VESTED RIGHTS AND POLITICIANS. 469 



class of ring-masters. As before insisted on, the ax must 

 be laid at the root of the evil corruption among the law 

 makers themselves. If they were above bribes, or if briber 

 and bribe-taker were promptly punished, the enormities 

 complained of would soon be stamped out. 



We must cease sending third-rate lawyers to legislate for 

 us; men without briefs, fallen in the scale of humanity, un 

 til they become pot-house politicians, suddenly re-appear 

 ing as statesmen ; unscrupulous and needy ; taking to brib 

 ery as a duck does to water. 



We must cease lending willing ears to glib-tongued ad 

 venturers of every sort, and begin to think for ourselves. 

 We must cease granting rights to corporations without ex 

 acting some guarantee or fair equivalent in return. Our 

 laws must be purged of the legal verbiage that now incum- 

 bers them, purposely so framed, in order that they may 

 the more readily be construed to mean something which 

 they should not. If we would prevent trouble in the 

 future, we must cease to grant extraordinary and exclusive 

 privileges to railway and all other similar corporations. 

 We must prevent the former from taking possession of our 

 land; taxing us to build their works ; rendering lands which 

 we have bought non-paying ; watering stocks at their own 

 good will and pleasure, and then, while claiming vested 

 rights, claiming, with all these extraordinary privileges, 

 the rights and privileges of private citizens. 



The solution of the problem is not difficult. We must 

 claim representation in ratio to our voting strength. Farmers 

 must represent the agricultural interests; the mechanic, 

 mechanics; the merchant, commerce; the legal profession, 

 law; the stock jobber, gambling, if you like; and so on 

 through the whole category. The lawyer may plead for us ; 

 the doctor may bleed, blister, and physic us ; the divine 



