Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-06-19

Grand Hotel. Convention tickets are
secure. w. L. II.
WHAT THEY SAID THEN.
The New York Times Criticism.
From the New York Times, Feb. 10, 1873.
OF those who are now members and who
purchased Credit MObilier stock the com
mittee say that had it been proven that
they knew the character of the stock they
bought their act would have been a cor
rupt one, and they would have been de-
serving of severe condemnation by the
House. OF the members thus referred to,
Messrs. Kelley and Garfield present a
most distressing figure. Their participa-
tion in the Credit MObilier affair is compli-
Gated by the most unfortunate contradic-
tiOns of testimony, which the committee do
not undertake to unravel. The only posi-
ble comment on their cases is that had
they taken a perfectly upright course in
the matter and refused to have anything
to do with the stock, no occasion for con-
tradictiOn could have arisen.
We do not agree with the committee in
its lenient assumption that such knOwl-
edge was not possessed by the congress-
men who purchased the stock. If they did
not know its character they must has been
curiously deaf and blind to what was going
on about them. With those who knew
anything about the Union Pacific railroad
in the winter of 1867 the purpose and origin
of the Credit Mobilier were so we'll known
that they may fairly be said to have been
notorious. Certainly, congressman who
took stock in a scheme to cheat the gov
ernment, under these circumstances, de-
serve some well-defned measure of con-
donation, and we regret that the commit
tee recommend none. We trust the House
will remedy the omission.
From the N. Y. Times, February 20. 1873.
Congressman ought to have known of
the nature of the stock before investing in
it. 1t was their business to inform them
selves, and they could very easily have
done so. The character of the Credit
Mobilier was no secret. The source of its
profits was very we'll known at the time
congressman bought it. Though Oakes
Ames may have succeeded in concealing
his own motive, which was to bribe con-
gressmen, their acceptance of the stock
was not on that account innocent. The
dishOnOr of the act, as a participation in
an obvious fraud still remains.
Moreover, the account is not settled,
even if it is assumed that the members
who took the stock knew neither it's char
acter nor Cakes Ames's bad motive in
offering it. Some of them have indulged
in testimony with reference to the matter
which has been contradicted. The COM
mittee errs gravely in not probing such
cases to the core. 1t distinctly rejects the
testimony of several of the members.
This can only be done on the gronnd that
D,,A
under oath is morally, if not legally, per-
jury. The committee finds members
guilty of this offence, but does not see its
for it. 1t is the clear duty Of Congress to
Credit MObllier stock from Oakes Ames.
The Tribune Criticism.
From the New York Tribune, Feb. 19, 1873.
With one accord they all-did what p
explain their connection with it ?-admit
that they held the stock, but insist that
they held it honestly, or that when they
suspected it was of unquestionable morali-
ty they got rid of it at once? Not by any
means. They dropped it in their tracks,
or either by themselves or by their friends
denied utterly all knowledge of it. And
the people did then what they will never
do again while the world stands--tOok their
word for it and denounced the story as a
calumny.
How has this timid investigation that
fooled around all pertinent inquiry and
never asked hard rough question that
smote lying witness in the face, and
that finally has wreaked itself on two
scapegOats instead of Furnishing half hun
dred-how has this investigation left them?
Read the evidence. With varying degrees
of guilt or guilty knowledge, every man of
them, with but one exception (Mr. Blaine)
has been obliged to confess that at some
time he held this stock, and at some time
under stress of conscience, let us hope,
though that is not proved-got rid of it.
Go slowly now over the list of illuminated
congressman.
James A. Garfield, of Ohio. had ten
shares never paid dollar received 1929
which, after the investigation began, he
was anxious to have considered loan
from Mr.. Oakes Ames to himself. n
Well, the wickedness of it all is, not that
these men were bribed or corruptly influ-
enced, but that they betrayed the trust of
the people, deceived their constituents,
and by evasions and falsehoods confessed
the transactions to be disgraceful, and now
whole Congress of grown men is to de-
liberate seriously upon resolution that
puts the sins of all these upon two. Par
tisanship has never stopped SO low as this.
We cannot believe the resolution will
pass. No, gentleman of the American
Congress, this is no answer to the people.
Stop all this. Pass no resolution. Drop it
where it is. Remand the whole business
to tho people. You have only scratched
the surface of the whole inquiry-leave it
now. Face outward. March!