Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1873-06-27
SENATOR CARPENTERS SPEECH

ALI. DOTEN, ; , EdiIer and Proprietor.
SENATOR CARPENTERS SPEECH.
Senator Matt. Carpenter defended
the Credit Mobilier frauds and back
pay grab, before a considerable audi
ence In GAINESVILLE, Wis.,, last night.
The speech was characteristic Of the
man, and filled with sophisms and
evasions. 1t was simply n r%eitsration
Of the stale arguments in favor Of dis
honesty which we have been wont to
hear from some of our Republican
leaders for the past five years. It was
an apology for venality and crimi-
nality, and filled with the grossest in
suits to the intelligence of the people.
For instance i: He said "the Credit Mo-
bilier was the terror which was carried
into the hearts Of the unsophisticated
people mainly by Its name, which, not
understanding, they thought must
mean something dreadful" He said
"the press frightened Colfax and Pat
terson into the idea that to own
Credit Mobilier stock was criminal,
and they appear to have rushed
Into the effort to disprove their owner
ship. The proof convinces all men
that they intended to prevaricate."
He declared that "the Credit Mobilier
owed the Government nothing, that
the Government only paid what it
agreed to for the Union Pacific Rail-
road and has no interest In the matter
between the two companies" He
characterized the suit Instituted
against the Mobilier Company as a
"suit against mankind in general"
and said the suit had "no parallelin the
judicial annals of any civilized coun-
try" lie rehashed the arguments in
apology for the salary grab something
after this manner: The salary before
was too 500 Is little enough.
Other Congresses have done the same
thing. It was done in 1856 and 1866.
If it Is larceny now, it was then. But
the crown, tho cap-sheaf, the highest
pinnacle of absurdity was reached
when the Hon. Senator declared that
under the Constitution it Is actually
incumbent for a Senator or Represent
alive to accept the pay fixed by law.
and that he cannot refuse It without
violating the Constitution. which ex-
pressly says "he shall receive such
compensation, etc." He denied that
there was any contract between Con-
gress and the people, expressed or i'm
piled, that the latter should serve for
a certain amount Of pay.
These are the main points Of the
carefully prepared speech Of a promi-
ncnt Republican Senator, upon two of
the most glaring official corruptions Of
this generation. He speaks as II he
were addressing an audience Of serfs, a
collection Of fools. The whole tone OF
the speech Is M Of arrogance-an as
sumption of superiority-which the
people have neither right or ability
to question. In declaring that the
name Of the Credit Mobilier, and not
Its glariag frauds, were what alarmed
the American people, he insults every
Intelligent elector In the country. In
saying that a Government officer has
not the Constitutional right to decline
payment to which he is by an unjust
law entitled. he states a plain untruth.
and attempts to insult every man In
the National Legislature who has had
the manhood to decline the wages OF
corruption. More than that; he en-
deavors, under a technicality. to de-
ceive the people. Suppose that under
the Constitution every Senator and
Representative was forced to draw his
back pay-to put it literally In his
pocket-does the Constitution forbid
him to take It out and return 1t to the
National Treasury? The assertion,
false or true, is the trick Of q dema-
gogue. and unworthy the position oc-
cupied by Matt. Carpenter or the
common sense Of his constituents.
His denial that our Legislators labored
under contract like other public officers
Is false. II a law Is passed fixing the
salary Of a public officer before that
officer Is elected, both people and can
didate are presumed to know 1t. The
people employ, and the elected accept
the office with its compensation as
fixed when the choice was made. A
legislative enactment is equally-nay,
a higher contract than an agreement
under seal, and is so regarded in all
courts Of law. When Mr.. Carpenter
was employed by the people Of Wis
consin, he was engaged for six years
at an annual salary Of $4,000, and
neither he nor the people have since
had an opportunity to make a new
bargain. The argument Is II Of
porer, not right, and every intelligent
man knows it. 1t will take greater
talents than Senator Carpenter pos
sesses to convince the Intelligent elect
ors of to-day that the Credit Mobilier
wa not a s%tupendous attack on the Sc
curities of the Government, in its
second mortgage, by SO involving the
Union Pacific that the first mortgage
could be foreclosed, or that the salary
grab is not a most dastardly swlndle'