The Cairo daily bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1870-1872, 1872-10-12
CAIRO BULLETIN.
CAKES AMES AS A SPECULA.
TOR.

SOLELY BIZ MONEY.
The special Boston correspondent Of the
Springfield 'kepublicxn' gives . careful
review Ut the career Of Cakes Ames rs =
congressman, in which the following
occurs:
Once In congress, and being rich man,
he bad no trouble In securing n reelection,
| and when the war was over no went into
the Pacific Railroad speculation, along
with bis friend Alley, also n member Of
| congress and n millionaire. How early
| they began their questionable fnanceerlbg
| about u they know better than any body,
| except perhaps General Butler but it is
common report that when Butler wanted
| to 20 TO congress from the Essex district,
IN 1866, he went to Alley and convinced
| hin, that he knew enough about Alleys
Pacific Railroad operations TO make 1t adj
visable for Alley TO withdraw as con-
gress candidate IN Butler favor, and soon
sft.rwaid, according 10 the same rumor,
General Butler accepted q retainer from
the Union Pacific Company, and has kept
s.ill ever since. l do not vouch for the
truth of this, but there is nothing In the
reputation Of Ames, Alley or Butler TO
make it improbable, and 1t is COD hGently
| asserted.
Now we come TO another branch Of the
Oakes Ames scandal, and one about which
there can be-no doubt. Having y large
| interest in the Pacific railroad and its COL
lateral speculations, into which the public
money was going by the million, and be-
| ing n member OF congress from the Phi.
grim Fathers district, Mr.. Ames saw I'll
to get himself appointed on the house
committee concerning bis railroad, and
| eventually became chairman or 1t. This
In itself, unless u man were rs scrupu-
lous and sensitive on such points as
Washington, was gross scandal it Is
like man serving on jury to try his
own case and should have excluded Mr..
Ames from congress ever afterward.
But by this time he had resolved to stay
in congress till his railroad job was fairly
through, and he made il impossible to
nominate any other Republican candidate
in his district. At the last election there
wns n strong feeling against sending him
back so there was H. 1868; and IL he had
been poor man, he would not have got
the nomination or the election in either
year. But we had then reached the mil.
lionsire era in our politics, when \ man
who is worth million can get himself
nominated to almost any office. And
middle Of his last term. Whether be hss
attempted to bride members Of congress
or not, his last i've years in congress have
been scandalous for his open and notorious
selfshness in looking after his railroad in.
terests, while nominally serving the pub
lie. To be sure, other congressman have
done the same to be sure, the Pacific rail-
road was, AS Ames maintains, n great pub
lie work. But it was also great private
job, and both Ames and Alley deceived
themselves, without deceiving the public,
if they suppose that their fellow-citlzens
believe that they helped on the railroad
mainly as n grand national enterprise.
II was to them purely a matter of bust
ness; they are both traders by nature, not
Legislators, and they had no business TO
mix up their private affairs with the pub
lie in erests as they did.
With the last phase Of the Ames scam
DIAL made public by his own letter, have
troubled myself very little, though it
seems to be the worst Of all. Having
long ago made up my mind, on evidence
quite satisfactory, that Mr.. Ames WAS unfit
to represent q Massachusetts district in
congress, because he was treating a public
trust as a source of revenue for himself
and friends, did not care much about the
details. But l do not see how he is to es-
cape from the dilemma in which his letter
30 McCoinb and his late pub
lie denial place him. No or.
binary or reasonable construction Of
the letters to McComb relieves him from
grave suspicious Of bribery, Tor does the
curious or evasIve language OF his public
denial. Besides, whenever there is any
conflict between the two, the public Will
believe that u letter written to u business
associate, in con fdence, is more TO be cred
tied than n letter 10 the public, written for
the express purpose OF defending the
writer from charges made against him.
The Common wealth, in its forcibe-
feeble defense of Mr. Ames, who seems TO
have made that paper his official organ,
let. out some damaging things without
helping its client ut all II admits, for
instance, what could not be denied, that
Ames' letters to McComb are genuine,
and that they need An explanation, which,
in his public denial, Mr.. Ames has not
seen fit to give. The Common wealth
says, IN behalf of Ames, that, in "placing'
stock where it would protect the
Pacific railroad speculation, he only
meant to place 1t "amvng financial
men Of credit and character, in different
states, whose reputation NJ nome or eIse-
where would give confidence to the whole
enterprise" If the facts soon to DO dis
closed do not make this statement seem
very Ridiculous rs we'll as false, l shall be
surprised. The same ingenious editor,
who Dies not seem to understand the force
Of language, says that McCombs penciled
list of congressman perverted the wish
and meaning Of Ames. II that is all he
can say, he will not help his client much.
AWARD OF PREMIUMS OF THE LOWELL
DISTRICT AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY, HELD
IN LOWELL, THE 18th, 18th, AND 10Th, OF
OCTOBER, la7l-REpo IT OF COMMITTEE.
"CLAss XX.-MusIcAL INSTRUMENTS.
ETc.-Smmons, Clough l. Co. Cabinet
Organ, entered by Geo. Crum, Lowell, was
awarded the First Premium for its extra
ordinary clearness and purity of tone.
Ecfa no al