The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1869-04-13

VI on per acre.. ............'... HslzVVvV
Total ......... ..s.s....'..'. si5,'io,VVV
But these 14.0S0, 900 acres of land are and
were worth more than one dollar and fifty
cents per acre, as above estimated, for Con-
gress itself passed an act refusing to sell its
own reserved alternate sections for less than
two dollars and fifty cents per acre. This
price would swell the above amount to
s93, $50, 900, giving 1928 per mile for the
eleven hundred miles-a little more than twice
the cost per mile of the railroads of Massachu.
sets and Ohio, cost which the Pacific Rail-
road should not exceed, especially as its max
imum gradient is ninety feet to the mile.
Under the most prodigal management the
surplus remaining, after building the road,
could not be less than $50, 900 per month, or
$50 900, 900, and the problem to be solved
was the discovery, by the directors, of some
feasible method of utilizing this attractive
sum of money for their own benefits. OF
course it had not been necessary to sell stock,
because the required funds were obtained in
the shape of government subsidies, and the
proceeds of the sale of bonds. Nevertheless,
a few favored persons, probably the directors
themselves, had been permitted to subscribe
for a certain amount, and a percentage on the
subscription was, ostensibly, called in. The
thirty-six millions, therefore, were to be the
prize of the ingenuity of the originstors of
this remarkable scheme. The directors could
not take contracts in their own names, and at
their prices, without violating the laws of
New York, and shocking what lingering sense
of decorum might be left in Congress; but
contracts offered the easiest and most eHec-
tive method of waylaying the coveted cash.
The managers, therefore, resorted to the
credit mobilier plan and obtained charter
from the State of Pennsylvania.
The manner in which this part of the
scheme was to be operated is thus explained
by the New York Herald
: The incorporators and stockholders were the
same as the Pacific Railroad Company, and this
chameleon only changed its color that 1t might
absorb, instead of reflect the golden light that
shone upon it. To still further stand within the
pale of the law It was considered best to look for
a contractor in Nebraska, and q Mr.. Hoxie con-
venienty appeared with q contract for 247 miles
OF the road. He very naturally, unable to carry
out his contract applied in due time to the Credit
Mobilier for aid. This company loaned him
the transfer Of cash from the Union Pacific safe to
the safe Of the Credit Mobilier, which it is proven
is the came strong box. The balance OF the road
has teen managed somewhat differently. 1t has
been let under contract to Cakes Ames and Ds.
Wis. The former is Q member OF Congress and has
been working hard lately to get the company's
affairs entirely removed TO the jurisdiction of the
District Of Columbia. 1t appears that every
stakeholder has an interest in the Ames and Ds-
Wis contracts-that is, these men represent the
Union Pacific Railroad, the Credit Mobilier, or the
contractors or the stockholders. Quiet citizens,
who are assessed for taxes, can pay their money
and take their choice" The contracts were
thus kept In the family.
The great game moved on to fortune. The
stock, for sake of show, had been assessed and
paid from one pocket into the other by making
enormous dividends from the Credit Mobier
branch of the company. The safe was not suff.
GENTLY large to hold the plathoric stream which
swelled, according to the sworn statement of
director, to $50, OoO, 600 Of profits.
At this point appears the intrusive Fisk,
with his financial eye fixed upon the vanish
ing millions, and his mind made up to dis
turb the couplacent serenity with which the
conspirators were gathering in the surplus
cash. In 1867 he subscribed for 50, OOO, 900
of the stock and, by some means, succeeded
in purchasing six additional shares. He then
rendered to the treasurer the amount ostensi-
bly, called in-ffty-fve per cent. on the sub.
scription-which the treasurer very naturally
refused to accept as, if Fisk had been per-
mitted to come into the, company he would
have been entitled to share in the spoils-
cash expenditure, with large surplus. Not
even by virtue of his six shares could Fisk
effect an entrance into the golden ''ring," for
a stockholders meeting refused to recognize |
him as a shareholder even to that extent.
"Whereupon rose fued and question" and,
negotiations having failed. Erie declared war |
on the Union Credit Pacific Mobilier Com
pany. On July Sd, of last year, Fisk made |
an affidavit before Judge Barnard, of New |
York, which resulted in an injunction against |
both branches of the company and out of |
this injunction grew the pending litigation. |
A receiver has been appointed, and additional |
afidavits have been made, tending to confirm |
Fisk's accusations against the company. |
Among the charges are one to the effect that |
q United States commissioner was bribed |
with s25, 900, to accept the last twenty-mils |
section, SO that the hands of the conspirators |
might at once be laid on the government |
loan (; and another, that great and unnecessary |
detours have been made in the line, for the |
purpose of increasing its length, and thereby
the government subsidy.
The game that has been played by the
managers of this vast scheme of plumber is as
remarkable for ingenuity as for magnitude.
1t was defective not in conception but in exc
cution. The exclusion of the minor stock
holders was blunder which led to Fisk's as
sault on the company, and which may re-
suit in preventing the final contamination of
the plan. That plan is, simply, to foreclose
the first mortgage bonds. the greater part of
which are held by the "Credit Mobilier," by
and by the directors of the
road, and stockholders and contractors, and