Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1876-09-15
The Terre Hauie Fraud
To the Edifar Of The Nation

To The bditGr Of The Nation
SIR .-The influence of the Nation depends
chiefly rpon the general confidence which
has been lelt in its truthiulness and impair
talitv. II is of the utmost consequence that
there be At least one paper in the country
which can discuss politics and politicians
with the sole view OF arriving at the truth
and Of administering praise or condemnation
from a hg. moral standpoint. Having de
termined to support Hayes and Wheeler, It
i natura that You should seek not To be
unjust t, the other side. and this purpose Is
most paiseworthy Ii seems to me that
this desIe to be impartial has carried YOU OF
late too ar, and has led You to justify or
excuse acts IN Democratic politicians which
would have met with severe condemnation #
done by Republicans.
A conspicuous instance Of this i found IN
your article in this weeks paper upon Mr..
Tilden 'sconnectiou with the Terre llaute,
Alton, and s.. Louis Railroad. The article
indicates that YOU think Mr.. Iilden not 10
blame Ter anything he has done in c0nnec-
ton with this road But the facts, as
you stat them. lead me TO contrary con
clusi0n The substance OF YOUR statement -
that Mr. Tilden and bis associates, as the
agents IF the hondhoiderS purchased the
road un(er e foreclosure sale, and then sold
it 70 a le0rganized company, and received
from it rev securities, which they were 10
hand over % the old bondholders. The
amount Of the new securities was proper
toned % the old bonds, and every cd bond
holder vas entitled 70 bis proportion. Alter
d 0 g. 80 - IL. rho
b0ndhoders who called for them. "A c1n-ll-
cradle mount was left, which Mr.. Ilden
and his associates divided among themselves
and, With the exception Of enc member,
now claim to hold a. their individual prop
perty. The present company has brought
1 suit 10 rquire this purchasing committee
I 10 accoum for the undistributed securities
Now. | can easily see that it may be a
doubtful egal and moral question whether
/ the new company has any night to these IN
+ distributed securities. and 1t Mr.. Iilden and
3 his associates lad confined themselves TO dl--
/ putting the right OF the compliments. / should
have said nothing. But they CAIN TO own
these securities. and the claim seems - me
not mercy hlSeie>s, bat dishonest. They
base their cla.n on the ground that they
f LAW ANtAlatn tU44AA4t- anu ANAANAN- 80
vices for which hey viii not otherwise have
/ an adequate reward But when they under
took the work hey must have had some
/ agreement eITiess or implied. a 20 the
amount Of their compensation. and DO doubt
they have rece we'd this. They certainly
could nor have expected TO receive their Iay
/ from the securities which were uncaAed tor,
for they could uot have expected that the
| b0ndholders would not al appear In re-
/ ceiyiug these securities, then, they are get
/ ting lust ~ mtch more for their services
I than The agreement under which they acted
contemplated They are claiming property
which Was never intended to be theirs.
/ Now. don't say that Mr.. Tilden IN this
j. guilty 5la Sate-prlson ohence-posslbly
/ he has dlae ne worse than many sharp
( operator ia railroads has done before. But
/ when a msn is candidate for the high Of
l fee of Pre.ideut of the United States, and
/ claims thai, If elected, he viii reform the
corruption which oil good men 50 much de-
/ plore. we nav veil ask whether his conduct
4 has heretofore teen that of a high-miRiei,
l honorable nan-whether the undue love Of
money whlGh mas been the temptation under
which 50 many OF our public men have fall
en-, has notin him led to unustihahle prac-
/ tees All it seems 10 me that no desire to
seem impartial towards the candidate whom
the NatiOr opposes should lead 1t 70 excuse
/ or pass without condemnation the claim
/ which Mr.. Iilden makes in the suit referred
| to. The question seems to me simple
| Does Mr. 1llden own a share OF these Sc
czrities Ii so, on what can his claim be
based 1.-The doe not own the'u, then how
can we chaBcteriza his claim to own them,
except to say that it is dishonest and un-
worthy of an honorable man