We now invite the attention of the reader to the account as it now stands with the subsidy bonds voted by congressmen to companies in which many who voted were stockholders and directors.

As the law stood prior to April, 1871, all railroad companies that had received government lands were required to pay the interest once in six months as it accrued. This interest had not been paid, and the secretary of the treasury withheld, to apply on the accrued interest, the amount earned by the different companies by the transportation of the mails, troops, &c., for government. Congress, composed in part of stockholders and directors in these same companies, passed a law ordering the secretary to pay in money to the different companies one-half of the amount thus earned, and left it optional with the companies to pay, or not to pay the interest on their bonds. This they have not done, and the interest account of these companies with the government stands about as follows:—

Making the total amount of payments the sum of $3,708,935, and the amount that these companies owe government, as the accrued interest on subsidy bonds, $12,861,640. This is the amount due in July, 1872. Add the interest accruing since that date and these companies owe the government not less than $16,000,000 interest on their bonds. This amount, as well as future interest, and the principal of the bonds was at one time secured to the government; but when congressmen and their friends get a controlling interest in the companies, they procured the passage of an act, supported by their own votes, which destroyed the security held by the government, and relieved the companies of the payment of this large amount of interest, thereby compelling the people to pay it, while the stockholders, including some of the same congressmen who had voted in favor of the act, received dividends on their stock and on their Credit Mobilier stock to the amount of two and three hundred per cent; thus, by the abuse of the power vested in themselves as members of congress, compelling the people to pay the interest the companies should have paid, and pocketing in the shape of dividends the money so dishonestly obtained. If we needed any further proof to establish the fact that these Pacific railroads were in fact congressional jobs, that members of congress were looking to their own interests rather than to the interests of the people, we need but glance at the interest account of the Sioux City & Pacific company. The excuse pleaded of the "necessities of government," will not avail in this instance. While the interest account of this company is about $400,000, the account for the transportation of troops, mails, &c., over its road, amounts to the sum of $1,642, one-half of which has been applied on the interest account of the company, and the other half, under the act of congress, has been paid by the secretary of the treasury to the company. The conclusion is irresistible, that the personal interest of congressmen, rather than the wants of the public, has controlled their action.

Connect with the incorporation of railroad companies, and special legislation in their favor, the legislation in favor of "Indian rings," "whisky rings," "patent right combinations," and the numerous other kinds of special legislation, with the advantages presented to legislators to make personal gain from all these sources, and we can well understand why men are willing to spend such large sums to secure an election to the United States senate, or house of representatives. The baneful effects of the modern code of political morality are not seen in the legislative department of the government only. The same disregard of the rights of the people, and a determination to protect and aid combinations in their efforts toward self-aggrandizement, made at a sacrifice of those principles which are supposed to govern all persons holding places of trust, honor, or confidence, seem to influence to a great degree those holding high position in other departments of the government. The acts of congress chartering the Pacific railroad companies make it the duty of the president of the United States to appoint five government directors for these roads. Under the statutes these directors cannot own stock in the companies, nor have in them any personal interest whatever. They are supposed to be free from any bias for or against the companies: but they are appointed to represent the government, and to guard against and report to the secretary of the interior all abuses on the part of the companies, and at such times as they are required to so report, to also make such suggestions as in their opinion shall best subserve the interests of the public. It is made their duty to personally inspect the roads, during their building and after their completion. At least two of these government directors must have a place on all important committees appointed by the companies for the management and prosecution of their business. Any dishonesty on the part of the companies in letting contracts for the construction of their roads, or any misapplication of the grants made by congress, must have been known to these five government directors, or some of them, if they had properly discharged the duties imposed upon them by law. The formation of an inside ring, under the title of "The Credit Mobilier of America," composed entirely of the directors and stockholders of the Union Pacific company, the letting of the contract for the construction of the road to one of the directors of the railroad company, who was also a director in the Credit Mobilier (and a member of congress), at more than double its actual cost, the transfer of this contract to certain trustees who were directors in both companies, in the manner stated in a preceding chapter of this work, and the declaration of large dividends on the stock of the companies at a time when the work on the road was barely begun, and before any dividends could possibly have been earned,—all these facts must have been known to the government directors, and concealed by them from the government. When it is remembered that some of these government directors were members of congress at the date of the passage of the acts chartering the roads, there is but little question that the same influences controlling them in voting these large subsidies to the companies also controlled them as government directors in their supervision of the roads. This conclusion is strengthened on seeing that some of them became owners of stock in the Credit Mobilier.

The same corrupting influences have been felt in other departments of the government. The abuses practiced in the collection of customs by the officers at the different ports of entry, as shown at the recent investigations made by authority of congress, are but the natural sequence of the questionable course of the legislative department. The great frauds practiced by parties having contracts for furnishing supplies to the Indian tribes are traceable to the same source. This assumption by congress of the power to grant charters to private monopolies, its unconstitutional interference in matters reserved to state control, its determination to foster these gigantic corporations by princely grants, with the corruption incident to these selfish and greedy combinations, are the direct cause of the dishonesty prevailing everywhere among our public officers, and besides other rank growth have led to the imposition of burdens upon the people, oppressive to the last degree. The controlling purpose of a large portion of those elected or appointed to government offices seems to be to accumulate wealth without regard to the propriety or honesty of the means employed. In their eagerness to benefit themselves, all consideration for the public good, or respect for their obligations as sworn servants of the people, are of secondary importance. They accept office from purely selfish motives, and enter upon their duties with the same object in view animating those who embark in trade, manufactures, or commerce, viz: private gain. Seemingly viewing the offices they hold as being their own private property, they use them as the banker uses his money—for purposes of speculation. Not unfrequently they permit themselves to be bought and sold, like any other articles of merchandise. While we do not claim that all public officers were pure prior to the legislative creation of the monopolies we have been examining, we do claim that previous to that sad departure, honesty was the rule, and not the exception. It was when congress entered upon the business of chartering railroad companies, donating public lands to them, and voting them money from the public treasury, that the rule changed; and when, in addition, congressmen became principal owners and directors in these companies, while still retaining their seats in congress, they placed themselves upon the record as unfaithful to their trust, and struck a blow at public morality which will be fatal to our popular government, unless resisted by the whole moral power of the nation.

And here we might well pause, and ask, what security have the people for the continuance of republican government? These gigantic corporations are in their nature anti-republican; they tend to a centralization of power; they compel the people to submit to their demands; they are under the protection of congress, under whose special legislation they are permitted to disregard state laws; their ramifications extend throughout the country; their artifices and money control the votes of the people; they elect their friends to both the senate and house; they organize and send strong bodies of men to the lobby of congress and state legislatures, well supplied with money to obtain the passage of laws in their interest, and to prevent such legislation as would be detrimental to them, and in favor of the people; they have their friends and emissaries in every department of the government, and throughout the country, and they exercise a controlling influence not only at Washington, but at almost all the seats of state government. The offices filled by appointment of the executive and confirmation of the senate, are too often the agencies of this same influence. We would not be understood as saying that the president acts corruptly in these appointments; we mean that the influences that secure many of the presidential nominations are the same as used by these corporations in the election of their senators and representatives. The appointment of judges of the supreme court of the United States has, in at least two instances, within the last few years, been made through the influence and in the interest of these monopolies. These corporations are also represented in the cabinet. It is well understood that the removal of Attorney General Ackerman, and the appointment of his successor, was done by these corporate influences. The fact that the secretary of the interior, to whom reports should have been regularly made of the progress and condition of the Pacific railroad, was silent, while private fortunes were being fraudulently taken from the public treasury, proves that he also was under the same influence. It can be accepted as an established fact, that all the departments of the government are to a great extent controlled by corporations and combinations of speculators whose interests are adverse to those of the people, and the result is, that statutes are enacted, executive offices appointed, and decisions of court rendered in the favor of these powerful classes, while the rights guaranteed to the people by the constitution are disregarded.

The influence of corporations is also powerful in the administration of state governments. While no such gigantic monopolies as the Pacific railroad have been organized in any state yet, either by special charters granted by state legislatures, or under general incorporation laws, railroad corporations in large numbers have been organized, and by combining their influence, have obtained control of most of the state governments; they have been granted special and exclusive privileges, and by the use of money and patronage have been able to control state conventions, state legislatures, and state courts. As a logical result, the people are taxed, while railroad companies are practically free from taxation; subsidies to corporations are authorized and declared to be constitutional, and the people are obliged to submit to rates of charges for transportation of freight that amount to a confiscation of the farm products of the country. We need not enter into a history of state grants to railroad companies, for it is familiar to all; the same corrupt practices incident to national, attend state, legislation. In many instances, corporations have organized under state statutes, or obtained special charters from state legislatures, located their roads, procured local aid, and then obtained from congress land grants for their roads, and have thus become powerful in the states where they are located, while other companies have built their roads exclusively with the means afforded by local aid voted under state laws, and loans of money or sale of bonds; but in every instance so planning and contriving that the entire road shall pass into the exclusive control of a select few, leaving to those who furnished the local aid no rights or privileges in connection with the company, or the road, save that of paying extortionate freights and burdensome taxes.