The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-02-20

Poland and His Packed COmmlttee.
When Judge Poland's committee was first
announced an indeAnablc suspicion seized
upon the public mind that its mission was 10
cheat the people and whitewash tho corrupt
men who had taken tho brides and done tho
work Of the Credit MobiIer lobbyists The
rumor that Congressman Cox had been
pledged to tho selections he made and the
anxiety of the committee to carry on Star
Chamber inquisition strengthened this sus-
picion. The tricky and disgraceful report
with which the committee have closed up their
work has confirmed it. The duty Of the in
vestigatOrs would seem TO have been to cover
up the tracks and whitewash the characters Of
the corruptionists and they have attempted to
discharge it faithfully at the risk of their own
regulations. But in endeavoring to scrape the
filth from the garments of their associates they
have only soiled their own hands without
cleansing their friends.
If the object of the committee was TO de-
feat the punishment of any corrupt member Of
the House their report WAS shrewdy devised.
They strain tho evidence to the utmost limit
| u
while they cover up by silence or acquit from
blame such convicted corruptionists and falsi-
fers as Colfax and Kelley. by this means the
democratic members may be induced to re-
fuse to vote for tho expulsion of their political
associate unless the punishment shall reach
the guilty republicans as well. They declare
Cakes Ames to have been guilty of bribery, and
they pronounce those who received his gifts
Innocent of being bribed. AS the great Hoax
sat with q sardonic grin upon his features lis
tening to the report, how he must have
chuckled within himself at the idea of Bing-
ham. Kelley, Garfield, Scofeld and Dawes, be-
sides others whose names yet lie hidden in the
mysterious pages of his memorandum book,
voting to expel him from the House! If the
committee did not see the effect of their recon-
mendations; if they did not clearly under
stand that their pretended sacrifice of Brooks
and Ames was calculated to save the victims
themselves as well as their whitewashed asso-
ciates in crime, then they are not the keen law
yers and cunning politicians they are generally
| supposed to be.
The report reads like q sarcasm upon its
authors. ''No member Of Congress ought to
place himself in circumstances Of suspicion"
say the committee, $50 that any discredit to
the body shall arise on his account" Yet
they declare that Kelley, who accepted Credit
Mobilier stock from the Congressional briber,
Ames, without paying for 1t, who afterwards
borrowed money of the same person and who
sought by false testimony to deny his guilt
until confronted by proof under his own
hand, has committed no wrong act and had no
corrupt intentions lit is of the highest
Importance" continue the committee, "that
the national legislature should be free from
all faint of corruption, and it is of equal neces-
sity that the people should feel that it is So
In free government like ours we cannot
expect that the people will long respect the
laws if they lose respect for the lawmakers"
Yet these plausible champions of public virtue
can find no offence in the action of the Con-
gressmen who bounded the heels of Ames for
a share Of his tempting prize, and recommend
that the halls Of Congress shall continue to be
disgrnced by the presence of the bribe-takers |
who are the contempt and scorn of every |
honest man In the Republic!
This keen and practical committee find by
the evidence that the whitewashed Congress
men had no corrupt motives in procuring the
Credit Mobilier stock in the fact that Ames is
not shown to have ''entered into any detail of
the relations between the Credit Mobilier
Company or to have given them any specific
information as to the amount Of dividends
they would be likely to receive" So Judge
Poland and his associates believe that to
prove corruption on the part of Congress
man it must be shown that the person who
paid him the bride first entered into n cir
cumstantial statement of its exact value and
Of the services that would be required as its
equivalent. But how in this case do they find
Brooks SO clearly guilty? There is certainly
nothing to show that any such detailed ex-
plantations were entered into between himself
and DR.. Durant, and, except in its larger
quantity, his purchase Of stock stands exactly
On par with that Of the smaller criminals
And how can they find such conclusive proof
hat Ames was briber Of Congressman when
he transaction was 80 business-like that the
congressman did not know they were bribed?
The fraud Of the committees report is, how
sver, most clearly exposed in their pre-
ence that they would have found their
vhitewashed associates guilty had there been
evidence to show that they knew Of the con-
,ection between the Credit Mobilier and the
Union Pacific or that the dividends were to ,
re SO enormous. We pass over the weakness
# the pretence that these experienced Con-
,ressmen, who had been members of the House ,
# Representatives during the whole existence
# the Union Pacific Railroad corporation, !
ONE of whom are chairmen of the most {
important committees Of the House and j
learly oil Of whom are practising lawyers, 4