The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1876-10-05

Some years ago va3 started a railroad
toward Galena, called the Galena and Chi
cago Union railroad. 1t was the best road
ever started. 1t was the peoples road. 1t
was made by tie people ard for their len
eft Every man along the line took a
share: if he had not the money, he worked
it out himaelf. The road was great sue
cess. We got il as far as Freeport in one
direction to connect with the Illinois Cen
trail and we had got it well to Cedar Rap
ids in another direction. That road paid a
dividend semi-annually all along. 1t YVES
considered as good as government bonds
now are. Trust funds, the funde of wild
ows and orphans, were invested in its stock.
The men who managed it were an ecOnom-
ical set of men. Their salaries were very
low. The president got about $1,000 for
his services, and the lawyer, who did the
whole business of the road, now your cor
poration counsel, Elliot Anthony, he had
81, 500 year, and everything else vas done
upon an economical basis. | was mem
Der of the auditing committee. Every bill
that was contracted on that road passed
through my hands, and had no pay for
my services If there was cause for COM
plant along the line Of the road the peo-
pie knew exactly whom to speak to, and
when there was an annual election, every
man who had one share had free ticket
for bis wife and family, and came here and
voted. The vote got to be merely matter
of form, and no attention was paid to the
collection of proxies. And one time, while
we supposed the thing was all right, no
complaint was made from any quarter.
But on came Samuel j. Tlden with lot
of men from New York city and stepped
into the office, and about - minutes there
after the road was wiped out, and was ever
afterward known as the Northwestern.
[Cheers and laughter. The documents
were drawn in the handwriting OF sam.
Tllden; the whole thing was manipulated
by him; and now, if you want to see the
merits of that consolidation, how it was
that those men had claims upon the trust
funds-ihe funds Of the widows and Or
phans tha, were invested ia that roaG-I
will read it to you; Tilden bought up for
a merely nominal sum, first the bankrupt
concern called the Illinois and Wisconsin
railroad company; another bankrupt con-
ceTn-the 81: Paul and Fond du Lac rail
road company; another one-the Peninsula
and Marquette railroad company. Now,
the beauty of that consolidation with the
Galena road was that, while it ran oft of
Chicago, you had to go some 400 miles and
a large distance over the lake in steamer
to get to it. Laughter. Whether they
consolidated the steamboat or not don't
know. Laughter.] They had also got
the Hamilton Extension railroad company
and then the Chicago and Northwestern
company. They had bought these up for a
nominal sum, and stepped right in and took
ours. We had not the least idea there was
any opposition to the read, and made no
effort to collect the proxies. They went
around buying Stoke, and took little up
h i6Iiiy r Witt f there until they got ma
The first thing was to declare = !i;,'l"~d IF
three ner cent. on the whole CT the road,
the most of which they stole from the
treasury. Applause. The more the bet
ter. And having made the dividend of
three per cert. it put their stock up and en-
abcd them to unload, ard they sold back
the stock at an enormous Profit | have
never heard the profits of Mr.. Tilden esti-
mated at less than aquarter of q million dol
lara in that operation. Applause. Now,
what else did they do? am talking to the
farmers, aud am glad to see some farmers
here, and | am glad to see some of my In
diana friends here. The first thing they
did was to put up the tariff on wheat ~
per cent, upon coarse grain u per cent,
upon flour II per cent. upon lumber 35 per
cent, upon live stock 72 per cent, upon
merchandise SO per cent, upon passenger
traffic 2Sl per cent. These are the reform
er's operations with the Illinois and North
western railroad. Laughter Now look
at the enormity of the concern. 1t took
every read running out of Chicago to the
north clear up into the upper part of Wis
consin, Lake Superior, Iowa, Minnesota,
and everything, and there was nothing that
could come to Chicago from that direction
that hadn't to pay toll to them. And my
opinion is, if Mr.. Tilden is elected presi-
dent Of the United States, there will be
Just one railroad in the whole Union lap
plause and laughter, and that railroad will
consist Of all the others. Laughter. This
thing succeeded 80 well that he then went
into the Fort Wayne railroad, and gobbled
thst up tor the benefit of the Pennsylvania
Central. Not content with that, he then
went into the Terre Haute and Alton rail-
road, and can safely say that he has been
in every operation to consolidate railroads
that has taken place in the northwest
Judge Trumbull says he is the superior of
Gen. Hayes in point OF ability. He is in
jlst one respect. He can sit down to his
liable aud draw the paper that will take
more money out of the peoples pocket and
mt il into his own than any other man liy-