Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1880-08-26
Which Is the Better Testimony!

Which is the better testimony-tha
furnished from Republican sources
years ago, when the man Garfield wa
of no consequence to the National Re
publican party, or that now given in
when he is SO indissolubly connected
with that party, that the two mus
win success or go down in disgrace to
gether? To ask the question is to an
swer it.
A few days since, we attended Re
publican ratification meeting at Farm
| ington, Mo. There were four speakers
present, two of whom addressed the
people in the afternoon in the court.
house yard, and two in the evening
The former we could not hear. owing
to the noise made on the outskirts by
"Young America" white and colOred.
But at night, the meeting was ED in
the courthouse, and we listened atten-
lively to Mr.. Newton Crane, of Kimms-
wick, for over two hours. He is an
earnest, enthusiastic speaker, and did
as we'll in his defense of Garfield as it
is possible for any man to do. He read
Jere. Blacks letter in behalf of Gar
field, written in 1873, but forgot to state
that Black was Garfield's attorney in
the case. Neither did he no te the fact
that while Black claimed bis client
held the Credit Mobilier stock inno-
Gently and without knowled ge of its
character, that same client (u Unknown
to Black had positively sworn in the
meantime, that he had "never owned,
received, or agreed to receive" from
Ames or any other person, any stock
or dividends in the Credit Mobilier.
There were several other bitches in
the address, but we have neither time
nor space to refer to them now. The
purpose of this article is only to ay be-
fore our readers the opinions of certain
papers of unimpeachable Republican,
ism, written at the time the Poland re-
port and the testimony upon which it
was based, were given to the world.
We trust that every fair-minded person
who is in search Of the truth in regard
to Mr.. Garfield's connection with the
disgraceful swindle, will read this arti-
Gle to the end. Then he may proclaim
the whole thing is "a campaign lie," if
he desires.
On February 10Th, 1878, the day af-
ter the report of the Poland committee,
the New York Times said, in an edito-
rial article:
''Of those who are now members and who
purchased Credit Mobilier stock, the commit
tee says that had it been proven that they
knew the character of the stock they bought,
their act would have been a corrupt one, and
they would have been deserving of severe
condemnation by the House. OF the members
thus referred to, Messrs. Kelley and Garfield
present most distressing figure. Their par
ticipation in the Credit NJ obilier affair is COM
plicated by the most unfortunate contradic
lions of testimony, which the committee do
not undertake to unravel. The only possible
comment on their cases is, that had they TAX
en- perfectly upright course in the matter,
and refused to have anything to do with the
stock, no occasion for contradiction could
have arisen.
ave agree with the committee that knowl
edge of the relation of the Credit Mobilier to
the Union Pacific Railway would have made
the holding of that stock by a member of Con-
gress dishonorable act.
'sWe do not agree with the committee in its
lenient assumption that such knowledge was
not possessed by the Congressman who pur
chased the stock. If they did not know its
character, they must have been curiously deaf
and blind to what was going on about them.
With those who knew anything about the In
ion Pacific Railroad in the winter of 1867, the
purpose and origin of the Credit Mobilier were
SO well known that they may fairly be said to
have been notorious. Certainly, Congressman
who took stock in a scheme to cheat the Gov
eminent, under these circumstances, deserve
some well-defDed measure of condemnation,
and we regret that the committee recommend
ed none. We trust the House will remedy the
OMISSION
The Times then goes on to say, with
truth, that the Poland report and the
evidence accompanying it fully exon
Grated Speaker Blaine. On the next
day, February Goth, the Times con-
tinued its arraignment OF the Republic
can committee which had failed to Wis
itcensure on the Congressman who had
been bribed, and it paid especial atten-
ton to the cases of those who, like
Kelley and Garfield, had been pub
lished as perjurers by the committees
report:
s'The Poland committee does not meet it
fthe real question at all satisfactorily, It
says that there is no evidence that the Con-
gressmen knew of the nature of the stock.
This Is begging the question. Congressman
ought to have known of the naerre of
the stock before investing in it. 1t
was their business to inform themselves, and
they could very easily have done so. The
character of the Credit Mobilier was no secret.
The source Of its profits was very well known