Uncle Pete Sawyer a coal-black fatherly looking old darkey from an Eastern county made himself immortal in that debate. “Mistah Speakah!” he bawled drawing himself up with great dignity, and holding a pen in his left hand as though he had been writing. “What do dese white gem’men mean by ezposen dis bill? Ef we doan pay de members enuf, dey des be erbleeged ter steal. Hit aint right, sah, ter fo’ce de members er dis hon’able body ter prowl atter dark when day otter be here ’tendin’ ter de business o’ de country. En I moves you, sah. Mistah Speakah, dat dese rema’ks er mine be filed in de arkibes er grabity!” They were filed and embalmed in the archives of gravity where they will remain a monument to their author and his times. As Tim’s great financial measures made progress, the members began to wear better clothes, assumed white linen shirts, had their shoes blacked, and put on the airs of overworked statesmen. When they had used up all the funds of the state in mileage and per diem, they sold and divided the school fund, railroad bonds worth a half million, for a hundred thousand ready cash. It was soon found that Simon Legree, the Speaker of the House, was the master of financial measures and Tim Shelby was his mouthpiece. Legree organised three groups of thieves composed of the officials needed to perfect the thefts in every branch of the government while he retained the leadership of the federated groups. The Treasurer, who was an honest man, was stripped of power by a special act. The Capitol Ring merely picked up the odds and ends about the Capitol building. They refurnished the Legislative Halls. They spent over two hundred thousand dollars for furniture, and when it was appraised, its value was found to be seventeen thousand dollars at the prices they actually paid for it. The Ring stole one hundred and seventy thousand dollars on this item alone. An appropriation of three hundred thousand dollars was made for “supplies, sundries and incidentals.” With this they built a booth around the statue of Washington at the end of the Capitol and established a bar with fine liquors and cigars for the free use of the members and their friends. They kept it open every day and night during their reign, and in a suite of rooms in the Capitol they established a brothel. From the galleries a swarm of courtesans daily smiled on their favourites on the floor. The printing had never cost the state more than eight thousand dollars in any one year. This year it cost four hundred and eighty thousand. Legree drew thousands of warrants on the state for imaginary persons. There were eight pages in the House. He drew pay for one hundred and fifty-six pages. In this way he raised an enormous corruption fund for immediate use in bribing the lawmakers to carry through his schemes. The Railroad Ring was his most effective group of brigands.