St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-09-01

ldVoraole OASIS on Wnlcn they ulStriDuLed
these bonds. These $4,000 of land grant
bonds were obtained in that way. In 1871
the Union Pacific railroad company broke
doicn and these bonds fell so that they were
not worth ytarty cents on the dollar. She was
anxious to make herself safe and had so
much confidence in the Fort Smith land
bonds that proposed to her to make an ex-
change. The six bonds were in my possess
sion and had previously advanced money
to her for certain purposes aud held a part of
these bonds as security for that advance. The
bonds in that sense, and in that sense only,
were mine-that they were security for the
loan which had made. They were all liter
ally hers; they were all sold finally on her
Accountant one OF them for me. make
this statement in order to be perfectly fair
In attempting thus to reconcile taOo false
hoods, one under oath, and the other in the
confidential letter to Mr. Fisher, Mr.. Blaine
perpetrates third. He says that in ia uayy
1871, he left the $4,000 in land grant bonds
with Mr.. Mullil1en to be exchanged, etc. The
truth is the exchange and transfer was made
on the 10th day OF May, 1871, instead of in
January, 1871, and he received $4,000 of
the Little Rock and Fort Smith railroad land
grant bonds numbered 2,070 and 2,O75 in
elusive on the last-named day.
''Mr. Blaine says that these bonds were all
literally hers; they were all sold finally on
her account-not one of them for me-giv-
ing the impression to the house of Repre-
sentatives and the country that he meant
the Union Pacific bonds. As matter of
fact he never got the Union Pacific bonds
back from Mr.. Fisher
NOW, WHAT WAS THE OBJECT OF MR. BLAINE
in making this transfer! What was the iu-
aspiration of this assumed disinterested phi
ianthrophy in behalf of his ward. He says
that in 1871 the Union Pacific railroad Com
pany broke down, and these bonds were
worth about 40 cents on the dollar.n Now,
this is not true we quote from the official re-
ports OF sales at the Boston Stock Exchange,
compiled by j. G. Martin, a recognized au-
tbority that the lowest price these Union Pa
cific land bonds were sold for in 1870 was
so. The lowest price from Jan. Ito April l,
1871, was 53sl the highest 7315; the lowest
from April l, to July 1, 721, and the high
est 500; and on the 10th day OF May, the
very day this transaction was made, the Bos-
ton papers quoted these bonds at S2sI. In
this CONNECTION 1t is proper to state that Mr..
Thomas A Scott was elected President of the
road early in April 1871, and that all the Sc
curities of the road then rapidly appreciated,
and the highest prices of the year were made
out of his hands in exchange for the COM
paratively worthless Little Rockland grant
bonds.
AN IDIoTIC BUSINESS TRANSACTION.
Mark the fact also that the Union Pacific
land bonds, which he exchanged, were pay
ing Z per cent. interest, netting his ward
$4,000 per annum. Mr.. William Walter
Phelps, in the defense of Mr. Blaine il the
Doe{
During many years have had that knowl-
edge and care of his (Baine's) money inter
ests, which men absorbed in public affairs
| are not inapt to devolve upon friends who
have had financial training and exper-
fence.
Did Mr.. William Walter Phelps advise Mr..
Blaine, in the plenttude of his financial wis
dom, to make the exchange referred to, of
$4,000 worth of securities paying per cent.
dividends, for $4,000 worth of the bonds
which at that time, and never since, have
risen to the Importance of quotation in the
stack market and which were of Il kind gen.
orally classed under the well-uDderstood des-
ignation wild cats!" As to the compar-
alive worthlessness of these Little Rock land
grant bonds which Mr.. Blaine says he re-
ceived in exchange for the Union Paclfics
because his ward twas anxious to make it.
self safe. We have only to turn TO the tosti-
mony Of Warren Fisher, Jr. before COM
mittee Of the the House OF Representatives,
reported in House Mis- Doc. 176, part /, For
ty Fourth congress, first session. This evil
dence was ellcted in an endeavor by the
committee to ascertain the market value Of
$4,000 at Little Rock and Fort Smith land
grant bonds, which were turned over by
Thomas A Scott to the Union Pacific Railroad
for S64, 600, Dee. IS, 1871. Pages IS, SO.
TESTIMONY OF WARREN FISHER.
O. What would those bonds have brought
in the market in December, 1871, if they had
been exposed for sale in the ordinary way
in which bonds were soldl A. a very small
price, 10 or 20 cents.
q. Were they ever worth over so cents
or the dollarl
A. Never to my knowledge were any bonds
sold much above that.
Q. Were not Immigrant bonds som etimes
givenF Al Oh, yes. If / sold $4,000 of
these first mortgage bonds l would also give
as bonus 600 of common stock and SO
O00. of p.efei,sd stock.
@. Making transfer of $40, 600 instead of
100000 AZ Yes, sir.
Q. And that transfer brought s1OO
counting IL Immigrant bonds in the first
mertgageifA. Yes, sir.
Y.
viii take Mt Blaine himself as authority as
to t5e ydsSe Of the Idad-grdnt bonds of this
road'at time when they were at their height
and when he was tdrning them over to his
personal friends and neighbors as a first class
investment in September, 1856, when he
made the $3.50, 900 transaction with A. IL. p.
COburn and others. According to the cele-
brated 4ulligan memorandum which Mr.
Blaine produced in the House and which was
there read. and which he said he kept ''as a
protection to myself, Mr.. Muiligan figures
the net proceeds as follows:
Now calling land and first mortgage bonds
eg,tG' IN tdlite and stock UdltteleSS it equals "A
2S-1O0 per cent.
This is the actual result Of the sale made
through Mr.. Blaine and it shows the actual
value of the land grant bonds to have been
% 14-100 per cent. 1t was for these
GILT EDGED SECURITIES,
which at their best were worth but % or 90
cents, and which at the time of the transfer
had no market value. and yielding no in
come, that Mr.. Blaine parted with $4,000 of
Union Pacific Understanding bonds worth
S2A cents on the dollar.
Mr.. Blaine says in his speech that he pro-
posed to the lady, who he claimed owned the
bonds, 10 make the exchange, because he
s'had so much confidence in the Fort Smith
land bonds.' Granting that. he spoke the
truth, then arises the question, what sort of
business manager is Mr.. Blaine to act as
guardian or trustee OF a woman's property
and advise her 70 make such a ruinous invest
ment as was this exchange of Union Pacitics
which had market value on the day the
transfer was made at least four times great
er than the Immigrant bonds of the Little
Rock and Fort Smith Railroad!
There is no doubt that the trade was made.
Even il 1t was denied, the facts given above
even TO the numbers of the bonds. would
prove it. But Mr.. Blaine has not stated the
real facts in the case; he is caught in his