Louisiana capitolian., 1880-08-28
SIMON CAMERON.
A RICH CANAL EPISODE IN WHICH THIS
SWEET-SCENTED RADICAL is THE
PROMINENT FIGURE.
n. 0. City Item.

n. o. City Item.
For many years the Camerons hav,
been SO completely masters of Pennsyl
yania that more than once the PROPOSE
tion has been made to abandon the OLE
Quaker name in which the State once
gloried and change it to Cameronia
But it was not always thus. The power
of the Camerons by no means goes back
to the time whereof the memory Of mar
runneth not to the contrary; for in hi'
younger days Old Simon had to struggle
against difficulties, and ctriously
enough his first start in fortune was
made here in New Orleans. 1t happened
after this fashion. About the yeal
1880 the Canal and Banking Company
Of this city was ushercd into existence
for the purpose principally OF construct
ing what has since been known as the
New Canal. After due advertisement
prospective contractors came hither from
all quarters and eventually Cameron be-
came the high contracting party Of the
second part. This, it must aforementioned,
was before the days of lredge boats, and
the digging was all done by hand.
When a thousand or so Of laborcrs were
at work on the canal the Asatic cholera
broke out among them, and hundreds of
them died.
One Saturday night Simon surveyed
his weeks work, and said, 'behold it
is not goo,l.' Then straightway he went
to the Canal Bank and drew ont S2S, ,G00
or thereabout, for the ostensible purpose
of paying his hands. But never a cent
thereof did the hands get. Monday re-
turned, but Simon returned not. He
disappeared, and the places alcns the
canal which knew him az q contractor,
knew him no more forever. In short,
Simon left his w0rkmcn in the lurch,
aud for years it was not known what
became of him. Twenty years after,
the branch of Il socallcd Continental
Insurance Company " as established
here, and Simon Cameron was president
Of the parent company. But the first
loss proved to be worse than worthless,
and the age ran away. Very little
more was heard of Simon until he ap-
peared in the high role of Secretary of
War in Liucoln's Cabinet, the position
being promised him for controlling the
Pennsylvania delegation i'm the cOnven-
ton which first nominated the great
rail splitter In this capacity he devcl-
Oped such selfish and money -grasping
qualities that Honest Old Abe soon tired
of his services. The fact became nOto-
rious that Simon was corruptly mixed
up with all sorts of army contracts, and
in consequence Of expected profits, he
was opposed to all peace propositions.
fle was quietly requested to resign, but
refused to do so, and at length Mr.. Lin
coin dismissed him with the following
curt note:
Simon (fnrunpnu ntot,, of
DEAR SIE-l have this day appointed
Hon. Edwin NJ. Stanton to be Secretary
of War, and yOm to be Minister PlcnipO-
tentiary to Russia. Very Truly,
\. LINCOLN.
Simon, however, wished the blow to
be soitencd and asked to bc allowed to
tender an ante-tlatcd letter of resigna.
ton. OF this Col. Mcclure says: "In
my presence the proposition was made
and determined upon to ask Lincoln to
allow a letter OF resi- gnation to be ante
dated. and to write a kind acceptance of
the same i'll reply.
The record shows that Mr.. Cameron
voluntarily resigned, while, in point of
fact, he was summaril\ removed without
notice" He, however, got Sl5, 900 as an |
outfit and $4,000 for his service as
Minister abroad, but within two months
he resigned, returned to PENNSYLVANIA |
and got himself elected as IL member of
Congress, and after he was tired of the |
place he handed it over to his son Don.
After Simon's canal episode here, he
never made his appearance in New
Orleans till he came us Visiting states
man. being accompanied in his pilgri-
mage by the fair Widow Oliver. with
whom he subsequently had trouble.
Such is one of the avowed leaders of
the great Republican party-the party
of which moral ideas ?
Col. Fred Grant isn't great soldier.
Indeed, so far as we know, lie has never
baptism of fire. He is Il