River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1873-10-21

know this, that every interest of the peo-
pie that was guarded in the first act was
sacrificed in the second.
We know that the security Of the gov
eminent was subOrdinated to first mort
gage amounting TO over sixty millions of
dollars, that the reservation of any part OF
the bonds, until the road should be com
pleted was repealed. Also the five per
centnet earnings TO apply to liquidate the
bonds, and the provision for applying the
earnings Of the road on government trans
portation was altered so as To require
but one half to be so applied, and al re-
striction as to the amount OF stock that
any one man could hold was removed.
The land grant was doubed-giying the
different Pacific roads territory, accord
ing b the report of the Commissioner of
the General Land Office, within one.
fourth of twice the area Of England,
Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Guernsey Jer-
sey, the Isle of Man, and the Islands of
the British seas; and less than tenth of
being equal to the French Empire
proper, and nothing that the inge-
nuity of man could invent for their
benefit was withheld. This is the present
aspect of affairs
After going on describing the progress
OF the work and the various schemes con
nected with It, | said:
"Now, Mr. Speaker, will assert, prove and
maintain that the government Of the United
States will furnish every dollar necessary to
build these roads and that for these vast advances
the government has practically no security what
I ever
BY computation, It appears, that the govern.
ment subsidy will average about $50 900 per mile,
for the entire distance la the Judgment Of reli.
+ able railroad men, there lie not TO exceed three
hundred miles Of the entire line that will cost to
exceed that cum per mile while large part Of the
rest OF the line will cost far Tess; yet find that
when the bill of 1864 was up fer consideration 1t
was stated ON the floor Of the House that there
were many miles that would cost 100000 per
~ have already said that this road could be
\ built for the government subsidy and | reierate
that, provided 1t IL built as other roads are built
| by contracting with the lowest bidder. To make
the road cost the stockholders no more than absO-
lutey necessary and at the same Zine 20 make il
| represent nominal cost that would relieve the
stockholders Of the appearance Of not putting in
money Of their own, and also 10 relieve them from
the ten per cent. dividend proposition they re-
sort TO device unheard Of before IN this country
The stockholders Of the Pacific road are few in
number.
They could easily have made a contract with
themselves, for the building OF the road without
bids or Advertisements uf any kind. They could
have agreed To have paid themselves one or two
hu bred thousand dollars per mile aud swell the
nominal cost 10 such a figure as 10 have neutral
tied the ten per cent. proyisO in regard 10 earn
ings But would such transaction have been re-
Rarded as an honest or legitimate and sfraightfoF
ward one, and binding on The government clearly
not. Would transaction which amounts 10 pre-.
ci~ely the same thing, arrived at in an indirect
manner, be any more honorable and straightfor-
ward or binding on the government! Instead Of
contracting Tor the construction OF the road. all
other roads have been built. what did they do?
A, B, e and ID are the stockholders OF she com
pany, A, b, and ID, under charter from the
state Of Pennsylvania, organized themselves into
a company called the Credit MUbilier OF Ameri-
Ca" A, b. q and d, stockholders, enter into a
contract with the Credit MObilier % build this
road at fabulous prices, and the Credit MOhilier
lets out the contract at the lowest figure at which
II can be built making clear profit Of the differ
ence between the price at which the contract is
taken and the price actually paid to those who DO
the work, Of sum, am assured, that will not fan
short of many, many millions OF dollars. II will
readily be seen from this that the company practi-
cally contracts with itself to bald the road, and
that the enormous figures they exhibit as repre-
senting the cost Of the road are absolutely hcti-
.iosn."
This was the first exposition of the
Credit Mobilier ever made in Congress or
elsewhere.
How much truth there Is in the asser-
ton of my good friend Calkins about my
being a Champion of the Credit Mobilier,
you may see from what have said. One
| year ago, in q speech made in front
| of the Plankinton House in Milwaukee,
| spoke of this Credit Mobilier to re-iter
ate what | had said in Congress, but l
added that the names of several members
Of Congress in high standing had been
| connected with it by one McComb, that
| those gentlemen had all denied it, and
that / Beloved them. They were all men
whose previous character justified that
belief 1t was afterwards proved that
those gentlemen, driven by stress of
weather, took refuge in falsehood and
| prevaTication | was deceived in regard
to those individual men, but never
uttered a thought inconsistent with the
speech made in 1863, from which have
read. | adhere to it all, and only regret
that the public were not as virtuOus then
as now, as in that event much Of the
scandal that has since arisen might have
been avoided. But l got little support
from any quarter, on the contrary, quite
the reverse. But | will dwell no longer
on that subject,
BACK PAY or 1866 AND 1873 5000 SAL
AIRY ENOUGH.
In Sentor Carpenters speech at James
vile, he made use of this language:
I'm 1896 the delegation from Wisconsin in the
I nouFt CouSlNieu OF = -, Nh~ubhfn, !. y. HlOhn,
! philctus sawyer and Walter u. McIados Mr.
Washbur voted Tor the bill; Sloan and McIndOe
did not vote All four received the back pay voted
by the bill. Is there any man here tonight will.
ing 20 brand Gov Washburn az a thief
/ think may reasonably hope that his
audience, mentally at least, answered his
inteuogatory in the negative. But the
Senator fell into grave error in repre-
senting that ] voted for the increased paw
bill in 1866. The simple truth is, that |
was not a member Of Congress at that
time, and how the Senator happened to
fall into such an error, cannot quite I'M.
derstand. cannot but regret that he had
not examined the record with more care
before making the statement he did.
felt annoyed at the mistake. The speech
had very wide circulation, and cannot
expect 70 correct the error, except at
home, which In justice 10 myself ought
70 do | am sure that the error was unin.
territorial While | did not vote for the
bill of 1866, and am confident that
should not, had been in Congress. there
was perhaps little Justification for IL.
But for the ACT of 1873, there was. IN my
judgment, no justification whatever The
salary of S,00O-was ample. Il was far
more than the value Of the services of the
average Congressman outside of Congress.
The idea that has been advanced, that al
that salary poor men were excluded from
Congress, Is the veriest nonsense Did
j 1. q 3.