r considerations moved Lincoln to dismiss Cameron. He did so in
characteristic fashion. On January 11, 1862, he sent Cameron a curt note
saying that he proposed to appoint him minister to Russia. And
thither into exile Cameron went. A few months later, the House of
Representatives passed a resolution of censure, citing Cameron's
employment of irresponsible persons and his purchase of supplies
by private contract instead of competitive bidding. The resolution,
however, was later expunged from the records; and Cameron, on his return
from Russia, again entered the Senate under circumstances so suspicious
that only the political influence of the boss thwarted an action for
bribery. In 1877 he resigned, naming as his successor his son "Don," who
was promptly elected.

In the meantime another personage had appeared on the scene. "Cameron
made the use of money an essential to success in politics, but Quay made
politics expensive beyond the most extravagant dreams." From the time
he arrived of age until his death, with the exception of three or four
years, Matthew S. Quay held public office. When the Civil War broke out,
he had been for some time prothonotary of Beaver County, and during the
war he served as Governor Curtin's private secretary. In 1865 he was
elected to the legislature. In 1877 he induced the legislature to
resurrect the discarded office of Recorder of Philadelphia, and for two
years he collected the annual fees of $40,000. In 1887 he was elected
to the United States Senate, in which he remained except for a brief
interval until his death.

In 1899 came revelations of Quay's substantial interests in state
moneys. The suicide of the cashier of the People's Bank of Philadelphia,
which was largely owned by politicians and was a favorite depository
of state funds, led to an investigation of the bank's affairs, and
disclosed the fact that Quay and some of his associates had used state
funds for speculation. Quay's famous telegram to the cashier was found
among the dead official's papers, "If you can buy and carry a thousand
Met. for me I will shake the plum tree."

Quay was indicted, but escaped trial by pleading the statute of
limitations as preventing the introduction of necessary evidence against
him. A great crowd of shouting henchmen accosted him as a hero when he
left the courtroom, and escorted him to his hotel. And the legislature
soon thereafter elected him to his third term in the Senate.

Pittsburgh,