INTRODUCTION. 409 



"I told Senator Gordon of Georgia, if he would get 

 up a party of the best men of the South, we would pay all 

 their expenses, which, I suppose, would not be less than 

 $10,000, and I think it would be money well expended." 



* * I stayed in Washington to fix up the railroad com- 

 mittee in the Senate. Scott was there working for the 

 same thing; but I beat him for once, certain, as the com- 

 mittee is just as we want it. " 



u jay Gould went to Washington about two weeks 

 since, and I know saw Mitchell, Senator from Oregon, 

 since which time, money has been used very freely in 

 Washington. ' ' 



"The T. and P. folks * * offered one member of 

 Congress $1,000, cash down; $5,000 when the bill passed; 

 and $10,000 of the bonds when they got them, if he 

 would vote for the bill. ' ' 



Note also the following: 



. "President Cleveland has filled out three-fourths of 

 the presidential term, and the social extravagance and 

 display in official circles at Washington are increasing 

 ten-fold. The fashionable gorgeousness of Central Pacific 

 railroad money and Standard Oil wealth has well nigh 

 paralyzed the nation. The costly feasts that are reported 

 in every daily paper would beggar a small principality. 

 China plates valued at $100 each, with a gold table service, 

 the price of a king's ransom, wines by the dozen kinds, 

 and delicacies the most rare and expensive that money can 

 buy, nightly spread for guests and officials to bewilder the 

 silly minded legislator and tempt the greedy officeholder. " 

 A tla nt a Constitution. 



The report of the railroad commissioners of the State 

 of Georgia, says: 



u The moral and social consequences of these cor- 

 ruptions are even worse than the political; they are simply 

 appalling. We contemplate them with anxiety and dis- 



28 



