Somewhere, within the little world in which he lives, they will find someone who will yield to their temptations or surrender to their power to hurt.
Railroads have been known to do great things for the son of a Judge who was about to try an important case.
Governors, Senators, Judges, Railroad Commissioners sometimes have relatives who are more or less willing to get hold of a good thing.
The wives of the same sometimes have approachable kinsmen who, for a consideration, are willing to speak superciliously of the “demagogues” who assail corporations.
Then, again, the newspapers—those busy bees!—can be so trained by corporation cunning that they will give us their sting instead of their honey.
If Sir Statesman votes with a serene disregard for Sir Demagogue, giving the railroads what they want, Editorial prowess will take care of him. His praises will resound, until his sublime head bumps against the stars. But should he be his own master, obeying no orders save those of his conscience, the corporation organs can so belittle him, slander him, and manufacture lies about him, that he almost grows ashamed of having been honest.
In short, the corporation can make “a good time” for those who serve it, and “a bad time” for those who defy it.
Do not all men know this?
The more necessary any official is to combined capital, the more they will do for him, or against him.
Create any tribunal which becomes an absolute necessity to the corporations—a matter of life and death to them—and they will either tempt it with bribes which no virtue can resist, or assail it with intimidations which no courage can defy.