The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1872-10-04
C0LFAX ON THE CREDIT MOBILIER
CHARGES.

At South Bend, Indiana, the 9TH
er day, Mr.. Coifax spoke as fol-
lows, of the charges of corruption
i against himself and others, in re-
gard to certain railroad stocks.
It is clear as the MONDAY sun, that
these charges are merely made for
political purposes. They show the
state of desperation existing in the
Greeley ranks: $50
Let me detaln you a few min
utes while touch fabric of false
hood with the spear Of truth, ex-
posing the so-caled Credit Mob;l-
Ter scandal, that you may see out
of what worthless stuff campaign
charges are manufactured. There
are three papers in the United
States, which, above all others, abb
soluteiy know, as l shall show,
that bribing me to support the Pa
citic Railroad interest is just as
credible as that 1 should need to
/ be bribed to vote the Republican
ticket. Seven years ago, with
three gentlemen connected with,
and corresponding with, the Chi
tago Tribune, New York Tribune
and Springfield Republican, 1 eros
sed the continent in stage coach,
expressly that all four of us might
see with our own eyes that the
possible route of the Union Pacific
Railway might decide as to its
practicabiiity, and might hasten It's
construction by using our infiu-
ence, personal and as journalists,
to induce capitalists to accept lib
eras subsidies prottered three years
previously by Congress. From a |
letter by Mr.. Bowles to the Spring
field Republican, found on page
262 of his book, 'tAcross the Com
tinent, L quote the following:
Government bonds are loaned |
to it to the amount of $4,000 a
mile through the plains, and $4S,-
900 a mile through the mountains,
besides which half of all the land
on each side of the road, twenty
miss deep, was donated to the
companies doing the work. The
companies are further authorized
to issue their own bonds to an
equal amount with those granted
by the government, and secure
them by Il first mortgage bond, the
government loan taxing the sec
ond place on the security"
Mind you, my friends, Mr..
Bowles is stating the effect of the
government loan which was yet
awaiting acceptance by moneyed
men. On page 273 AIR. BoWles
concludes this letter: "Men of
the East and men of the West, lend
now few thousand of men and a.
hundred millions of money to Gre
ate a new republic to marry to the
nation OF the Atlantic, the equal,
If not the greater, nation of the
Pacific" such an appeal to the
patriotic men of means was Wor-
thy OF heed, and was needed. Mr..
Bowles wrote truly. The urgent !,
and patriotic appeals OF those rep /;
rescntatives ana special correspon-
denEs of the New York Tribune,
Chicago Tribune and Springfield {
-KepubIIcan, with perhaps my mum
bic aid, and based on personal /
knowledge we had. acquired by I
long ana dangerous journeys, in a.,
inducing men Of wealth to accept
such subsidies offered at first by 4,
the Congress of 1852, and reoffer-
Ell and improved by the Congress
OF 1854, both OF which subsidy {
acts were supported ana voted for
by such Senators as Charles Sum
ner and Lyman Trumbull, but
these very capitalists have been
denounced by many papers and
politicians as not better than swim s
oilers, for accepting what had been !
prortered and reprotfered by Con- {
gress with the earliest popular in &
and finally risking Is
their millions where others would I
not hazard q dollar; having myself '
made more speeches, addresses and
lectures III favor OF the Pacific ]
Railroad as political and CONNER |
ciai necessity than any other man /
i'll the nation, nothing could be '
more absurd and self-refuting than 6
the charge that /, one of its friends, I
when mlIiions doubted its practi- G
had to be bribed to favor L
its interests. Enemies, not friends, /
are the ones whom brides seek ont
and control. Ii there is a man OF a
all our forty millions of people, a
who knows me and who believes l U
could be influenced a hairs breadth 4
in private or public life by the Il
purchase ofany company, ! should t
not value his good opinions as y
worth any more than his evil ones. f
L am proud to say that in all my n
public life no man ever dared to t
make me dishonorable PROPOSE N
ton. DO / need to add that .nei- v
Their Cakes .Ames nor any other n
person ever gave or offered me Il
one share, or twenty shares, or Q
TWO thousand shares, in the Mobil- q
Ter or any other railroad stock? II
Mr.. CoIfax then took up the let a
Ter of Gath, the correspondent of
the Chicago Tribune, in which he u
purdorts to give an expose of the u
Credit MobiIier. He. especially q
to the paragraph in which 4
It stated that Speaker Colfax and =
Speaker Blaine kept Cakes Ames q
1t the head of the Pacific Railroad L
and that Ames sent Il
through Congress the scandalous L
by which the Govern
mefIt abandoned its first mortgage
On the road and allowed private y
bonds to take prece- b
lence. Colfax said Ames was sim, Ii
ply a member of the committee, L
never its chairman. He could noe, r
be at its head. Regard q
ing the other charges, he said the :,
Iettets OF Bowles and others, as :
early as 1865, showed that this was =
the law before capitalists were In Z
duced to accept the proposition Of n
Congress to build the road, This o
very proposition was supported in q
Congress andIvoted for by Sumner n
and Julian, as well as by 8
Ames, and an overwhelming ma :
iority in Congress. III
A SHoRF SToRY.-About twenty :;
years ago, two friendless, mother :
less little boys started out to seek q
their fortunes. One of these, little b
boys, as is invariably the case, was II
a bad boy and went of with ale