The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1873-06-12

4 At is LAST session 115ngress authoyiztestt
suits against tho, Union Pacific Railroad, anc
those of its directors who were directors anG
stockholders in the Credit Mobilior: Wllan
these come off we will have second edition
|-of the scenes witnessed in CoDgrsss ,i.,sl
winter. The Government is hungry to lpase
\ the "riDg masters disgorge, and The proba,
bilities are that there will be fresh chapter
M SCANDALS and loud persistent sweEink on
Aethksides, The history Of the whole affair
is sP#fy s..ated by the St. Louis Republican
from. VII ichlit appears that the Government
$sgrd to yhe company S27 ,236,512 thirty
year. Fixs Per cent. bonds, which amount was
to,bsels used In connection with the private
subscriptions in building the road Certain
directors of the road, however, formed the
Credit Mobilier, gave'out the contracts for
building the road to themselves-in one case
letting out SO miles of road that had
already been built and paying s1,345s
600 for it extra-and thus absorbing
the bonds yof the road, in a way that looks
little different from outright robbery. The
Government, in this present suit in equity,
will show that the original subscriptionsto the
stock of the road were never paid; that
the receipts given for them were fraudulent
and that the dividends which the late
Cakes Ames distributed among members
of Congress, placing them "whcrethey would
doImost goOd"-were misapplied, and must be
accounted for The Government does not
sue the Credit NIoblier, butt will reach
the stockholders and directors through
the directory of the railroad company,
the directors Of one being the directors
of the other. The railroad company imagined
that by the adroit trick of resolving itself
into second corporation and making con- |
tracts with it. they would be;ablo to oeyade |
the law, and, ipdeed by the skiIlfuf Gifts of I
stock and ai.ss TO tho nispbcrs of.C Con-
gress, they did nal2ge for q tmc:to have
suit IN equity will reveal the whole charac-
ter of the fraud, and fotce the companyto |
stand or fall on the facts in the case. Under
the contract to build the road from Omaha
to the Tooth meridian, the result, as stated
by the Wilson committee in the last Con-
gress, was as follows
ms contract COsl ..
Pacific Railroad Company SlZ9I4,4lo ~
T, cost the Credit Mobiier 1906 1873 83 |
Profit SIS, l6s, ,2SS 81
Another contract was for building 667
miles of road from the Tooth meridian, call
ed the "Oakes Amcs contract" The COIN
pany paid for this part of the road s57 49, |
lO2, and it cost the contractors S27 ,235, l4l,
leaving to the contractors q net profit of 29,-
954, 14l. Another contract for 125 miles
of road had the following result: Cost the
company s23,43l,75S cost the contractors,
s15,629, ,633; net profit, 81 SO2,OS4:
The few individuals who divided this
enormous profit among themselves, under
contracts made with themselves, and thus
dcfrauded the Government, will have an op
portunity now Of giving an account of f, the
transaction. If, in the end, they should be
stripped oftheir ill-gottcn wealth and reduced
to poverty, they will meet with little sympa-
thy - 0Jron;cIe and NpufinnI