The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-06-19
Blaine's Public Record.

Dlalne'S FuDlic Record.
A correspondent, whose letter we prin,
In another column, desires some explana.
tion of what he considers the sighting OF
hostile references to Mr.. James G. Blaine
which so frequently appear in the Eren.
ing Fosf, and which he suspects must be,
In some degree at least, the product of
private malice. We think he ia entitled,
as our readers generally, to some such
explanation, and we shall proceed to
make it cheerfully, starting, however,
with the assertion that no editor or other
person connected with the .Ercaino Post
In any capacity has, to oui knowledge,
had any difference, quarrel or controversy
with Mr. Blaine or has ever received any
injury from him whatever or bears him
any personal grudge. Whenever he Is
discussed in these columns he Is discuss.
ed either as the holder Of public Office
or rs candidate for public office. Nor
10 we make any reference to his private
affairs except when those affairs have or
appear to have direct and important re
lation to his character and claims as a
public man. In fact, all our comme nts
on him and his doiugs are due to The fact
that we consider hia &c appearance rs a
candidate for the highest Office in tho
government, or any other, as an audacious
proceeding, which can only be accounted
for by supposing him to have an extraor.
binary and unwarrantable confidence in
the popular forgetfulness. 1t is the duty
of all those who do pnt wish to see the
Republican party tu,dsned during the
| canvass next summer with the hopeless
task OF whitSwssbirg him, 20 rst forth
briefly, aoW shat i::s boom il becoming 20
lively, the charges which he will have to
answer before he can be elected to the
Presidency. 1t would be lamentable
indeed, and certainly disastrous, IL the
task prescribed for Republican journalists
by the Convention should be not the
discussion of great questions of public
policy, like the tariff or the civil service
or the railroads or the currency, but 10.
borious examinations of Mr.. James G.
Blaine's railroad transactions. Wemeau,
as far az we are concerned, to avoid this
II we can by taking up his railroad trans
actions now, before the hustle aud excite.
ment of the canvass begins.
THE FIRST CHARGE.
The frat Of these charges is that in the
spring session Of Congress in 1869 q oil!
was before the House Of Representatives
which sought to renew land grant to
the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad
of Arkansas, in Which some of Mr.,
Blaine's friends are interested; that an
attempt TO defeat it by an amendm ent
was made, and was on the point of being
successful, and it's promoters were in
despair that at this juncture, Mr.
Blaine, being then Speaker of the House,
sent message to Gen. Logan to make
tho point of order that the amendment
was not germane to the purposes of the
bill that this point of order was accord.
ingly raised and promptly sustained by
Mr.. Blaine as Speaker, and the bill was
In this manner saved; that Mr.. Blaine
wrote Mt once to tho promoters calling
attention to the service he had rendered
them, and finally, after some negotia.
lions, secured from them, as a reward for
1t, bis appointment as selling agent of
the eonds of the road, on commission, in
Maine, and received number of such
bonds as his pc, esDtage; that the leading
features of this transaction appeared in
two letters Of his afterwards made public.
dated respectively Juno 20 and October
4, 1869.
THE SECOND CHARGE.
Second. That DO asserted q. arsi or ihS
floor OF the House, With :as view OF coz,
ering up this affair, that the Little Rock
and Fort Smith road derived its life,
franchise and value wholly from the
State,"' and not from Congress, whereas
the evidence subsequently, taken by the
Congressional committee disclosed the
fact that the road derived the value ON
which these bonds were based from the
Act of Congress of which Mr.. Blaine
secured the passage in the manner above
described in 1859; that he asserted on
the floor of the House that the bonds he,
received "were bought by him at precise.
ly the same rate 40 others paid" whereas.
the evidence showed that the bonds came,
to him as commissions on sales, which he
secured the opportunity of making.
through his aid given to the work in
Congress, and that he solicited this agen-
cy, basing his request on the aid 30 given,
and that he paid nothing whatever for.
She hends, tho consideration being, his
ruling 40 Speaker and his subsequent
efforts to sell them. What he did with
these bonds, seventy.five in number, is
uncertain but strong, though not con-
elusive, evidence was produced going to
show that they were taken off his hands
at good price by the Union Pacific
Railroad (through the instrumentality of
one Caldwell,l which then also was in.
trouble. The investigation n this point
was never pushed home, O, .ng to the
sudden Illness which overlook Mr.. Blaine
in 1876.
THE THIRD CHARGE.
Third. That Mr.. Blaine In 1870 made
an offer, as appeared by his own letters,
to one of his railroad friends, Mr.. War.
rem Fisher, of Boston, to sell him O half
OF one.twenty. fourth interest in the
Northern Pacific Railroad, Immediately
afssT Ssy Scoss's easasEaet "hed heen per-
fected and the additional legislation had
heen obtained" he having, he said, come
into control of this interest "by a strange
revolution &c circumstances" )" that the
amour: cf stock Sk:eh this would repre-
sent, he said, would be s42E, 900. and y: .
number Of acreN of land early 275, ,000." !"
"TEe chance" he said, "Was' very rare
one; he couldn't touch it, out he offe..
ed It to Mr.. Fisher for S25, 900; tnat Mr.
Fisher accepted 1t anG paid the money,
! bnt for some unexplained, reason the stock
was never delivered, and Mr.. Blaine
subsequently returned the amount. This
trensaction was very peculiar one, for
the following reasons:
It appears from Acts of Congress re-.
laiiug to the rosd, none Of which are of
| older date than July 2, 1854, that Che
authorized stock was 500, 600 COO, with
q land grant estimated. by the commits.
sioners Of. public lands at Al, 600 900
acres, or n, 1923 square miles. The line
of the road was 1000 miles long, and at
| the time of Blaipe's letter n .Eisher IL