Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-08-16
CREDIT MOBILIER,
a Ptatss Recfetc of General Gar1teId's De-
tense against the FINDING Of the Polasd
Committee.

a PtatSs Review of General Gar1teId's De-
Tense Agafsast the FINDING Of the Poland
Committee.
by THE HON. J. n. CHALMERS, OF MISSISSIPPI.
To the Editor of the World.
SIN: The new York HordM opened its
to General Garfield after his noroi-
nation and called on him to defend himself
against tbs 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 shed his do |
Tense Of himself made In 1872, and take 1t
for granted, therefore, this is the best de-
fense of him that can be made.
This publication is 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
Mr.. Cakes Ames except when they are ad-
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..
Garfield's own statement Of the case. After
giving history of the Credit Mobilier Com
pany, he says, page 485 of his pamphlet:
I'm view of the facts above stated, it is e9i-
dent that purchaser of such shares of Credit
Mobilier stock as were brought under the opera
tion of the triple contract would be Share
in the profits derived from that arrangement
from the assets of the Pacific railroad, o 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
would depend for its moral qualities wholly
upon the fact whether he did OF did not know
of tho arrangement out of which the profits
would come. If he knew of the fraudulent az
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, and 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 mem
Der of Congress- knowing the facts, tn hold
under advisement proposition to buy this re-
stock wouldibe morally as wrong as to hold it and
ceive the profits upon it. If it was morally
wrong to purchase it it was morally wrong to
hesitate whether to purchase it or not. put
the case on tne highest ethical ground, and ask
that this rule be applied in all it's severity in
judging of my relations on this subject.
1.-THE committee found, rs already stated,
that none of the six members to whom Mr..
Amea 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 81 900 worth of the stock, I 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.
''phird-That my testimony before the COM
mittee is 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 prevarication or evasion
on the subject"
| shall pass over In this review any discus
sion Of the 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 I
agree with him further, off it was morally
wrong to purchase, it was morally wrong to
hesitate whether to purchase or not.''
First, then, did General Garfield entertain
a proposition to purchase the stock and did
he 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:
sBy the Ohairman-Q. Had this loan you
| speak of any connection in any way with your
| conversation in regard to the Credit MobiIier
stock ? A. No connection in any way except
| in regard to che time of payment. Mr.. Ames
| stated to me that if 1 concluded to subscribe
| for the Credit Mobilier stock l could allow the
| loan to remain until the payment on that was
adjusted. never regarded it as connected in
| any other way with the stock enterprise"
Again see page Of pamphlet. Mr.. Gar
field says:
| priety in taking the stock, had the objects of
| the company been such as Mr.. Train repre-
| seuted them to me. The only question on
| which then hesitated was that of the personal
pecuniary liability attaching to q subscription;
and, to settle that question, l asked to see the
charter and the conditions on which the stock
| were based. / have no doubt Mr.. Ames ex-
| pected I would subscibe. But more than a
| year passed without further discussion on the
| subject. The papers were not brought and the
| purchase was never made"
If further testimony is necessary to show
that General Garfield knew that the stock
was being held by Mr.. Ames at his
option and that he was "hesitating''
whether to take 1t Or not we have it in the
testimony of his friend, Mr.. Hinsdale, intro
duced to him as witness. / give this with
| General Garfeld's introduction of Mr..
Hinsdale, from page 10 of pamphlet:
''Ihe first is from q citizen of tho town
| where reside; and the time of the cunversa.
| ton to which it alludes 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-It may be relevant to the oues-
| ton at issue between yourself and Mr.. Cakes
| Ames, in the Credit Mobilier investigation, for
me to state that three or four years ago in q
| private conversation, you made statement to
| me involving the substance Of your testimony
before the Poland Committee. as published in
| tbs newspapers. The material points Of your
| statement were these:
| That you had been spoken to by George
| Francis Train, vino offered you some shares of
| the Credit Mobilier stock; that you told him
! that you had no money to invest in stock; that
subsequently you had q conversation in rels.
ton to the matter with Mr. Ames; that Ames
| offered to carry the stock for you until YOU
| could pay for it, if you cared to buy it, and
| that you had told him in that case perhaps you
would take it, but would not agree to do
| 30 until you had inquired more
/ fully into the matter. Such an arrangement
as this was made, Ames agreeing to carry the
! stock until you should decide. In this way the
matter stood, as understood it, at the time of
| our conversation. Ny understanding was dis
tinet that you had not accepted Mr.. Arnes'
| proposition but that the shares we're 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 add that
| this conversation, which have always remem.
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