Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1876-07-26
TILDEM the AUTHOR or CREDIT
MoBlLlER.

TILDEN the AUTHOR OF CREDIT
! MoBlllER.
Chicago Tribune.
The great Re-former, who a few
days ago said to q Committee in New
York, "I have had much experience
and labor in Reform" turns out to
have been the man who devised the
cunning expcdient Of the Credit
Mobilier fraud. 1t will be remem-
bered that the Oakes Ames organiza-
ton Of the Credit Mobilier was a
corporation within the Pacific Rail-
road Company; that it stole $37 $780,
O00, and stole the capital stock of the
Company, corrupted great many
people and demoralized public senti-
ment. 1t now turns out that the in
genious gentleman who managed this
business, and declared it to be emf
ncntly proper and legal, was the
eminent Sam Tilden, who is insisting
ON personally reforming" things. In
the official report of the investigation
of the Credit Mobilier business before
the Congressional Committee (Wil-
son's) page 292, we have the tcsti-
mony of Oliver Ames, the brother
and partner of Cakes Ames, who was
present and asserting. After explain
ing how the two companies were
worked by the same men-the Credit
Mobilier swallowing up the other
the testimony reads:
BY Mr.. Hoar-Were you not in
formed by the counsel who drew the
contract that this was violation of
law?
Ames-We were informed by coun-
sci whom we consulted that this is
suing of stock Ito the C. NJ as a
payment upon the contract for build
ing the road was in entire compliance
with the law.
| Q.-Who were the counsel that gave
you that advice? A.-Mr. Samuel J.
Tilden, Mr.. Charles Tracy and Judge
Allen.
Q.-All of New York? A.-All of
New York.
On page 1928, John B. Alley, another
of the Credit -Mobilier operators, was
questioned on the same subject, with
the result as follows:
Q.-And further, understood you
to say that you were instructed by
eminent counsel, upon whose advice
you relied, that the course you took
was compliance with the law? A.
Yes, sir.
Q.-Have you ever seen, or do you
know whether that opinion of emf
nent counsel is in existence now, in
writing? Al do not know. l do
not know whether it was given in
writing.
! Q.-Was it given to you by these
eminent counsel? AIR. Tildcn, 7
knov, told me that he regarded it as a
compliance with the law.
Mr.. Cornelius s. Bushnell, another
of the principal Credit-Mobilier
managers, gave testimony page 54)
of the lawyers who had been consul
ted by the Credit-Mobilier Company,
and names Sam J. Tilden.
OIL will ask you question which
l asked Mr.. Alley. Do you know Of
any legal advice having been taken
by the gentlemen engaged in this
transaction in reference to the ques-
ton whether these contracts, and the
taking of the stock under them, was
a substantial compliance with the
provisions of the law requiring the
capital to be paid in cash? Al can
answer that we were informed by the
best legal talent, as we supposed, that
we could do so, and that we were
complying with the terms of the law.
Q.-Can you furnish to the Com
mittee the testimony Of any counsel
of eminence to the fact that, at the
time of these transactions. he gave
YOU any such advice? Alt is my
opinion that l can.
Mr.. Hoar-Iou may or may not,
as you please, name the counsel whom
you have i'm your mind rs having
given you that opinion.
| Witness-I will name several gen.
tlemen, who, l am prepared to say,
advised us that the course which we
Credit Mobilier) were taking was
legal and a safe course for us to
adopt. | win name Tracy, Olmstead
& Co, of New York. II is my opin-
ion that gentleman who is now a
Judge of the Court of Appeals in
New York, William f. Allen, advised
us also TO that effect. think that
Judge Jere Black also SO advised us
and Mr.. Samuel j. Tilden.
This is the great Reformer. When
the Credit Mobilier wanted legal ad-
vice as to how to perpetrate thcil
enormous robbery, they got the ad.
} vice from Tilden how to do it. Eacf
of the three witnesses names Tildel
as the man who advised them to dc
il, and how to do it.
Considering the fact that the nam
+. moth railroad corporations are nov
, begging of the Government cash ant
9 credit subsidies amounting to severa
4 hundred millions of dollars, to en-
/, able various Construction Companies
: of which the Credit Mobilier was thu
: original, to perpetrate like robberies
is it time to place this old railroad
!. lawyer, the professional adviser o
: the desperate and unscrupulous rail
r road jobbers, at the head of the Gov
0 ernment? Is there any man who
willing to accept the author and in
s stigator Of the Credit Mobilier as tn
g man TO ''reform" the Government!