360 Meyer—Early Railroad Legislation in Wisconsin. 
grossest bribery resorted to in the legislature. 1 Were a person 
wholly unfamiliar with our legislative methods to read the char¬ 
ter of the Milwaukee and La Crosse railroad, he would undoubt¬ 
edly have his suspicions aroused in reading section twelve: 
“ And in case Congress grants lands to aid in the construction 
of a railroad between the points mentioned, the said company 
shall receive such proportion of such Congressional land grant, 
etc.” The charter was granted in 1852, four years before the 
land grant was made by Congress ! In November of that year 
(1856) the legislature passed acts “to execute the trust ” created 
by the Congressional land act; and this is the manner in which 
that “trust” was executed: The same man who had manipu¬ 
lated the canal lands went down to Madison with a “mysterious 
chest ” filled with “ packages. ” This chest he entrusted to 
another person who, it had been agreed, should distribute the 
packages after the “proper” bill, granting to Milwaukee and 
La Crosse Railroad company the desired lands, had been passed 
and signed by the governor. An investigation instituted by 
the legislature of 1858 revealed the fact that $175,000.00 in 
stock at par value had been distributed among senators, $355,- 
000.00 to Assemblymen, $16,000.00 to clerks, $50,000.00 to the 
governor, and $246,000.00 to persons who were not members of 
the legislature. Those who opposed the bill did, of course, 
receive no “gratuity,” while three senators and three assem¬ 
blymen voted for the bill but did not accept bribes. To inquire 
into the cash value of the stock is immaterial. Had it had but 
a nominal value, the case would still stand isolated from exten¬ 
uating circumstances. We have unfortunately had so many 
similar blots in American politics that it would be both unprof¬ 
itable and revolting to present this scandal at greater length. 
Among the names associated with these detestable deals we find 
a number that have long stood as representatives of Wisconsin’s 
greatness in the minds of the younger generation. In this lies 
our greatest humiliation. “ The ingenuity displayed in the at¬ 
tempt to vail the transaction beyond the possibility of detection 
1 Fond du Lac Journal, March 3, 1853; Wisconsin State Register, 
Sept. 5, 1863; Janesville Gazette, Nov. 6,1851; Milwaukee Sentinel, Feb. 
28 to March 3, 1853, inclusive. 
