Morning journal and courier., 1880-06-19
ICE 400 STATE STREET.
Price Four Gents.

I tLnDurse tne board or Pubic Works for the
 Governments share of the improvements
 made in front of the public buildings and
 grounds, The Chalrman-Do you recollect the
 amount of that appropriation?
 Mir. Garfield think it was about SISO.
 oO0. ought to say, however, that that was
 l put on, not in the House but in the Senate
 ! I was not on the conference: I had nothing
 to do with 1t; it was perfectly right if I hae
 been on the committee, but was not The
 had no more to do with anybody's pavement, or with any particular contract for any par
 tlcular patent or pavement, than with the l man in the moon
 l E MT. Nickerson-You haven't answered my l question. If your explanation is correct can l you say why it is that 50 900 square yards is
 made absolutely contingent upon an appro-
 priation to be made by Congress? That is a
 matter that would necessarily come directly
 before Congress.
 MT. Garfeld-Not at all It would come from the appropriation of the District au- | thorities. Mir. Chairman, I never saw this contract hefore in my life and I had noth- | ing whatever to do with it's terms, and there 1 for l am not responsible for any meaning i that anybody may attribute !, it's language HOW GARFIELD EARNED HIS FEE | Now the whole story is plainly and briefly 1 told. day or tYo before the adjournment ! of the Congress which adjourned in the latter part of May or the first part of June, 1872, Rlchard c. Parsons, who was a practicing l lawyer in Cleveland, but was then the Marshal Of the Supreme Court and an old acquaint- ance of mine, came to my house and said that he was called away summarily by important business; that he was retained in case on which he had spent great deal of time. and that there was but one thing remaining to be done, to make brief of the relative merits of large number of wooden pavements in the city, certain amount of concrete and 8 certain amount of other kinds of pavement; that they had fixed the price at which they would put down each of the different kinds and that the only thing remaining was to de- termine which was the best pavement of each of these several kinds. He said he should lose his fee unless the brief on the merits of these pavements made and that he was suddenly and necessarily called away home, and he asked me to prepare the brief He brought his papers to my house and models of the pavement. I told him I could not look at the case until the end of the session. When Congress adjourned I sat down to the case in the most open manner, as I would prepare a brief for the Supreme court, and worked upon this matter. There were per ! haps forty kinds of wood pavements. went l over the whole ground carefully and thor ] oughly, and prepared brief on the relative ! claims of these pavements for the considera- 1 ton of the board. That was all I did. I had 1 nothing to do with the terms of the contract: knew nothing of its conditions, and never had word to say about the price of the pave ! ment. I knew nothing about it I simply ! made brief upon the relative merits of the various patent pavements and 1t no more l occurred to me that the thing I was doing had relation to ring or to body of men connected with any scheme, or in any way connected with Congress, or related in any way to any of my duties in connection with the Committee on Appropriations than it occurred to me that it was interfering with rio I | pared the brief and went home. Mir. Par sons subsequently sent me portion of his own fee.
 A year later, when the affairs of the Dis trict of Columbia came to be overhauled, Congress became satisfied that the govern ment of the District had better be abolished, and this whole matter was very thoroughly investigated by committee of the two Houses They went into the question of the merits of this pavement, some claiming that 1t was bad, and some claiming that the Gov ernment had paid too much for 1t. Mir. Chittenden was called as a witness. I ought to say here that never saw MT. Chittenden until about the time made the brief I did not and do not know De Golyer and Me Clelland; I would not know them on the street; am not aware that I ever saw MT. Nickerson before; and if anybody in this business had any scheme relating to me, it was never mentioned to me in the remotest way. It never was suggested to me that this matter could relate to my duties mem- Der of Congress in any way whatever. All that did was done openly. Everybody who called on me could have seen what was do- ing, and, if there any intention pur- pose on the part of anybody to connect me in any way with the ring or any dishonorable scheme, it was sedulously concealed from me- As I have said, three years ago joint com mittee of the two Houses investigated this matter thoroughly. Mir. Parsons was sum- mi 1aH- Mir. Chittenden was examined Mir. Kicker son was examined When heard that my name was being used in the matter I went to the chairmen on both sides-for it was a joint committee. Senator Thurman, of my own State, was on the committee MT. Jew cit, now president of the Erie railway, was on the committee. said to the chairmen that, if there was anything in connection with the case which reflected upon me, and that they thought I ought to answer, I would be obliged to them if they would inform me- The chairman on the part of the House, MT. Wilson, said that he had looked the matter all over, and that what had done was per fectly proper; but, if anything should occur to make any explanation necessary, should appear before the committee; he would send me word. He never did send for me. Very soon after that my political campaign in Ohio opened.
 I want to say this further, that if anybody in this world holds that my fees connec- ton with this pavement, even by suggestion or implication, had any relation whatever to any appropriation by Congress for anything connected with this District, or with any thing else, it is due to me, it is due to this committee and it is due to Congress that that person be summoned. If there be man on this earth who makes snch a charge, that man is the most infamous perjurer that lives and I shall be glad to confront him anywhere in this world. I am quite
 sure this committee will not allow
 hearsay and contradictory testimony
 to raise presumption against me. Now, I
 will say very frankly to the committee that,
 if had known or imagined that there was
 an intent such as this witness insinantes, on
 the part of anybody, that my employment by
 brother lawyer to prepare brief per
 fectly legitimate question: question of the
 relative merits of certain lawful merits-had
 any connection whatever, or any supposed
 connection in the mind of any man, with my
 public duties, I would have been a weak and
 a very foolish man to have done so and
 trust that gentlemen who know me will be-
 ieve that would at least have had too much
 respect for my own ambition to have done
 such thing.