Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1876-05-04

! further inquired into, beg to- expires,
/ my entire readiness TO give all the as
sistance in my power to make the in
vestigation as thorough, as rigid, anC
as impartial as possible.
| To give n seeming corrobOration ol
| foundation 10 the story which 1 have
dISproved, the absurd rulnor has late.
ly appeared in certain newspapers thai
Was the owner of from Sl50,O00 Il
t25O, 200 of the Little Rock and For
Smith Railroad bonds, which 1 receiv
I'd without consideration, and that il
was from these bonds that Thomas A
Scott received his $4,000. The state
ment is gratuitously and utterly false
No responsible author appears any
where for this unfOunded story, but In
disnissiDg it desire to make the fol.
lowing explicit statement. More than
twenty-three years ago, in the closing
days of Mr.. FIllmOre's administration
the Government granted to the State
of Arkansas some public lands within
its own limits To be applied To the con
structiOn OF railroads in that State. The
Legislature of Arkansas incorporated
the Little Rock and Fort Smith Rail
road Company the same year, and gave
TO the company portion Ofthe lands il
had receives d from the General Govern
meDt to aid in the construction of the
rOad-abOut five thousand acres to the
mile, l think. But the company were
unable TO raise any money for the en-
terprlse, though they made the most
strenuous efforts, and when the wal
broke out in lS6l-eight years after the
State had given the lands to the com.
paDy-nOt a mile of the road was built.
OF course nothing was done during the
war. After the war all the grants OF
land previously made To the Southern
States were renewed in gross in the
sessions of 1S6j-'66. The Little Rock
and Fort SmiI h company again receiv'
ed grant from the State and again
tried to -raise money To build theil
road; bat 1865, 1866 and 1867 passed
without their getting dollar. Finally
toward the close of 1868 company ol
Boston gentlemen, representing consid.
cradle capital, under took its construc.
tiOn. In raising the requisite means
they placed the bonds of the road in
the New England market in the sum-
mer OF 1869, offering them on terms
which seemed very favorable to the
purchaser, and offering them at time
when investments of this kind were
fatally popular. In common with
hundreds of other people in New Eng
land and other parts of the country, |
bought some of these bonds-not a very
large amOunt-paying for them at pre-
cisely the same crate that others paid.
[ never heard and do not believe that
the Little Rock cOmpany-Which /
know is controlled by highly honorable
men-ever parted with bond 10 any
person except at the regular price fixed
for their sale. The enterprise, though
apparently very promising, proved un-
successful, as so many similar projects
did about the same time. / lost con-
siderable sum of money lover S20, 0,00O)
by my investment, and / presume
New England made net loss of s., ,O0O,-
600 in completing that road for Arkan-
sas, as she has lost ever one Hundred
millions by similar ventures West and
South within the last tweiv4 years. In
addition to my Investment in the bonds,
j united with Others in raising some
money for the company when it met
its first financial troubles. Proceedings
are now pending in the United States
circuit court in Arkansas, to which /
am party of record, for the re-im-
bursement of the money so advanced.
All the bonds which ever purchased l
continued to hold; aud when the COM
pany was recognized, in 1874, ex-
changed them for stock and bonds in
the new concern, which / still own.
My whole connection with the road has
been open as the day. If there had
been anything to conceal about it l
should never have touched it. Wher-
ever concealment is desirable avoid
ance is advisable, and l do not know
any better test 10 apply to the honor
and fairness of a business transaction.
AS to the question of prOpriety in
volved in a member of Congress hold
ing an investment OF this kind, it must
he remembered that the lands were
granted to the State of Arkansas, and
not to the railroad company, and that
the company derived its life, franchise
and value wholly from the State. And
to the State the company is amenable
and answerable, and not in any sense
to Congress. Since l purchased the
bonds but one act OF Congress has pass
ed in any way touching the subject,
and that was merely to rectify q pre-
vious mistake in legislation. / take il |
when any security from Government
bonds to town scrip is offered at public
sale to any one who can pay for it,
every American citizen is free to buy.
Ii you exclude Representative from
the investment on the ground that in
some secondary or remote way the |
legislation of Congress has affected or |
may affect the value of the article,
then you exclude every man on this
floor, not oply from holding Govern |
ment bond or share in national |
bank, but also from owning a flock of
sheep, CT a field of hemp, or q tobacco
or cottOn-mill, or an IRON
furnace; for all these interests are vital
Iy affected by the tariff legislation on
which we vote at every session and OF
which an important measure is even
now pending in the Committee of the
Whole. In the seven intervening |
years since the Little Rock and Fort
Smith bonds were placed on the mar
ket, know few investments that have
not been more affected by the legisla-
ton of Congress. But this case does
not require to be shielded by any such
or citations, for l repeat
hat the Little Rock road derived all
t had from the State of Arkansas, and
not from Congress. 1t was in the dis
.retion of Congress to give or withhold
rom the State, but it was solely in the
discretion of the State to give or with
hold from the Little Rock Railroad
company.
When the Little Rock road fell into
he financial troubles of which l have
poken, there were certain interests
with it that were under
pressing embarassments and
hat needed relief. There had been at
lifferent times very considerable talk
Ibout inducing tine Atlantic and Pacific
oad-which on Its southern branch
vas to be q connecting line east west
NTH tho I ittla Rnck and Hort Smith Y