492 THE GROUNDSWELL. 



squarely to where the trouble lies. They would, therefore, 

 willingly sell to the government their franchises and so- 

 called vested rights, knowing full well that, by skillful 

 maneuvering, they could still control, by the hard cash it 

 would place in their hands, power and position in these 

 roads. 



If the government should possess itself of our vast system 

 of railroads, with all the varied industries that cluster around 

 it, and the added interests of telegraph lines (for one must 

 follow the other), we should have from 25,000 to 30,000 

 men out of every 1,000,000 inhabitants, whose votes would 

 be directly controllable by the influence of Executive dicta 

 tion and patronage. The centralization of power in the 

 government is even now so great that the screws can be ap 

 plied with telling effect when deemed necessary ; and many 

 and grievous have been the complaints on this point during 

 the last twenty years.. There is no administration, however 

 pure, that ought to be trusted with so great a power. Cer 

 tainly, we dare not increase that power now. The civilized 

 world stands aghast at the corruption and frauds practiced 

 at the seat of government, wherein both Republicans and 

 Democrats seem to have struck hands together, and wherein 

 even those who had heretofore been supposed to be irre 

 proachable have come out with characters so besmirched 

 that even .the pity of a sorrowing people could not cover the 

 iniquity. 



This centralization of power and the corruption of wealth 

 have carried many a once proud nation down into the grave 

 of effete slavery, and barbarians have roamed where once 

 civilization dwelt. It behooves America to profit by these 

 dread examples in time. 



