The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1875-08-19


given in the Sentinel, as well as list OF the
vouchers rejected by the commissioners
and paid by Mr.. Delsno. Welsh, alter
reviewing the matter, pertinently suggests
that the curious charges brought up against
Walkers conduct several years ago have
very little to do with the disposition of the
case of the department of the interior, the
guilt of which is now established by several
unimpeachable witnesses. Does it lessen
the undenisble knaverY OF Delano and his
subordinates to assert that Walker got
drunk when he was in the army
This is the style in which Welsh
puts the question, and with a refinement OF
irony, he says to Grant: "Even if Mr.. Walker
was guilty of being intoxicated, after some
'exhausting duty, or when jubilant over one
ot your victories, am sure that such a use
'as has been attem pied to be made of that
vice or weakness will stir you up to redress
this insult to soldier. The righteousness
of seeking for evidence of such a weakness,
manifested seven years ago, and of publish
ing it from time to time, is most
evident" This is very prettily done.
The idea OF calling upon the presi-
dent for consideration towards a soldier
exquisite. A fellow feeling makes us
wondrous kind. and the man celebrated for
the use of more victorious brand of whisky
than any other general of the war, will APP
preciate the grim humor of the hint. But
in dealing with Delano, William Welsh is
far from humorous. He advances from a
sneer at the secretary's desertion of his du-
ties to canvass for Grants reelection to an
offer to prove him guilty of malicious libel
before any committee of responsible men
that the president desires to select, and be
closes by sweeping charge of fraud in the
land Office, which has been uniformly sue
csssfdl because private citizens aud memters
OF congress have bowed in submission before
the power and patronage of the department
of the interior. The following specific ac-
cusation is worth quoting in full, and, in
times of ordinary official villsiny would be
enough in itself to damn any administration
under the auspices of which the fraud was
committed:
One illustration viii suffice. Secretary De-
lano, in his report made to you October 81, 1877,
gave the following statement: "StOck OF the
Northern Pacific Railroad Company has been
subscribed to the amount OF sOO ,OJO, and Ger.
tfcates for lGj, S6 shares of 500 each have be II
issued" This statement goes over the entire
land with your sanction, because IL is report 10
you and not contradicted. 1t has tended TO mis-
lead thousands OF people, who were induced TO
pure aSe more than S3O,OOO,0U0 of the loan under
the belief that they were secure because slQp,-
0O00O0 in stock HAD been subscribed for. You
ought to have been informed, aud Secretary De-
lano know, that there was hardly one dollar of
legitimate subscription TO the stock. / say that
Secretary Delano knew II, because l remon-
fled statement. In his report for the year 1874
he says again That Sl00, UO,C00of stock has been
subscribed and that certificates Tor 2O2 SO shares
OF slUO each have been issued
Thus it will be seen that the gigantic
scheme which Bowen, of the Independent,
has been denounced for advertising in his
newspaper, which Jay Cooke lost his for
tune and his reputation i'm pushing tor-
ward, and in which the portion of so many
widows and orphans, whose guardians
were seeking safe investment,
was swallowed up-that great rail
road swindle, as broad as the continent,
and as shadowy as the primevsl forest-bears
the guarantee of the government through
the immaculate statesman who is still
clinging to the threshold of the cabinet. 1t
is significant that the same papers which
publish this accusation, give full details of
the sale of the Northern Pacific railroad
to a committee of Its unfortunate
stockholders for 100000. and ex-
plain the curious circumstances which
prevent the grants of public land from be-
coming available to its creditors. If any
one of the crimes against public honesty
with which the era has been rife. is worthy
of ranking next in order to the satanic
policy OF making money by cheating
the unfortunate Indians out of their
rations - barterIng human suffering
and provoking bloodshed for gold-it is COM
plicity in this great railroad fraud, the ex-
posture of which brought on the financial
crash of 1873. The president may have the
distorted virtue" of loyalty to his friends
strongly developed, but it looks now as if
nothing would save the department of the
interior from a thorough renovation, even
though the revelation of its secret crimes be
fraught with ruin to the party responsible
for them.
1t is estimated by the Vincenres Sun that
If the farms in Knox county alone had