Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1884-09-13
SOHURZ TO HOAn.
A Reply TO the senator's Recent
Letter.

SOHURZ TO HOAn.
A Reply TO the Senator's Rcceni
Letter.
To the Hon. George +. IIOar, United
States Senator from Massachusetts:
Senator-ln the newspaper | find Il
letter addressed by you to friend, the
principle object of which seems to be
to discrcdit some of the statements made
by me in Il speech recently delivered nj
Brooklin. You will pardon me for point
ingOut to you some serious mistake
into which your zeal for your friends
Mr.. Blaine, seems to have betray-
ell you. Among them the following
are the most important:
l. On June 90, 1869, Mr.. Blaine,
then speaker of the house of rcpresem-
tatives, wrote to Mr.. w. Fisher, thank
ing him for having admitted him
(Spcaker Blainc) to n participation in
"the new railroad enterprise" the Lit
tie Rock road, and expressing strong
desire to have Mr.. Caldwell also "dis-
pose of share of his interest" to him
Speaker Blaine,) adding that he felt
he would "not prove a dead-head in
the enterprise" and ''saw various
channels in which he knew he could
make himself useful. "Mr. Caldwell
l,esitated TO comply with Speaker
Blaine's wish. Thercupon Mr.. Blaine,
three months afterwart-on October 4
wrote MIR Fisher two letters in which
he related quite circumstamtially how
he Speaker Blaine) had, without
knowing it, and in a correct way, done
the Little Rock road and Mr.. Caldwell
a great favor by an exercise Of his pow
er as a speaker. AT the time he reiter-
ated his 'tanXiOus" request for the share
of Mr.. Caldwelrs interest in the enter
prise spoken of three months before,
suggesting to Mr.. Fisher to tell Mr..
Caldwell all about the "fav. T."
| The question is what Speaker Blaine
meant when he said that he would not
be dead head in the enterprise, and
that he saw various channels in which
he knew lie could make himself useful !;
and also what the object was of the
letters of October 4. You say Speaker
Blaine meant simply that he was ac-
quainted with many capitalists and had
peculiar facilities for placing bonds.
Does 1t not occur to you that,if Mr..
Blaine had meant this, it would have
been the most natural thing for him to
say so? But he did not say SO. He
did say something else. l expressed
the opinion that Speaker Blaine meant
to point to the exercise of his official
power rs the channel of his usefulness. l
think this for the simple reason that
this was the thing, aud tho only thing,
he did point at in two letters written
on one day, requesting that Mr.. Cald-
we'll be told of it, and ut the same time
repeating his urgent demand for a
share in Mr.. Caldwelrs interest. On
which side do we find the evidence, the
only evidence, the only evidence there
is? On yours, or miner
| 9. You say this is after all very
innocent matter, for sit is one OF the
most gratifying things in life to man
charged with legislative duties to en-
counter Il person to whom he has fairly
rendered SERVICE" and to mention it
to him, and that it is the "acne of un-
ciaritablcncss" to see anything wrong
in it. Very well. Let me adopt one
of yonr illustrations. You meet an
old soldier and say: My old friend,
have worked to get you yonr pension,
and | did get it for you. 1t has given
me great pleasure" This is virtnous
and pleasant. But how would it be if
you said: "My old friend. got your
pension for you, and now l want "a
per cent. of it." When the speaker
says to railroad man: s'I rendered
you and your road, in a perfectly
proper way, n great favor, and | anl
glad did it." That is one thing. But
when the speaker says to the railroad
man: 81 did you such II service by
the exercise Of my power, and now |
want you to give me valuable inter
est in your enterprise; 1 am not going
to bea dead-head in it and see various
channels in which | can be usetu"-is
not that quite another thing? But
that is just what Mr.. Blaine did.
3. You say it is not truet hat when Mr..
Blaine read the Mulligan letters in the
house, the order in which he read
them tended TO create the least difficult
ty in understanding them. What is the
fact? lie read those of October first,
and then one of July =, and then the
one OF June 20, which continued the
''deatl- head" and the channels Of Use.
fmlness," thus just reversing the order
of time and connection. Did he put
tho cart before the horse to make the
thing intelligible?
4. You say that The charge of false
hood rs to Mr.. Blainc's solemn dec
laratiOn before the house that the Little
Rock road derived all value from the
state of Arkansas, and not from con
gress, is unto,ilted. What are the
facts? That MIR. Blaine made thai
statement with reference, to use his
own words, "to the question of pro-
priety involved in IL member of congress
holding an investment of this kind,
you cannot deny. The object of the
statement confessedly was TO convey
the impression that the house, over
which Speaker Blaine presided, had nj
power over that land-grant road or it,
interests and values, and that his
owning or his asking for an interest il
it while he was speaker was poor ant
harmless thing. Now, Mr.. Blaine knew
perfectly well that the original grants
were made nominally to states, bu
really for specified lines. So in thi.
case. The original act of February
1858, granted lands to Arkansas ant
Mississippi ''io aid in the construction
OF Il railroad from point upon thu
Mississippi river, opposite the moutl
OF the Ohio river, via Little Rock, t(
the Texas boundery, near Fulton, il
Arkansas, with branches to Fort Smitl
and the Mississippi river" Mr.. Blain,
/. knew further that the very bill referred
to in his two letters Of October 4, b,
promoting the passage of which he hat
done Mr.. Caldwell "a great favor,
was can act TO extend the time for tho
Little Rock and Fort Smith RAILROAD
J, company 10 complete the first section
of twenty miles of said road" thu
] keeping the land grant for the bcneti
of that road alive by con.rcssiona
action beyond the time originally con.
ditioncd lie knew further that, il
, addition To this congress had in lS7:
passed an act relieving the Little Rncl
road of certain restrictions concernin.
the sale of granted lands which ia.
. been imposed in 1869. And now,
| ask you, senator, whether, in the fac,
of all these acts of congressional legis.
latinn, Mr.. Blaine solemn statement
before the house of representatives, b.,
which he tried to whitewash himsel
. that the company "dcrived its life
franchise and value wholly from tho
state" and that "thc Little Rock r. X
der we'd all that il had from the state %
Arkansas, and not from congress,
aud that the company was "amcnabIt
and answcrablc To the state, and moi
congress-" and that the company
was ":lmcnabie and aiswerabIe To tho