Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1881-01-06
THE CREDIT MOBILIER STORY.


gardins the contrary course alleged to
have been taken by him.
THE CREDIT MOBILIEH STORY.
Some Things tint Citizen Train Did When
ts,e Demons Had Control ot Him.
To the Editor IF the iSun:
SIR-Hcrc a,e some more solid facts
about Credit Mobi!icr and Union Pacific
Dillon, i director, had "nc-quarter ot
tho track laying contract with Gen. Case
ment. Tony Drcxcl lcclinct! to be dlrcc-
tor when offered him the chance. lie
was then busy buying the Ledyer for
Childs. put in Augustus kountZc, the
banker, instead of D.cxcl. wh" later on,
begged me with tears in his eyes to make
place for him 1t was too late.
The day before Dix and Cisco were
| chosen, | offered Moses Taylor the prcsi-
dcncy of tho Union Pacific. Iiavin. 10
idea that held tho power, he declined. |
then offered il to A. A. Low. lie. too,
failed to take in q. +. L. So by Il vote OF
$3.50, 900. 600 out OF $500 coo, 600 my ticket
killed Ogden. Ask III den il didn't run
the machine ut that meeting of two hun
'ircd million capital.
At that time Jay Could was buying 100
shares of stock through his Ti""a county
friend BiSl', to whom showed the list "i
Pacific directors that would hc elected
next day. And they are.
What astounding changes. ] offered
tho Oakcs Amcs contract to Jay Cooke.
Clcws, Duncan, Sherman, Belmont,
Jerome, Garrison. Vanderbilt. Stewart,
Garrett, Morgan, William B. Astor, and
halt u hundred other capitalists Of my ac-
.l,,,im:ancc. They all declined. They all
said it was the widest scheme ever at
tempted by man.
William IL. Macy, of the Leather Manu-
facturcrs' bank, whose son Sylvanus was
my gro"msman in 1850; William IL:
Guion, who established his Liverpool
house when did mine iii 1851 Glil,lcn
g. Williams, and NickersOn & Baker gave
me my first Credit Mobiiier chccks-S25,-
600 each. These men should have monu-
mcnts for their great judgments, cn:cr-
prise, and faith in G. +. r.
One special point made in the act OF
Congress was that the read should he
built of American iron. SO should our
ships be built of American iron.
Huntington offered me 1900 shares
Central Pacific for my congressional
work. didn't consider it worth accept
ing. Its present value is perhaps 500,
600.
gave Cyrus II. Mccormick and Ben
Hollatlay their Sl00, 900 interest in Credit
: Mobilier. BY the way, l worked on Du-
rant in 1923 for six months before got
him into the L. P.
On the day when Tl,ad Stevens and.Gar-
field tried to kill the Union Pacific bill in
Congress-in order to strike for more
stamps for their ring of forty Republicans
, l-Washburne gave me full credit for my
share in the enterprise. ''Whc is in
this great enterprise - he asked. ''Thc
, capitalists of the land? No. The rail-
way kings: No." Then, looking at me
as l sat in the gallery beside Durant and
, Huntington, "This mammoth undertak-
ing is in the hands of such adventurers as
George Francis Train and Samuel Hal
lett - Loud applause from the Radicals.
Where is WaShburnc Ecw? And where
ami?
TO show how little faith shrewd busi
. ness had i'll my Pacific railway scheme in
1864, let me mention that my father III
law, as trustee for his daughter, sold 512,
600 Credit Mctiiier stock, which l gave
her for IL Christmas present, for eighty
cents on the dollar. The purchasers must
. have received $500, 900 in dividends.
1 discovered then that our railway kings
l were as small as our statesmen. Some oi
our men of smallest brain are iniliionaircs
, in Wall street. Once under way, anybody
can sign check. After the first million,
Topsey "grows.'' Compound interest
does it.
I hawked s5O,OOO.OOO first mortgage
bonds of the Union Pacific all over Wal
, street to try to get capitalists to advance
seventy per cent. On them. No millionaire
would touch such security. The idea OF
putting rails over the Rocky Mountains
Seth Halo was the only man bold enough
to lend me $50, GOO Oh Union Pacific three
months note, with these first mortgage
bonds as collateral, at sixty. At the sans
time lent Melliss, financial editor of the
World, s2O,OOGon telegraph stock to ena-
ble Marble to buy World shares of Bel
, mont and Cranston.
In order to boom the bonds we paid
Shattuck S2j. 900 salary to spend half 4
million in bribing the press and SO We
succeeded in getting stamps enough tc
build the road. 1t was curious to see how
anxious the Republican journals that had
been abusing us were to be seduced.
saw Alley and the Boston set pay over
+ $50, ,0OQ, 600 in the front Office as Il bogus
subscription to get control, and then saw
them get the money again at the back
door.
. Abraham Lincoln was offered *l00,OGC
to v,to the Union Pacific bill. But lie was
not that kind of man.
GEORGE FRANCIS TRAIN.
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