Litchfield enquirer., 1880-08-19

the WAYS of wrong-doers as child-testifed
to certain. agreements made with him by
Congressman five years before to buy interests
in the construction stock, and verified them
by reference to his memorandum-bo He
suddenly found himself denounced by friend
and foe Credit Mobilier" was made a
mysterious bugbear, and remains to this day,
in the public mind synonym for political
corruption. In March, 1873, in the closing
hours the session, when adequate debate
I was impossible, his vote of condemnation was
passed. Then ensued upon the floor of Con-
gress scene without parallel. Men who
had just joined in the vote of condemnation
against Mr.. Ames gathered around him to ask
his pardon for having done 80. They said.
"We know you are innocent, but we had to
do il in order TO satisfy eur constituents.
And thus it happened that man whose word
was as good as his bond. whose honesty and
probity were proverbial-a man by whose
rare executive ability highway was made
across the continent connecting the Atlantic
and Pacific oceans, providing market for
the products of the millions of acres that lie
between, the destruction of which would be
a national calsmity-this man was made
scapegoat for the manifold sins of American
political life, and his name was unjustly tar
nished. 1t Is time this stigma should be OBJ
liberated and a monument erected in its
stead. ~s-..t..
Have the detractors of Cakes Ames ever
asked themselves what motive except public
spirit could have led man so situated to con-
tract to build the roadp His own personal
interest in, the construction company In De-
cember, 1857 was only one-eighth of the
whole. By signing the contract he made the
entire risk his own. But In case of profit
seven-eighths of the profit would belong to
others. Why, except from public spirit.
should man worth millions, and secure in
the possession of them, have risked everything
by becoming personally responsible, as he did
for the vast sum Of $47, 900, 900? Why else
should he have undertaken to find a market
for the securities of the road and to convert
them into money with which to meet these
immense obIigations2 Why else should he
have given the best years of his life to those
colossal cares and responsibilities For the
prosperity of his country be risked his own
fortune and that of his family, and up to this
hour his return has been in too many quarters
unmeasured reproach and odium.
la appealing for justice to our fathers men,
DRY we do not take the attitude of apologists
A righteous indignation against fraud must
not assail great aud good man, whose life
was honorably associated with the most use
full industrial achievement of his age. His
tory will surely record the Credit Mobiler
Construction Company and the Cakes Ames
contract as legitimate and necessary means,
without which the Union Pacific Railroad
could not have been built. But we gladly
accept the present occasion to vindicate the
memory of our father, because the generation
viii oh knows the facts and can testify to his
upright and bameless life will soon pass
away. To-day there live thousands of men
in New England, thousands more in the Mid
die States aud the great West, who have had
business relations with him, who know that
what we say is true, and who will testify of
honest man."
CAKES A. AMEs,
OLIVER AMEs,
FRANK M. AMEs