CHAP. VIII.

CORRUPTION OF THE LEGISLATORS.

171

throng of "lobbyists," who haunt the doors of the chamber, and often contrive to follow him upon the floor. Any great interest which is affected by a Bill before the House has active agents at work to make it worth the while of members, such members, that is, as are accessible to gold, to hear and see no more than they are paid to do. If a member is ascertained to have been engaged in a nefarious transaction, it does not injure him in the estimation of his associates, of his constituency, or of the country. This is the worst indication of all of the extent to which public life has been degraded. One instance, among many, may be given in proof of a statement which seems to affect the national idea of probity, although in reality it reaches no further than the political idea. In 1862 a local newspaper in a Western State brought forward accusations seriously affecting the reputation of a member of the House of Representatives. The charge was renewed so often that at last a Committee of the House was appointed to inquire into it. They found that the implicated member was the Chairman of a Committee to which the regulation and disposal of lands in Territories were intrusted, that he had appointed his relatives and friends to posts in all directions, and that he had made a bargain with an agent to buy lands, upon information afforded by the member in question, obtained in his official capacity, and to divide the profits between them. The facts were proved chiefly by the letters of the accused. Once he had written to his underling, "I want to

unite with you as a full partner in land speculations and town sites." And again he wrote, by his own admission, "I want to have an interest with you in the city and town lot speculation. The Pacific railroad will go through this Territory, and it will be a fortune to us if I can get it." "I will know all the proposed expenditures in the Territories and post you in advance." "I have spent a good deal of time and some money to get this place." The other party to this bargain wrote back saying,-"In the matter of the appointments you may have them your own way; all of them you can save for yourself, and over and above these the partnership matter in land speculations." The facts brought out in the evidence laid open the corrupt intentions of the accused with a conclusiveness which would have been fatal to him in other countries. But there was no proof that any of the transactions agreed upon had really been concluded, and the member was exonerated, and suffered to retain his official position.24

In the early part of 1867 the Secretary of the United States Senate, who was the publisher of a public journal, was accused of threatening his party with desertion unless a very lucrative trade contract was made with him. He did not deny the charge, but on the contrary defended it upon principle with great candour. The theory that men should be paid for their political support was, he said, "one that no

24 For the particulars of this case, see 'Reports of Committees of the House of Representatives,' 1862-63. (Washington, 1863.)

CHAP. VIII.

ADMISSIONS OF POLITICIANS.

173

party could discard and live." "Nothing has contributed more to the tremendous and increasing strength of the Republican party than the adherence of such men as Governor taking care of their friends."25

to the maxim of

There is no attempt

It is not dishonour

at secrecy or disguise about this. able for a public official to own that if he upholds his party he expects to be properly paid for the effort. And it is needless to say that the practice is not peculiar to any side or faction; it is the one precedent which all parties defend with perfect unanimity. When the Tariff Bill was before Congress in 1867, and duties on certain articles were enormously increased, statements were openly made in the public papers that interested manufacturers had been busy with their gold among the members. Whether they were well founded or not the mere observer could not decide. They were urged by American journals against American politicians, and they were never contradicted. It is incontestable that the duties most largely enhanced were those upon manufactures, the special representatives of which had seats in Congress. Public writers in America seldom deny that corruption on the most extensive scale exists in the Legislature, unless, perhaps, when the fact is affirmed by a foreigner. The addition of Texas to the Union was notoriously secured by the judicious outlay of ten millions of dollars among members of Congress and

25 Washington Morning Chronicle,' February 14th, 1867.

66

their friends. Mr. Horace Greeley, no prejudiced witness against his country, says of this great feast— Corruption, thinly disguised, haunted the purlieus and stalked through the halls of the Capitol; and numbers, hitherto in needy circumstances, suddenly found themselves rich." He adds, indeed, that "this was probably the first instance in which measures of vital consequence to the country were carried or defeated in Congress under the direct spur of pecuniary interest; "26 but the very qualification of the sentence is suggestive. The negotiation is rarely on so colossal a scale, but smaller transactions of precisely the same character are, in the jargon of Congress, constantly 'being put through.'

66

27

26The American Conflict,' pp. 208-9. See also on pp. 209-10 an honest explanation of log-rolling, "whereby," says Mr. Greeley, 66 our statute-books are loaded with acts which subserve no end but to fill the pockets of the few at the expense of the rights or the interests of the many." There are no remarks in the text so full of condemnation as many which might be cited from American writers.

27 The following is an extract from the New York Nation,' a Radical paper, writing of the Radical Legislators for the State of New York ::-"A class of bribing agents has sprung up—that is, lobby agents who have laid aside all pretence-to whom the money is confided for distribution, and who do the work as effectually as any other brokers. Nor is the business confined to the corrupt passage of bills. The latest device for raising the wind is the introduction of bills of peculiarly outrageous character, which, if enacted, are sure to ruin a number of persons. It is not intended, however, that they should be enacted. They are merely decoy ducks. They bring the birds to the fowler's net. Numbers of frightened people rush up to Albany, see the legislators, are thoroughly plucked, and sent home somewhat lighter in pocket, but also relieved in mind. The main body of the corrupt drove are lawyers, farmers, and what, not from the interior

CHAP. VIII. GENERAL EFFECT OF PARTY MISRULE.

175

The effect of this party rule is, then, to prevent free and fair debate, to destroy independence of opinion, and to introduce into political life men who think it no dishonour to use their opportunities to enrich themselves and their friends. The system in its full and complete working could not possibly produce different consequences. There are, it must again be repeated, many members of Congress who are far above the reach of these discreditable influences. But what we have to ascertain is the average kind of politician which the American system brings into existence. That average is unquestionably low. The salary of a member of Congress is often the least of the pecuniary inducements which the position holds out to him.28 The sentiment of the educated classes is essentially opposed to all that is here described, but the management of public

of the State, Republicans in politics, and sound enough on all the great issues of the day to please Thaddeus Stevens himself."'Nation,' April 11th, 1867.

Another extract from a Radical paper, the New York Evening 'Post,' is equally candid :-" In a large proportion of the districts it is expected by the party managers that the men elected to either House will have the opportunity to reimburse themselves for their expenses, and candidates are levied upon accordingly by the party committees, the "strikers" and others. The profession of honourable motives is laughed at. It is expected by the party managers that their creatures will be venal and corrupt, and we have come to that pass, by reason of the enormous mass of special legislation, and the small numbers of the legislature, that bribery is the rule and common practice."

28 The pay was formerly 3000 dollars a-year, with mileage fees, the privilege of franking, &c. In 1866 it was, by a vote of the members themselves, raised to 5000 dollars a-year.