New-York tribune., 1873-01-18
THE CREDIT MOBILIER.
MORE NPoRTANr DEVELOPMENTS.

MORE IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS.
THE FIRST COMMITTEE NEARLY THRoUGH-AN
INTERESTING FIELD ENTERED UPON BY THE
sECOND-AN ASTONISHING STATEMENT FROM
MR.. DURANT CONCERNING THE BUILDING Of
THE ROAD.
lBY TELEGRAPH 70 THE TRIBUNEl
WASHINGTON, Jan. 1.-THE interest in the Credit
Mobier investigation is pretty much all concen-
trated in the Wilson Committee. The Poland COM
mittee held no meeting to-day, and expect al their
meeting on tomorrow to finish their work by exam
lining Oakes Ames again. and putting few questions
to his secretary. They viii then close their doors
and deliberate on their report.
The Wilson Committee sat all day. Thos. T..
Durant was on the witness-stand all the time The
Committee, who are evidently investigating to find
out the truth have easy task in trying to get ex-
plicit information from him. owing to his habit OF
answering questions in an eyasive way. 1t usually
requires about five minutes to get positive Yes or
No from him on any important point, and the Com
mittee are frequently obliged TO sit patiently for
long time while he overhauls his books and papers,
assisted by his secretary, Mr.. Crane, who sits at his
elbow. The persistence Of the Committee always
wins in the end however and as the result of their
work a light begins to be thrown upon the doings of
the patriotic gentleman who constructed the great
highway across the continent"
willingly gives of the transactions of himself and
his associates as directors of the Union Pacific Rail-
road, and at the same time directors of the Credit
Mobier One of these transactions detailed, to-day,
with obvious reluctance would, according to the
common standard of commercial morality, be char
acteTized by very harsh term. 1t appears that
after the road had been built to the Tooth meridian
under what are known as the Hoxie and Boomer
contracts, the Company constructed 23s miles more
under the supervision of its own officials, at cost Of
$27 500 per mile, including equipments.
Then the contract was made with Oakes Ames and
transferred to the Credit Mobilier to complete and
equip the road at from S475OO to $1035OO per mile,
increasing with every section of 100 miles of track
westward. This contract was made to apply to the
23S miles already completed-that is to say, the
Credit Mobiher agreed to build that much road at
about $4,000 per Inile which already built and
had cost only S27,5OO per mile.
a The Union Pacific directors made this remarkable
contract IN October, 1861 and, two months after
ward they took from their treasury S2,250.0OO in
first mortgage bonds of their road, and $22500O0 in
their capital stock, and handed it over to them
selves as directors of the Credit Mobier, for dv-
sion among the stockholders in the latter concern,
of which they were the chief, This was the profit
on the 23S miles Of road which was already built
when the contract was made, and 1t was ciphered
out by deducting from the Credit MObilier contract
price the actual cost of the road. The balance fur
nished dividend to the Credit MObiher stockhold-
ers of 100 per cent on their shares
The only thing Mr.. Durant could say in palliation
of this transaction was that it enabled the road to
make a more favorable contract for the unfinished
part of the line. There is very little in this excuse,
for the reason that the directors in reality
tracing with themselves TO build the road, and in
doing so they put the price high enough to absorb
all its assets and all the money it could borrow. This
dividend of S45Oo,0O0 in bonds and stocks had ac-
crued and payable at the time when Oakes Ames
began to place his Credit Mobilier bonds among Con-
gressmen. 1t seems TO have been to speak in plain
terms, flched from the Union Pacific Road by its
own directors charged with guarding its interests
and divided among themselves and their friends.
No valuable consideration whatever was given in
return for il. Mr. DuTant, after close questioning,
said that the entire Union Pacific road, if 1t had
been economically built would not have cost over
S65,OOO.OOO, and he was forced to admit that the
Govsnment aid and the capital stock if paid the
act of Congress contemplated would come within
$2,O0OO0O Of building and equipping the road. thus
leaving the Company with no debt save that to the
Government and with its vast land grant I'M
touched. Ii this had been done, he thought the
road would now be paying dividend Of five or six
per cent, and that its stock would be worth eighty
five apart from the value of its lands.
Further questioning in relation to the contribu-
ton which Mr.. Durant made of $4,000, to elect Mr.
Harlan to the Senate, developed the fact that the
two checks of 5000 each were drawn New
York bank payable to Mr.. Harlans own order, and
not sent TO any campaign committee in Iowa. MIR.
Durant swore positively that he had not charged the
amount to the railroad, but he admitted that the
new Board of Directors had made some inquiries
about il. DE had, he acknowledged, been in the
habit of spending money TO control elections i'll
Iowa, sometimes helping to elect Democrat to a
local Office and sometimes Republican, his object
being to "put good men in"
The witness occupied long time explaining a
Suspense Account" of $435,OO0, which finally
audited in mysterious manner, the auditing COM
nttee being required only TO satisfy themselves as
to the items, without reporting them. Much of this
was for preliminary expenses" and under this
head between S150,000 and 100000 was paid to j..
b. Stewart and $75OOO to $15O,0OO to Alex. Hay who
were the COmpany's confidential agents in Wash
ington when the act of 1864 was being
worked through Congress, and afterward in
certain transactions with the Leavenworth and
Pawnee Railroad Companies. Mr.. Durant said he
had never required them to account for this money
by vouchers, and had simply taken their receipts
for it. He did not know that any of 1T had been
spent to influence legislative elective actions.
These agents will, no doubt, be summoned before
the Committee to give fuller account of their
stewardship than was required of them by Mr..
Durant