of reform. The people will
not accept dictation if they know that it
is attempted, and they will not permit
the election of any railroad agent to a
high office if they know that he is the
creature of the railroad corporation