The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-02-19
washing Report from Judge 20.
lands mmittco.

| washing Report from JuuSe Fo-
lands Committee.
The report of Judge Polands Credit Mobi-
lier Investigating Committee was presented to
the House of Representatives yesterday. and
its full text will be found in to-day's HERALD.
1t is singular document and one which will
be read with equal surprise and disappoint-
ment by the honest portion of the community
To sum up it's results in few words, it con-
victs Congressman Brooks and Ames of cor
rupt practices md recommends their expul-
| sion from the House makes special plea
that would do credit to q sharp criminal
| lawyer in behalf of Dawes, Scofeld,
Bingham, Kelley and Garfield all of
whom it whitewashes to the ex-
tent of its ability justly exonerates
Speaker Blaine, and suppresses the evidence
against Vice President Colfax 1t may be that
the conclusions the committee have reached
have been arrived at honestly and that they
have been able to find distinctions between the
briber and the bribed which the people will
fail to discover But their action will be
regarded with suspicion, and it will be diff
cult to remove from the public mind the i'm
preston that they have acted in the interests
of the majority in Congress- and that, while
Offering up Messrs. Brooks and Ames as q sac
rifce to outraged public sentiment, they have
sought to shield others who IRE equally de-
serving Of condemnation.
The case against the two convicted Con-
gressmen is clearly and convincingly stated,
and there will be no disagreement with the
| E. IL. =. ~.
concerned. Cakes Ames has been the Mephis-
topheles of Congress, and there is evidence
leading to the belief that Credit Mobilier stock
is not the only bride with which he has
tempted the representatives of the people
from the path of duty. The man who
"wanted more friends in Congress" and who
placed his shares where they would do most
good, could not have been held guiltless by
the most INSCRIPTIONS committee that ever
undertook q legislative investigation. 1t is
time that he should 60, and the country
will be well rid Of him. The case Of James
Brooks is without pallation. He sold him
self to the Credit Mobilier Company when he
was doubly bound to expose its fraudulent
character and to protect the government and
evade the consequences Of his illegal act only
serve to render it the more reprehensible.
His expulsion is called for by every considera-
ton of justice But the keenness with which
the committee detect the fraud and weakness
of the defence set up by Messrs. Brooks and
Ames, and the frmness with which they insist
upon the punishment of those members only
render more conspicuous their singular failure
to discover any improperly in the conduct of
the other purchasers Of the Credit Mobilier
stock and the earnestness with which they
plead in behalf of the meaner cdlprits. Let
us see what sort of a case the report makes
out for the whitewashed congressman.
The evidence shows that Cakes Ames COM
menced dealing out the Credit Mobilier shares
to his fellow Congressman in December, 1867.
At this time the stock was worth more than
double It's par value, and in January and Febru-
airy following it had reached according to the
report, three and four times its par value
When Congressman had money Ames sold
him this valuable stock at par. When Con-
| gresham was penniless Ames "carried'' the
| stock for him and paid himself afterwards out
of the dividends as they became due. On the
9th day of December, 1867, Washburnes
hostile legislation began by the intro
duction of the bill to regulate by law
the rates of transportation over the
Pacific railroads. The Congressman who re-
ceived the shares of Credit Mobilier from
Cakes Ames all voted against this and similar
measures. Dawes, of Massachusetts, received
his shares in December, and on january
drew from Ames his first dividend in Union
Pacific bonds and stock This dividend is
stated in the report to have been eighty per
cent but the official record published in
the HERALD Of December 81, 1872, shows it to
have been one hundred and twenty per cent
sixty in first mortgage bonds and sixty in
stock. Scofeld, of Pennsylvania, procured
his ten shares in January, 1868, and
! received at the time of purchase his January
| dividend stated in the report at eighty per
cent, but really one hundred and twenty per
cent. In June following he received sixty
per cent cash dividend. Subsequently he
became anxious to get rid of the stock, and
made settlement with Ames, who returned
him the amount he had originally paid, leav-
| ing Scofeld clear gamer of over seventeen
| hundred dollars on five months transaction.
Bingham, of Ohio, bought twenty shares at
par in February, 1868, when the stock was
four times its par value, and received
all the dividends, only giving up the stock
in February of last year, when exposure
appeared inevitable. Taking the official list
published in the HERALD last December we
find that the dividends on twenty shares
amounted to ten thousand nine hundred
dollars. W. d. Kelley, Of Pennsylvania, took
ten shares of Ames in December, 1867
but, having no money to pay for them, they