The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1873-02-06
Ihk yrlUiue.
THE CREDIT MOBlLIER.


tlonai government can furnish a more
pitiable spectacle than is now presented
at Washington. 1t seems as if the ne
result of the session OF Congress was te
be an investigation which. with fuss anc
parade enough fer the trial of Warren
Hastings. promises 10 end in the discoy-
cry of nothing of value which was no!
known before, and of nothing concern
ing the transactions Of members OF Cen
gress in Credit Mobiler stock OF any
other into which Congress or the public
had any right TO inquire. Meanwhile
the panic among the members is pain
fully ludicrous The denials and re-
ordinations, and the showing back and
forth of checks for few hundred dollars
as if they were tainted with smallpox,
seems to indicate that back bone is no
longer an essential quality in public life.
The scare, as usual, is so much the
greater because the danger incurred is
not very definite. So far as the evidence
goes, there has been no bribery, no Civ,
ing or taking of stock in exchange for
legislative influence proved against any
body. As DOT one man out OF thou
sand. however, reads ell the evidence
that is Published, the impression got
abroad that he Credit Mobilier Compa-
ny was gigantic scheme Of fraud and
that anybody who held it's stock was
apco JIcto u swiudler. We fully believe
that if the members had followed Mr..
Bingham example, and had the manli-
ness to CO Mess that they did own the
stock and had a right to own it, the
spectre would have been stripped of It's
teIrors.
People are still osking what is tho
meaning Of thi, terrible phrase, Credit
Mobilicr, and it may be veil to repeat
once more the explacation Of it. 1t IS
the fashion of the hour to Represent it as
the instrument with which Mr.. Ames and
his associates robbed the Government,
distributing few shares here and there
20 prevent exposure or to secure accom-.
p.iees. We take the risk Of being out
of the fashion for while rather than
give currency to any such absurdities.
Tine act which authorized the building Of
the Pacific Railroad provided that the
stock should not be sold below par. At
that time it seemed that the only chance
TO profit was in the stock, and this
amounted to nothing, if nobody could
get the stock without paying 800 q
share for it. The Credit Mobilier COM
pany was therefore awaited of. and cen
tracts were made to build the road for
all the securities, bonds, stock and lands
which the charter gaze, any surplus
above the cost of the road to be divided
among the ckEolders of the company.
1t was regarded as exceedingly doubtful
whether there will be any such surplus.
To our personal knowledge Mr.. Cakes
Ames, at the same time that he was sell
ing stock TO such members of Congress
as cared for it, was freely offering it to
our prominent 6nauciers. 1t was de-
clined by several bank presidents and
bankers--certainly for no moral reasons
who were at the same time eagerly
taking up stock in other Western. enter
prises. To one gentleman, with whom
Dir. Amss had business relations, he Of
fered the option of taking the stock at
par within sixty days, and upon solicita-
tion renewed the option for another SIX
ty days, and as within that time the
market price had advanced to 125, the
gentleman awaited himself of the option,
and sold the stock. MIR. John l. Blair,
of New Jersey. who has anna ssed large
fortune in railroad contracts, stated at
dinner given him in this city that 1.-THE
Union Pacific was too big for him., and
he had declined an interest. 1t should
be added. moreover. that all the legisla-
ton in behalf of the Pacific Railroad was
passed before the Credit Mobilier COM
pany was connected with it at all, and
from three to four years before the
transactions with members of Congress,
now under investigation. As the build
ing of the road went on, it was found
that tho difficulties had been greatly ex
aggerated, and that the cost of crossing
the mountains was much less than had
been feared, and very large profits were
realized 1t was the old story of Colun-
bus making the egg stand upon the little
end. Anybody could see it after it was
done
l his device ola contracting company is
is by NO means peculiar to the Union
Pacific. The Central Pacific had
Contract and Finance Company" OF
exactly the same nature, which realized
much larger profits than the Credit Mo-
bilicr. The Only difference is that there
have been no Durant and McComb to
drag it before the public. Numerous
roads in Iowa and Wisconsin have been
built exactly upon the same principle.
We are no defenders of this sort of rail-
soad-building. Much good, We hope,
iIOul lDO o. cl Out
the ovcrhauling of a single enterprise.
Conn which the country has received and
is daiiy receiving rich returas for its in
vestment, while score of others not yet
finished are going forward to-day unre
buked under the very noses of our CEN
cors, will be likely to prove neither edi-
fving nor pro6tabic to the country.
The land grant bonds of ,Ae Union
Pacific illrst exactly one point in
this discussion. The company issued
ten millions of bonds, secured by all the
lands granted them. By sales of land
they have reduced this amount to about
seven millions, and they can be bought
Ky anybody in the market at about sew
senty-6ve GEMS on the dollar. These
bonds will doubtless be redeemed at par
at ne distant date from the sales of land,
and there will be another cutlery at the
proit made upon them. The fore-
Thought is no. very rare which can see
an event after it happens.