INTRODUCTION. 403 



must be aroused before long if we would preserve our free 

 institutions." Attorney General of the State of New 

 York. 



At the request of the New York Chamber of Com- 

 merce, ex-Judge Black of Pennsylvania, than whom no 

 other perhaps is better authority, has prepared a paper on 

 railroads and their legal relation to governments. After 

 reciting some of the abuses to which these corporations 

 subjected the people, Judge Black continues: 



"To perpetuate these abuses they seek political power. 

 In many places elections in the face of this influence have 

 become the emptiest forms. The railroads send their 

 agents to the Senates and Assemblies of the States. Laws 

 are passed or resisted as they dictate, and Governors 

 approve or veto legislation at their bidding. In the House 

 of Representatives they have their attorneys and in the 

 Senate of the United States their confidential allies. The 

 President can not ignore them and the politicians who 

 nominate presidents curry their favor. They control 

 thousands of votes in this and neighboring States, and 

 order them to be delivered as if the suffrage were pork or 

 pig-iron. * * * This, as we have said, so far irom being 

 in any sense a wild statement, is but a partial epitome of 

 uncontradicted evidence laid before the public as the result 

 of official investigations. 



u The cheerful persons who keep on believing that 

 things are running beautifully, though indeed they be 

 running with all the feet they have in the worst possible 

 direction, may still, as some do, persist in believing that 

 there is no immediate danger, and by and by, if any evil 

 does accrue, the people, in some way not specified, will 

 find a perfect remedy; but those less given to consulting 

 hope than their common sense, are not likely to remain 

 idle much longer. There is a pretty general feeling that 



