THE FARMER'S WAR AGAINST MONOPOLIES. 133 



toward the side of the corporation. Railroad men are 

 keen judges of human nature. They understand the 

 use and effect of a free pass. They never give the use 

 of them and its facilities from mere friendship or 

 admiration for a man, be he never BO famous. They 

 grant the favor with the distinct expectation of some 

 day asking and receiving an equivalent. It has been 

 charged in the public press that a judge of one of the 

 Western Supreme Courts permits a railroad corporation, 

 which is a party to several suits pending before him, to 

 transport, free of charge, building material for his new 

 house, thereby saving him from five hundred to one 

 thousand dollars in freight money. Railroad companies 

 are always glad to number judges of the State courts, 

 and Members of Congress among their stockholders, and 

 it is common to make very great concessions to these 

 gentlemen in their purchases. As the late Mr. Oakes 

 Ames expressed it, they are "let in on the ground floor." 



Appreciating the fact that their interests and those 

 of the public are antagonistic, the railroads of this 

 country have deliberately undertaken to beat the people, 

 and to cht2at them out of their rights. In order to ac- 

 complish this they have set to work to corrupt and 

 capture both the legislative and the judiciary powers 

 of the States. 



The history of the Erie Railroad is very instructive 

 of the daring of railroad corporations, and the lengths 

 to which they are willing to go in their outrages upon 

 the public. It is also suggestive as showing just what 

 can be done in the courts when " properly managed." 

 The following account of one of the "Erie fights," will 

 show how easily the courts can be manipulated by the 

 great corporations. 



