Dec. 12, 1867, Union Pacific R. R. bonds, valued at $2,700,000 Jan. 3, 1868, " " " " " 637,500 June 17, 1868, " " " " " 525,000 June 17, 1868, cash 2,250,000 July 8, 1868, " 1,125,000 ---------- Total of dividends in seven months $7,237,500 In addition to the above, another dividend was declared July 3d, 1868, of $2,390,625 in bonds, which were pronounced bogus, or worthless. It is thus seen that the directors of the Pacific railroad company, who were also the Credit Mobilier--trustees for themselves, and some of them members of congress--by the aid of congressional legislation, and the fiction of the Credit Mobilier, contracted with themselves, agreeing to pay themselves extravagant prices for building their own road, and getting their pay as a donation from the public treasury, and were able in seven months to declare dividends to themselves of nearly two hundred per cent upon the reported paid up capital, which capital was also obtained from government. If the reader has followed us in the statements we have made relative to the land and bond subsidies granted to the Pacific railroad companies, he will not wonder that the indebtedness of these companies, after the completion of the roads, and after the receipt from government of more than their entire cost, nearly doubles the amount necessary to build them, had honesty and economy been used in their construction. We might pursue this subject further, but we think enough has been shown to convince the impartial reader, that whatever the pretence for making these grants, the real object has been to enrich unscrupulous and dishonest men at the expense of the public; and that this corrupting power has become so great that those who occupy high and responsible places in the government have become partners in these wholesale robberies of the people. This conclusion becomes irresistible when we find members of congress voting government aid to railroad companies in which they are stockholders and directors at the time the aid is voted. CHAPTER VIII. HAS CONGRESS THE POWER, UNDER THE CONSTITUTION, TO CREATE OR ENDOW PRIVATE CORPORATIONS?