THE FARMER'S WAR AGAINST MONOPOLIES. 167 



In the winter of 1872-73, the Third Avenue Street 

 Railroad Company of New York sought of the legisla- 

 ture a charter for the construction of an elevated road 

 along the line of that thoroughfare. The road was and 

 is badly needed by the Metropolis, and the company, 

 with the economy for which it is noted, " refused to 

 pay a cent for the passage of their bill." The scheme 

 had received the endorsement of the public, the entire 

 metropolitan press demanded its adoption, but the 

 legislature rejected the bill. The Third Avenue Com- 

 pany had refused to buy the votes of members, and it 

 must be punished for its insolence. The indignant 

 members rejected the bill. They had been so care- 

 fully trained by the railway corporations seeking their 

 aid, to regard their votes as merchantable property, 

 that they turned upon the first corporation refusing to 

 buy, and crushed it. 



It is popularly believed that the Legislature of New 

 Jersey was for many years in the pay of the famous 

 Camden & Amboy monopoly and its successor, the 

 Pennsylvania Company. It was not until the outraged 

 and indignant people of the State rose against these 

 monopolies, and threatened to put an end to the official 

 existence of the legislators, that the General Assembly 

 of New Jersey saw fit to take steps for the discontinu- 

 ance of the wrongs from which the State had suffered 

 for more than a generation. 



The conflicts of the Erie Railroad under the manage- 

 ment of Messrs. Gould and Fisk, afforded many instan- 

 ces of the art of manipulating a legislature, and it is 

 popularly believed that many a dollar of Erie funds 

 found its way into the pockets of the honorable gentle- 

 men who assemble at Albany to make laws for the 



