Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-06-26
GARFIELD AND THE CREDIT
nORILIER.


The following from the New Yorl
World will serve to establish MI
Garfield in connection with tn
credit nao6ilier, the most giganti
scandal which ever the congress @
the war period incurred. 1t is no
a good send-off for a presidential
candidate, but worse remains be
hind. We have the De Golya
pavement scandal yet to ventiIate !:
1t was during the campaign 0
1872 that the facts of the credit mo
bilier scandal came before the coun
try, first as vague general rumors
greatly distorted, and then narrow
ed down sby affidavits and state,
ments to a few members of congress
1t was complex story at first, but
after while, under repeated ex
plantations, the Veriest ploW-boy
was able to understand that certain
of the leaders of the republican ma.
iority in congress had held out
itching palms while Oakes Ames,
as he wrote in a phrase now immor-
tai, "placed sthe stock where ii
would do the most good to u.s." On
the list of congressman and senators
who were involved by Oakes Ames'
revelation was the name of repre-
sentative James A. Garfield, of
Ohio, now the republican nominee
for the presidency. On September
10, Mr.. Garfield returned from a
summers jaunt to the Indian coun-
try, and a press dispatch from
Washington, printed on Sept. 16,
1872, in this city, gives his first
statement of his defense or denial
as follows:
"Gen. Garfield, just arrived from
the Indian country, had the first
opportunity of seeing the charges
connecting his name with the re-
ceiving shares of credit mobilier
from Oakes Ames. lie authorizes
the statement that he never sub
scribed for single share of that
stock, and that he never received
or saw a share of it. When the
company was first formed George
Francis Train, then active in it,
came to Washington and exhibited
a list of subscribers (leading capital
lists and some members of congress)
to the stock of the company. The
subscriptions were described as
popular and were 600 dollars each.
Train urged Carried to subscribe on
two occasions, and each time he de-
clined. Subsequently he was again
informed that the list was nearly
completed, but that a chance re-
manned for him to subscribe, when
he again declined, and to this day
has not received or subscribed for
any share, stock or bond of the
company"
Speaker Blaine, on the day of the
assembling OF the house, Dec. 2,
called S. S.+CoX to the chair, and
coming on the floor, offered two
short resolutions calling for COM
mittee of five 10 investigate the
charges which had been floating
about in the press, and which had
been brought home very closely,
not only to the speaker himself, but
to MANY other men yet high in the
party; and others who had gone
out of congress and taken other
posts. The committee, as named
by the congressman from New
York, included Judge Poland, of
Vermont; Mr.. Banks, of Massa-
Mr.. Beck, of Kentucky; !;
Mr.. Niblack, of Indiana, and Mr..
McCreary, of Iowa. The commit
tee set to work at once, and on Jan.
Is, Oakes Ames, who was the mem
Der of the house charged with
placing" livestock in the hands of
read a statement pre-
pared by Mr.. McMurtrie, his cOun-
sci. Oakes, Ames, one of the prin-
cipal manipuiators of Union Pacific
stock, Odt Of which credit mobilier
grew, had had a quarrel with the
from Massachusetts,
and had brought suit to recover GER
tain shares which he claimed
should have gone to him in the.dis
and this it was that sent
the whole story out into the face of
the public. Jeremiah S. Black was
counsel for Mr.. McComb, and he
protested with vigor against the
''argument and epithet" in the
statement of Oakes AmeS, and the
sustained him in trim
ming down the presentation of facts
by the one man who knew all about
them, Mr.. Ames was not a willing
witness. He was, in fact, the Vir-
tual prisoner at the bar, and every
additional layer Of evidence against
his co-conspirators against honest
legislation only served to sink him
deeper and deeper. ...
What the credit mObilier really
was as applied to the Union Pa
cific railroad company is best told
in the opening sentence of the re-
port of the Poland COMMITTEES, pre-
sented to the house on Feb. 10, 1873.
1t says
s esThe company called the credit
mobilier of America was incOrpO-
rated by the leg Stature of Pennsyl-
vania, and in 1864 the control of its
charter of franchise had been OBJ
tanned by certain persons interested
in the Union Pacific railroad com
pany for the purpose of using it asa
construction company to build the
Union Pacific road. In September,
1864, a contract was entered into
between the Union Pacific company
and III. w. HoXie for the building
by said Hoxie of 100 miles of said
road from Omaha west. This con-
tract was at once assigned by Hoxie
to the credit mobilier company, as
it was expected to be when made.
Under this contract and extensions
of it some two or three hundred
miles of road we're built by the
credit mobilier company, but no
considerable profit seems to have
been made therefrom. The enter
prise Of building a railroad to the
Pacific was of such vast magnitude
and was beset by so many hazards
and risks that the capitalists of the
country were generally aVerse to
investing in it, and Notwithstanding
the liberal aid granted by the gov
ernment, it seemed likely to fail Of
completion. In 1865 or 1866 Mr..
Oakes Ames, then and now a men,
ber of the house from the state of
Massachusetts,, and his brother,
Oliver Ames, became interested in
the Union Pacific railroad and also
in the credit mobilier company as
the agent for the construction of the
road. The MeSsrs. Ames were men
of large capital and of known char
aeter and integrity in business. BY
their example and credit and the
personal efforts of Mr.. Oakes Ames
many men of capital were led to
embark in the Union Pacific COM
pany and also the credit mobflieI