better afford to bear the shameless
effrontery of the ermined extortioner than the damage which might result
to them from adverse decisions.

A railroad pass, when presented by a public official or even by any
public man, is now, in nine cases out of ten, a certificate of dishonor
and a token of servility, and is so recognized by railroad officials.
What equivalent railroad companies expect for the pass "courtesy" is
well illustrated by the experience of an Iowa judge. This gentleman, who
had been on the bench for years and always had been favored with passes
by the various companies operating lines in his district, at the
beginning of a new year failed to receive the customary pass from a
leading road. Meeting its chief attorney, he took occasion to call his
attention to what he supposed to have been an oversight on the part of
the officer charged with the distribution of the passes. The attorney
seemed to take in the situation at once. "Judge," said he, "did you not
recently decide an important case against our company?" "And was my
decision," replied the Judge, "not in accordance with law as well as
with justice?" The attorney did not answer this question, but in the
course of a few days the Judge received the desired pass. A few months
later it again became the Judge's unpleasant duty to render a decision
adverse to the same company. This second act of judicial independence
was not forgiven, and the next time he presented his pass it was
unceremoniously taken up by the conductor in the presence of a large
number of passengers, and he was required to pay his fare.

Employes, while engaged in the legitimate business of their companies,
should, of course, be transported free, but a great many persons receive
passes and are classed as employes who never render any legitimate
service for the company giving the pass, and by far the greater portion
of passes are not granted from pure motives, but are given for the
purpose of corrupting their holders. It arouses antagonism, because as a
rule passes are given to people who are fully able to pay their fare and
are denied to those who are least able to pay it. The passenger who pays
his fare and then finds that a large number of his fellow-passengers
travel on passes realizes that he is compelled to pay a higher fare that
others may be carried free. He feels that he is unjustly discriminated
against, and wonders why such discrimination is tolerated in a country
whose institut