Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-08-16
CREDIT MOBILIER,
A Plain RevIeto of General GarJleid's De
Tense against the Finding Of tho POLAND
Committee.

a Plain RevJetU of General Garfteid's De-
tense against the Finding Of tho Poland
Committee
BY TIE HON. j. n. CHALMERS, OF MISSISSIPPI.
To the Editor of the World.
Srn The new York Herald opened its
columns to General Garfield after his norli-
against the charges of corruption made
against him In reference to the Credit Mo-
bilier swindle. He has failed to respond, but
his friends have recently republi ,hed his de-
Tense of himself made in 1872, and take it
for granted, therefore, this is the best de-
Tense of him that can be made.
This publication ia called "Review of
the transactions of the Credit Mobilier Com
pany. etc., which relates to Mr.. Garfield"
and propose to review this review.
shall not rely upon the statements of
MIR. Cakes Anles except when they are adj
| mitted by Mr.. Garfield to be true, and / shall
discard also the finding Of the Poland Com
mittee and look alone to the admission of
Gen. Garfield and the statements of his
| friends introduced by him as his witnesses
| IN defense. Let us begin, then, with Mr..
| Garfields own statement of the case. After
| giving history Of the Credit Mobilier Com
pany, he says, page 4S5 of his pamphlet:
| I'm view of the facts above stated, it is evil
| dent that purchaser of such shares of Credit
| Mobilier stock rs were brought under theopera-
| ton of the triple contract would be share
| in tie profits derived from that arrangement
! from the assets of the Pacific railroad, large
part Of which consisted of bonds and lands
| granted to the road by the United States. The
holding of such stock by member of Congress
upon the fact whether he did or did not know
| of the arrangement out of which the profits
would come. If he knew of the fraudulent ar
| rangement by which the bonds and lands of the
United States delivered to the Union Pacific
railroad company for the purpose of construct
Ing its road were to be paid out at enormously
extravagant rates, aud the proceeds to be paid
out as dividend to ring Of stockholders named
the Credit Mobilier company, he could not
with any propriety hold such stock, or agree to
hold it, or any of its proceeds. And for a MEN,
Der of Congress, knowing the facts. to hold
under Amusement proposition to buy this re-
stock would be morally as wrong as 10 hold it and
| ceiye the profits upon it. If it was morally
wrong to purchase it it was morally wrong to
| hesitate whether to purchase it or not. I put
| the case on the highest ethical ground, and ask
! that this rule be applied in ali its severity in
| judging Of my relations on this subject.
| The committee found as already stated,
III Es
| Ames sold or proposed to sell the stock knew of
| this arrangement. I shall, however, discuss
| the subject in so far as it relates to me- and
! shall undertake to establish three propositions
"First-That never purchased nor agreed
| to purchase the stock, nor received any of its
| dividends.
| ''Second-That though an offer was made,
which had some time under advisement, to
| sell me $1,000 worth of the stock, did not
| then know nor had / the means of knowing the
| real conditions with which the stock was con-
| nected or the method by which its profits were
| to be made.
"Third-That my testimony before the COM
| mittee is a statement of the facts as have al
ways understood them, and that neither be-
| fore the committee nor elsewhere has there
! been on my part any generalization or evasion
| on the subject"
| 7 shall pass over In this review any discus
sion OF tins first proposition and look alone
to the second, for agree with Mr.. Garfield
that"the holding of such stock by member
OF Congress would depend for its moral
| qualities wholly upon the facts whether he
did or did not know of the arrangements out
OF which the profits would come" and
| agree with him further, "if it was morally
wrong to purchase, it was morally wrong to
hesitate WHISTLER to purchase or not.''
First, then, did General Garfield entertain
proposition to purchase the stock and did
be hesitate about this purchase General
Garfield admits that he received money from
Cakes Ames, but he insists it was loan. At
the same time he admits that he hest ,ated
about it, and he admits also that Mr.. Ames
| no doubt expected he would subscribe. We
read on page six of the pamphlet:
by the Ohairman-Q. Had this loan you
speak of any connection in any way with your
in tn fho
| stock A. No connection in any way except
| in regard to Che time of payment. hlr. Ames
stated to me that if concluded to subscribe
| for the Credit Mobilier stock ] could allow the
| loan to remain until the payment on that was
| adjusted. Lnever regarded it as connected in
| any other way with the stock enterprise
Again see page of pamphlet. MIR. Gar
| field says: O.
| There could not be the slightest impro-
| priety in taking the stock. had the objects of
| the company been such as Mr.. Train repre-
sented them to me. The only question on
which then hesitated was that of the personal
pecuniary liability attaching to a subscription;
and, to settle that question, l asked to see the
| charter and the conditions on which the stock
| were based. have no doubt MIR. Ames ex-
| peCted l would subscibe. But more than
| year passed without further discussion on the
subject. The papers were not brought and the
| purchase was never made"
II farther testimony is necessary to show
that General Garfield knew tina. the stock
was being held by Mr.. Ames at his
option and that he was "hesitatinp''
| whether to take it or not we have it in the
| testimony of his friend, Mr.. Hinsdale, intro.
duced to him as witness. give this with
General Gar6eld's introduction of MIR.
Hinsdale. from page 10 Of pamphlet:
THE first ia from a citizen of the town
,rEo it{o.o n f6ot
ton TO which it slludes was, as near as 1 can
remember, in the fall of 1878, during the re-
cess of Congress:
HIRAM, o., February Is, 1878.
Dear Sir-Is may be relevant to the oues-
ton at issue between yourself and Mr.. Cakes
Ames, in the Credit Mobiier investigation. for
me to state that three or four years ago, in
private conversation, you made statement to
me involving the substance of your testimony
before the Poland Committee. as published in
the newspapers. The material points of your
statement were these:
That you had been spoken to by George
Francis Train, who offered you some shares of
the Credit Mobilier stock; that you told him
that you bad no money to invest in stock; that
subsequently you had conversation in re!a.
ton to the matter with MIR. Ames; that Ames
offered to carry the stock for you until Won
could pay for it, if you cared to buy it, and
that you had told him in that case perhaps you
would take IL, but would not agree to do
SO until You had inquired more
fully into the matter, Such an srranrement
as this was made, Ames agreeing to carry the
stock until yon should decide. In this way the
matter stood, as understood it, at the time of
our conversation. My understanding was dis
tinet that you had not accepted Mr.. Ames
proposition, but that the shares were still held
at your option.
You stated, further, that the company
was to operate in real property along the line
of the Pacific road. Perhaps should ada that
this conversation, which have always rsmem. |
bered very distinctly, took place here in Hiram.
have remembered the conversation the more
distinctly from the circumstances that gave |
rise to it. Having been intimately acquainted |
mi th vou for twelve mr. nftocn uaars opd h,r;x,