The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-02-27

The Pacific Mail Subsidy Investiga-
tion and tho Panic I'm tho Stock.
The Congressional investigation into the
alleged corruption in the passage of the Paoifac
Mail Steamship subsidy is conducted by ~
Committee Of Ways and Means Of To House
Of Representatives, of which Credit AootIAer
Dawes is the Chairman and Kelley and Brooks
are members. The committee sit with closed
doors. The seal of secrecy II affixed to all
the deeds of corruption they may unwittingly
unearth. This is simply iAroe. If public
opinion had not forced open the doors of Po-
lands whitewashing committee room every
body knows that tho guilt of the tainted Gre
dit Mobilier Congressman would to-day have
been unrevealed or only guessed at by tho
people through such imperfect hints as might
have leaked out through the keyhole.
The subsidy voted by Congress to the Pacific
Mail Steamship Company is just SO much
money taken out of the pockets of the people
for the advantage of ring of speculative
individuals. There is nothing in the history
or management of the company which entities
it to public aid. Its affairs have not been con-
Quoted in such q manner as to command con-
fdence and appreciation. It has been
magnificent fraud-a sort of fancy
speculation in which fortunes might be made
and lost; o football for the gamblers of the
street to kick hither and thither at their will.
The events of yesterday on Wall street will
serve to show Congress and the people the
character Of the corporation that has been
deemed worthy of special aid out of the public
Treasury. The officers of the company were
to be seen struggling to keep the inflated stock
up to its fictitious price in order to save them
selves from ruin in the speculations in which
they had become involved. The securities Of
the Pacific Mail and the Panama Railroad, both
of which are under the direct control of the
president of the former company, were reported
to be flying about the street as ''collaterals' in
order to raise money to carry the stock, which
kept falling lower and lower and growing
weaker and weaker. 1t was "corner,' not
made by the intrigues of sharp operators but
under the influence of bad management and
the conviction that there was no solid basis
under the stock at the quotations to which it
had been driven by the bulls. The peoples
money has been appropriated by Congress to
aid such reckless gambling as this and not to
assist the company in its legitimate business.
The management of the company has been
on par with the character of the stock job
bling operations of the officers. It's magnif-
cent steamers have been built rather for show
than for use, and when they have been lost
one after another, the first error has not been
&c -
places had been supplied with sound propel-
lers, capable of being run at half the expense
and of doing much better service Enormous
amounts have been expended on docks the in
security of which ought to have been apparent
to engineers of ordinary capacity. One of the
pleas urged in support of the companys
claim for national aid has been its American
character ''Let us support an American line
as the English support British lines" has been
the specious cry. But the money taken from
our Treasury is paid to English vessels to
| do the company's trade. The Ormsby, run
ming between New York and Aspinwall, is an
English shell of iron which no sound English
| company would own. The Quang Sc, an Eng
lish boat, is now on it's way to the Pacific by the
Suez Canal route, under the command of the
captain who lost the Bienville. The Mikado,
the Macgregor, the Yokohama and the Hong
Kong, the two latter of which are in process
Of construction, are all English vessels. This
would be all very well if our lawmakers were
sensible enough to enact laws which would en-
sells in the cheapest markets, but at present
they are only substituting a favored company
to enable it to pay English steamers to carry
on its trade.
1t is notorious that the subsidies granted to
the Pacific Mail Company have been secured
by bribery and corruption. No person fani-
liar with the business of legislation ct WASH
ington has any more doubt of this fact than
he has Of the location of the Capitol. 1t is
asserted that, in the recklessness of successful
jobbery, the members of the House who re-
ceived consideration for their last votes in
favor of this great swindle have neglected to
cover up their tracks; that Mr. Ordway's
books will tell damaging story about the
time of the passage Of the last subsidy. The
committee to which the investigation into this
matter has been entrusted has among its
members, as we have said, some of the worst
of the Credit Mobilier spectators. They
will no doubt endeavor to cover up the track
of other dishonest Representatives for their
own protection, and it is to that end that their
so-called investigation is made with closed
doors. This will not do! All the world
knows that the Ways and Means Committee is
suspected above all others Of corruption in this
very subsidy business, and Star Chamber
inquiry will not satisfy the people. Although
the session is near its close we must have full
exposure of the iniquity, and the money taken
dishonesty out of the public Treasury must be
withheld from the comnanv II ia time that