404 THE GROUNDSWELL. 



There has hardly been a State of the Union in which the 

 attempt has not been made, by railway corporations, to in 

 fluence railway legislation. The legislature of New York, 

 and the judiciary and bar of New York City, have been 

 disgraced by the machinations of Fisk, Gould, Drew, Van- 

 derbilt, Field, Barnard, and others. New Jersey, under 

 the less neutralized influence of the Camden and Amboy 

 and its successors, and Pennsylvania, under the guidance of 

 the Pennsylvania Central, have been largely controlled and 

 directed by railway influence. Maryland, Alabama, Cali 

 fornia, and other States, have also felt the hand of iron 

 under the velvet glove of railway corruption ; and the annals 

 of Congress already teem with railway schemes, and &quot; com 

 mittees of investigation,&quot; of which the devices and derelic 

 tions of &quot; railroad men &quot; are a prominent feature. 



THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 



The experience of the last twelve months has proved, how 

 ever, the virtue inherent in the people ; that the boldness 

 and effrontery of railway corporations have reached a point 

 beyond which they can not go; and that railway corpora 

 tions must surrender a part of their assumed prerogatives, 

 or fare worse. New Jersey has so far got out of the control 

 of railway influence as to pass a general railroad law. 

 Pennsylvania has formed a new Constitution, in which rail 

 way corporations receive special attention. California, 

 under the lead of her gallant governor, Booth, rebels en 

 masse against her railway despotism. The day of deliver 

 ance seems near at hand, when railway as well as other 

 corporations shall be held to a direct responsibility to gov 

 ernment; when the rates for the transportation of persons 

 and property shall be based on the correct business theory 



