Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1873-03-21

AL1CE1 Cb1A VI OIIC OOFOlVL AIICh1OC1D VI
Congress with whom he dealt. I will
now hear the question of the gentleman
from Tennessee, Mr.. WHITTHoRNE.
Mr.. WHITTHoRNE. [ desire to ask
precisely the same question which has
just been addressed to the gentleman
from Maryland, Mr.. MERRIoK, with
the addition that it appears in the re-
port of the committee that Mr.. Ames,
in answer to an inquiry made by Mr..
; Dawes, communicated this fact; [ will
look it up in moment. .......
Mr. RITcHIE. [ hope my colleague
will not yield to any further Interrupt
tions.
Mr.. KERR. Before this goes on any
further [ desire now, in the interest OF
this investigation and of the whole
House, to take the responsibility of
objecting to any other Interruptions.
The SPEAKER. The gentleman has
no right to do that. 80 ..
Mr.. MERRIoK. lean protect myself,
I think. n. s@" '.,f
The SPEAKER. Any gentleman oc-
cupying the floor for one hour may
consent to yield any portion of it to
another. It is for the gentleman oc-
cupying the floor to determine that.
Mr.. WHITTHoRNE. In answer to
inquiries put to him, Mr.. Ames said
that ''the Credit Mobilier Company
had the contract to build the Union
Pacific Railroad, and thought they
would make money out of it, and that
it would be good thing" ~.
Mr.. MERRICK. Yes, sir; that is pre-
cisely what Mr.. Ames stated. He rep
resented to these gentlemen that here
was company that had contract to
build the Union Pacific Railroad, and
, expected by means of their contract to
J make reasonably good profits. That
; is all he did state to them; and he fol
J lowed up that statement by his own
personal assurance that hewou1d guar
anty to them that they should have at
, least ten per cent. profit upon then
J money. He did not intimate anything
} more. 1t does not appear that he ex-
{ planned to them any further the rela.
: tions between the Credit Mobilier and
: the Union Pacific Railroad. AS [ have
/ already endeavored to show, if the com,
mittee had found that he did explain
to any or to all of these gentlemen the
relations between the Credit Mobiliel
and the Union Pacific Railroad Com
{ pany we would have felt bound, un-
der the obligations resting upon u.s.
, to find each and all of those proved to
, have had such knowledge guilty Of the
same crime that we have characterized
) in respect to some other individuals.
Mr.. FARNsWoRTH. A single ques-
ton: Did not Mr.. Ames inform these
, gentlemen that he desired to interest
, prominent men in this matter? 81
Mr.. MERRICK. [ am not aware OF
: that. IL. -,.. ..a.s ri. i.-
Mr.. FARNswoRTH. I find that in
} the testimony. .... >,..,....-... .-
: Mr.. MERRIcK. But still he may have
professed a desire to interest prominent
} men in legitimate corporation with
the view of invoking legitimate infil-
ence in favor of that corporation, while
at the same time they might not have
been guilty in entering into such cor
poration with such limited information
) in regard to it. All men know, it is
common sense to see, that where you
!, get a shrewd, intelligentman or large
capitalist interested in any corporation,
the very fact that he is thus interested
tends to give credit to the corporation
before the world, and offers an induce
ment to other men to become identified
in the same way with the interests of
\ that corporation.
}, Mr.. FARNsWoRTH. The gentleman
from Maryland has said to the House
that Mr.. Ames, with satanic skill,'
deceived these people who dealt with
!, him. Now, [ desire to call the gentle
mans attention to line of the testi-
mony Of Senator Logan, on page 343;
"He and were good friends. He said
to me that he was seeking prominent, in
huential men in the country to invest in
this Stock '
Was there any Satanic skill" about
that? .--.
Mr.. MERRICK. Now, Mr.. Speaker,
as | have said, the committee consid-
cred this case in the light of the facts
and the knowledge possessed by these
gentlemen at the time they made the
contracts with Oakes Ames; and con-
sidering the case in the light of those
facts and that knowledge, it was i'm
possible for us to bring in against these
gentlemen verdict of guilty of par
ticipating in the crime of bribery. AS
| have already said, we do not advert
in the report to what might or might
not have been the moral effect if, after
becoming advised of these inordinate
profits, they continued to participate
in the results of the contract which
they may originally have made inno-
Gently. Upon the facts reported by
us on this subject, we leave the case to
the Judgment of the House to say how
far any or all of these men may or may
, not have been guilty of either moral
Or legal turpitude in continuing to par
ticipate in the profits of concern with
regard to which they became. aware
! that there was something rotten in its
constitution.