Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-05-16
and history cannot be. wiped out with a

and history cannot be. wiped out with a
sponge.
It is strange even that the legislature
could have been induced to go so far as to
ask of the congressional house of repre-
sentatives the passage of
a resolution of the intent to remove from
Cakes Ames the censure passed upon him
for having undertaken to influence the
votes Of members of the House by distrib-
uting among them Credit Mobilier stock.
Indeed the original intention of the House
was to expsl Mr.. Ames, and resolution
of expulsion was presented, but
under pressure it was withdrawn,
and the resolution of censure
substituted and passed. Whatever the
Massachusetts legislature may do, the con-
gressional House cannot touch the subject,
and will not, unless to put on record its re-
fusal to comply with the request. That
the exposure that fell upon Mr.. Ames was
an awful one is very true, that it fastened
his life to q close is, to his
friends, if not to the world, a
sadly realized fact. How empty then are
resolutions passed by any body of men
when none of the facts can be disproved
and none of Mr. Ames' admissions recalled
He was the tempter and the briber. He
leid the snare and men fell. He did not
outlive the scandal he created, and the on
ly effect of the action now taken is to more
indelibly stamp upon him the odium from
which there was no escape. This fresh
revival chases away the sweet char
ity Of forgetfulness which might
we'll have been esteemed as the only meas
ure of relief possible. There were other
hearts that ached than that of Mr.. Ames
There was and is no measure of relief for
! them. With striking force and charitable
delicacy the New York Times presents a
picture of the case that shows how futile
the thought to efface from the memory of
man the responsibility of Cakes Ames in
the Credit Mobilier matter.
SIT was unquestiOnably true that Mr.. Ames
was an ardent and sincere patriot, and that the
work of building the transcOntinental railway
IN which he was engaged was one of great ma
tlonal importance. 1t was nevertheless true
! that members of congress were bribed by an al
lotment of Credit Mobilier shares to vote for the
augmentation of the profits of those engaged in
that mighty undertaking. The exposure of that
bribery ruined many regulations before unspot-
ted. One gentleman, elegant, polished, scholar
ly, and a conscientious and consistent member
of the Democratic party, never lifted his head
| after the exposure Of the Credit MobilieI
scandal. He died of broken heart. Another,
who had filled high Office in the gift OF the Re-
publican party, and who, at the end of long
term in a federal Office, was about engaging in
an enterprise of pith and moment, was laid low
by the bolt that fell. and he disappeared while
yet in the prime of his manhood) from the poll
tics of his country. Others were glad to find
in the obscurity of private life that immunity
from criticism, that shelter from derision, which
they could not ask or expect in the public serv-
iee.''
Tenderness for the dead and a human
regard for the conspicuous man who IN
easily turns in his living grave, as we'll as
consideration for others whose lives were
blighted, should have prevented the harsh
policy that personal friends of Mr.. Ames
have been so unwise as to indulge. They
have played the stake of folly and over
whelmingly lost.