CONGRESS BECOME A STOCK EXCHANGE.
In scanning the names of the directors of the railroad corporations
which have received large grants of lands, subsidies, and special and
exclusive privileges, we find many ex-members of congress in whose terms
of service these grants were voted. We also find members of congress who
were directors at the time their relief and aid bills were passed. We
find one member who is now a director in three of the companies
receiving the largest sums from government, and which are considered the
best of all, because of the opportunity they present to _enterprising_
men of legislative and financial ability; and in order that proper
provision should be made for his kindred, one of the brothers of this
same congressman is a director in five of these land grant subsidy
corporations. These jobs are "nice and fat," made so by the unjust
legislation of congress, and being "nice and fat," the division and
distribution of the spoils is made among these congressmen and their
friends. The practice of voting the money and lands of the public to
these corporations has become so common that it is considered legitimate
to bribe or buy the votes and influence of certain congressmen in favor
of certain grants. Large bribes have been offered, and perhaps accepted
for these purposes. So common is the practice of lobbying these jobs
through congress that it excites but little attention save in
extraordinary cases, and elicits but little comment. The power and
corrupting influence of these corporations have grown to such
proportions that they and their friends in congress can disregard and
defy public opinion, and compel all the departments of the government to
yield to their demands. They plunder the people with impunity. They have
transformed the government; while we are in name a republic, and
theoretically the people govern, we are in fact an oligarchy, and
corporations rule the country. If the reader has followed us thus far he
will have seen that while the idea of public necessity has been put
prominently forth as the excuse for the great donations made to railroad
companies, and the apology for the special privileges granted to them,
in fact, the real object has been to create by special charter a
privileged class with facilities to amass fortunes, and by the power
granted to this class of perpetual succession and exclusive right under
the law, to compel the whole people to pay tribute to it. This power is
so great at this time, that it controls the whole commerce of the
country, and as we will hereafter demonstrate, it controls not only the
financial, but also the judicial department, and reigns supreme in the
general politics of the country. Looking at these charters the thought
is presented to the mind, and the idea is incorporated in the charter,
that the people of the whole country are petitioning congress to grant
aid to these companies for the purpose of developing the country; that
by a spontaneous movement on the part of the whole people congress is
called upon to incorporate these different companies, and to grant lands
and money to aid in the different enterprises as they are presented. To
give color to this idea, the names of men from most of the states and
territories are included among the incorporators, some fifteen or twenty
of whom are named as provisional directors who are to hold their places
until the first regular meeting of the company, and the election of
officers. Congress fixes the time and place of meeting and the notice to
be given to the stockholders, and to carry out the idea that it is to be
a company in which all can participate, the charter provides that any
person can subscribe stock and become a stockholder who desires to do
so. In fact though, no petitions have been presented to congress, nor do
any considerable number of the persons named as corporators know of the
organization, or that their names have been used; nor is it intended
that they should know; the fifteen or twenty interested parties who have
formed their plan for a raid upon the treasury, are the only ones,
besides their particular friends in congress, who are supposed to know
anything about it. These fifteen or twenty men who have gotten up the
scheme, meet and elect themselves directors, and are then ready for
action. Having obtained their charters, and organized under them, the
work of robbing the people begins. With their friends, and some of their
directors in Congress, they have been able thus far to obtain all they
have demanded. There is no authority for the assumption that the
chartering of these companies is in obedience to the wish of the people,
either expressed or implied. On the contrary, this action of congress
has uniformly been in opposition to public opinion, and indeed it has
excited popular remonstrance. None but the few who wish to get their
hands into the public treasury have asked the interference of congress,
or desired the government to aid in these enterprises. So great is their
anxiety to aid in the development of the country that substantially the
same companies undertake to construct all the roads for which congress
will grant sufficient aid. All these railroad schemes which have
received the special attention of congress were planned by a set of
unscrupulous men, who combined to plunder the treasury.
The system of aiding in the construction of railroads by grants of land
was inaugurated in 1850, by grants to the Illinois Central, and did not
develop itself fully until 1862, when the plan of obtaining charters
from congress, connected with grants of land and subsidies, was
systematically adopted. Since the latter date, the practice has
increased with fearful rapidity, and within the last four or five years
it has assumed such immense proportions as to threaten the entire
subversion of the government.
The greatest raid made upon congress for these grants and special
charter privileges during any one term was at the session closing March
4th, 1868. When it is remembered that the public business did not
require these roads, and that the people had not asked congress to aid
in their construction, it seems incredible that in the fortieth congress
representatives and senators should have introduced more than _one
hundred and fifty bills and resolutions_ to aid railroad companies. Yet
such is the fact. A gentleman who spent much time in Washington, and
examined into this matter writes as follows:
"The latest developments show that in the grandeur and number of their
schemes of spoil and plunder, the congressional rings of railroad
jobbers throw into the shade all other rings of the lengthy catalogue of
confederate treasury robbers. * * * One hundred and fifty-nine railroad
bills and resolutions have been introduced in the fortieth congress, and
twice as many more are in preparation in the lobby; one hundred millions
of acres of the public lands, and two hundred millions of United States
bonds would not supply the demands of these cormorants. In other words,
this stupendous budget of railway jobs would require sops and subsidies
in lands and bonds, which, reduced to a money valuation, would swell up
to the magnificent figure of half of the national debt!" He continues:
"Among the jobs of this schedule is the Atchison & Pike's Peak railroad
company, or Union Pacific Central branch, which, after having received
government sops to the extent of six millions, puts in for seven
millions more. Next comes the Denver Pacific and Telegraph company,
which, having feathered its nest to the tune of _thirty-two millions_,
puts in for a little more, and this company is reported to be a mere
gang of speculators without any known legal organization whatever--a set
of mythical John Does and Richard Roes, who cannot be found when called
for. Next, we have the Leavenworth, Pawnee, & Western railroad, now
known as the Union Pacific, eastern division, chartered by the Kansas
territorial legislature in 1855, subsidized with Delaware Indian Reserve
lands in 1861, and then in 1862, by a rider on the Pacific railroad law,
granted sixteen thousand dollars per mile in United States bonds and
every alternate section of land within a certain limit on each side of
the line of the road, and the privilege of a first mortgage (by
subsequent amendment) to secure bonds issued by the company to the
amount of sixteen thousand dollars per mile. It further appears that a
clique of seceders from the old company illegally formed a new company,
and having by force of arms taken possession of the road, are pocketing
the spoils which legally belong to the old company. All this, too, with
the consent of the president, the secretary of the treasury, and
congress. From another source we learn that some half dozen Pacific
branch or main stem railroads, northern and southern, are on the anvil,
involving lands and bonds by tens and twenties and hundreds of millions;
that Senator Pomeroy of Kansas, has seven of these jobs on the docket;
Senator Ramsey of Minnesota, four; Senator Conners of California, five;
and Senator Harlan of Iowa, four. Senator Pomeroy, however, distances
all competitors in the number and extent of his jobs, for as it appears,
they include a line from Kansas to Mexico, three bills for roads from
Fort Scott to Santa Fe, in Texas, a South Carolina road through the Sea
Island cotton section, two or three lines from the Mississippi river
through to Texas, and a little private Atchison Pacific--one of the
nicest and fattest speculations ever worked through. Is not this a
magnificent budget, and is not the audacity of these railroad jobs and
jobbers positively sublime?"
We do not vouch for the entire accuracy of the statements above quoted,
but we know that much contained in them is absolutely true. If the
congressional committee now investigating the alleged Credit Mobilier
frauds, perform their duty honestly and faithfully, we will probably
learn that the John Does and Richard Roes referred to, were Ames, Alley,
and other distinguished persons in congress and out of it. An _expose_
by this committee of the sum total voted to this eastern division of the
Union Pacific, and the actual cost of the road and telegraph lines,
would show a large margin for division, a goodly portion of which found
its way into the pockets of members of congress. Can it be claimed that
the needs of government required these large subsidies of lands and
money? Had the people requested congress to make these grants? Has the
development of this country returned to the people a tithe of the wealth
thus recklessly given away by congress? The people are now groaning
under the burdens imposed upon them by reckless or dishonest legislation
at Washington. We might well stop and inquire, from what source the
power for this kind of legislation is derived. Mr. Washburn of Illinois,
now United States minister at Paris, in a speech in congress, in the
winter of 1868, seems to have comprehended the situation, and in
opposition to the system of plundering the public treasury spoke as
follows:
"With the unreconstructed states admitted into the Union, with full and
equal protection for all men, in all of the states, and with manhood
suffrage secured by legislation or constitutional amendments, the minds
of the people will turn to questions of finance, of taxes, of economy,
of decreased expenditures, and honest and enlightened legislation--to
questions of tariff, and to questions of railroads, telegraphs, and
express monopolies which are sucking the very life-blood of the
people--to the administration of the revenue laws and to the robberies
and plunderings of the treasury by dishonest office holders. Already the
eyes of the people of this country are upon congress. I may say they are
upon the republican majority in congress, for that majority is now
responsible before the country for the legislation of congress. It can
make and unmake laws in defiance of executive vetoes. The republican
party triumphed because it was pledged to honesty and economy, to the
upholding of public faith and credit, and to the faithful execution of
the laws. * * * The condition of the country, the vast public debt, the
weight of taxation, the depreciated and fluctuating currency, the
enormous expenditure of public money, mal-administration of the
government, the extortion of monopolies press upon our attention with
most crushing force. The people elected General Grant to the presidency,
not only on account of the great and inestimable services he had
rendered the country, in subduing the rebellion, not only on account of
his devotion to the great principles of the republican party, but
because they believed him to be emphatically an honest man, and an
enlightened statesman who would faithfully administer the laws without
fear, favor, or affection. The time has come when we are imperatively
called upon to take a new departure. Added to the other terrible evils
brought upon the country by the war for the suppression of the great
rebellion, in the demoralization incident to all great wars, and to the
expenditure of vast and unheard of amounts of public money; to the
giving out of immense contracts, by which sudden and vast fortunes were
made; the inflation of the currency, which engendered speculation,
profligacy, extravagance, and corruption, by the intense desire to get
suddenly rich out of the government and without labor, and the
inventions and schemes generally to get money out of the treasury for
the benefit of individuals without regard to the interest of the
government. While the restless and unpausing energies of a patriotic and
incorruptible people were devoted to the salvation of their government,
and were pouring out their blood and treasure in its defence, there was
a vast army of the base, the venal, and unpatriotic who rushed to take
advantage of the misfortune of their country, and to plunder its
treasury. The statute books are loaded with legislation which will
impose burdens on future generations. Public land enough to make empires
has been voted to private railroad corporations; subsidies of untold
millions of bonds, for the same purposes, have become a charge upon the
people, while the fetters of vast monopolies have been fastened closer
and still closer upon the public. It is time that the representatives of
the people were admonished that they are the servants of the people, and
are paid by the people; that their constituents have confided to them
the great trust of guarding their rights and protecting their interests;
that their position and their power is to be used for the benefit of the
people whom they represent, and not for their own benefit, and the
benefit of the lobbyists, the gamblers, and the speculators who have
come to Washington to make a raid upon the treasury."
The above shows the light in which Mr. Washburn, four years ago, viewed
the matters of which we are now treating. Since the delivery of that
speech act after act has been passed by congress in favor of these
corporations, giving them greater privileges, releasing them from their
obligations to government, discharging their liability to government for
many millions of money, and to accomplish this, imposing upon the people
additional burdens and taxes for which no equivalent has been or even
will be given. The determination to plunder the government and people,
seems to control not only the adventurers who go to Washington to lobby
their schemes through congress, but also congressmen themselves, who
become chiefs among this class of money and land grabbers. They vote to
the corporations, of which they are a part, large sums in money and
lands, and then use the means thus obtained for the purpose of bribing
and corrupting their fellow members in favor of other and larger
robberies.