ironical astonishment that they almost invariably expressed at the
"superior class" being responsible for the continuous bribery. Thus,
in reporting in 1840, that $130,000 had been used in bribery in
Pennsylvania by the United States Bank, an investigating committee of
the Pennsylvania House of Representatives commented: "It is hard to
come to the conclusion that men of refined education, and high and
honorable character, would wink at such things, yet the conclusion is
unavoidable." [Pa. House Journal, 1842, Vol. ii, Appendix, 172-531.]
were often outwitted by this class of adventurers, and were only too
glad to treat with them as associates, on the recognized commercial
principle that success was the test of men's mettle, and that the
qualities productive of such success must be immediately availed of.

In other instances a number of tradesmen and landowners would
organize a company having, let us say, $250,000 among them. If they
had proceeded to build a railroad with this sum, not many miles of
rail would have been laid before they would have found themselves
hopelessly bankrupt.

Their wisdom was that of their class; they knew a far better method.
This was to use the powers of government, and make the public provide
the necessary means. In the process of construction the $250,000
would have been only a mite. But it was quite enough to bribe a
legislature. By expending this sum in purchasing a majority of an
important committee, and a sufficient number of the whole body, they
could get millions in public loans, vast areas of land given
outright, and a succession of privileges worth, in the long run,
hundreds upon hundreds of millions of dollars.