The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1884-07-10
Mr.. Blaine's Vindication.
[From the Chicago Tribune.l

FROM the chicago Tribune.
The connection of Mr.. Blaine with the
bill renewing the land-grant of the Little
Rock and Fort Smith railroad of Arkansas
has been so generally misunderstood that
the honest, rock bottom facts about il
ought to be stated in few words for the
information OF the public. MI. William
Walter Phelps covered the ground fully in
his letter of April "a, addressed to the ed
itor Of the New York Evening Post and
printed In the Chicago Tribune of Satur-
day, April rs. Mr.. Phelps letter, however,
IS 30 long, and goes so much into detail,
that busy men who are less interested in
getting at the truth of this matter than in
forming hasty opinions about it will not
read the evidence in full. We desire,
therefore, to put the truth In few words,
and refer anybody who may not be satisfied
with brief analysis of the facts either to
Mr.. Phelps letter or to the Congressional
Record Of 1876, where Mr.. Blaine's won
statement may be found in full.
The charge is:
That in the spring Of 1S69-Mr. Blaine
being at that time Speaker of the House
! Of Representatives, bill renewing the
land-grant of the Little Rock and Fort
was before the House, and that in his
capacity of Speaker he promoted it's pas
sage because he had a pecuniary interest
in the road.
The truth is
/. That Mr.. Blaine at the time of the
passage of the bill had no pecuniary inter-
est whatsoever in the railroad or its land
grants, and expected to have none.
2. That he had no acquaintance with
any persons who did have any pecuniary
interest in the railroad or its Immigrant.
8. That he did not promote the pas
sage Of the bill, and that it did not need
his influence, inasmuch as it had already
passed the Senate by unanimous vote,
and was not objected to by anybody in the
House. In fact, it passed the House by a
unanimous vote, as soon as it was before
that body.
4. That Mr.. Blalnes sole connection
with the bill was to rule out an amend
ment lacking to it the very odious and OBJ
jectiOnable land-grant of the Texas and
Pacific railroad, a measure which ought
not to pass, and which, if it had been
fastened on the Little Rock and Fort Smith
railroad measure. would probably have
dragged it down to an unmerited defeat.
When this highly offensive amendment
was proposed Mr.. Root, one of the Arkan-
sas members, called the Speakers atten-
tion thereto, and at Mr.. Blaine's sugges-
tion Mr.. John A. Logan, then member
of the House, raised the point Of order
that the amendment was not germane, land
it was ruled out of order forthwith. The
bill then passed By dSatnanimous cote.
Nearly three months after these events
Mr.. Blaine for the first time obtained an
interest in the railroad, purchasing the
stock and bonds as any other buyer might
do, and then for the first time formed the
acquaintance of those who had been instru-
mental in pushing the enterprise in the
State of Arkansas. He bought block of
securities belonging to the Little Rock and
Fort Smith railroad, including stock and
first and second mortgage bonds, in June,
1869, after the adjournment of Congress,
and placed the first mortgage bonds during
the three months following with a number
of his friends in Massachusetts and Maine
The entire series of bonds at his disposal
was closed out during the months of July,
August, and September of 1869, so the
transaction was ended when, i'll his letter
of October 4, 1869, Mr.. Blaine wrote to
Fisher, and merely in the way of curious
"reminiscences called attention to the fact
of his unsolicited and accidental services
to the road the April previous, when he
was in no way interested in its affairs, and
had no reason to suppose that he ever
would be. The truth is, that his attention
was first directed to the railway by it's ap
plication to Congress for a renewal of its
and-grant, and at first seemed to him a
favorable Investment after its land grant
had been renewed by unanimous vote of
both Houses of Congress.
Mr.. Blaine sold his securities of the
road to his friends with a personal prom
Use that if any loss should ensue he would
take back the stock and bonds at the price
for which he sold them. 'Shrinkage did
ensue, and the stock and bonds were
thrown back upon his hands and though
he had given no written guarantee of re-
demption, he paid for them at great per-
sonal sacrifice out of his own pocket. The
New Y ork Euening Post has since alleged
that he unloaded his disastrous investment
upon the Union Pacific railroad, but it has
produced no proof of any such trans
action, whereas Mr. Blaine has exhib-
tied the sworn statements of the officers of
the railroad that no such transfer was ever
made and his statement has been accepted
as conclusive by those who are familiar
with the circumstances of the case. In
deed, it was this part of the controversy
that George William Curtis considered in
Harpers's Weekly when he wrote in May,
1876, that Mr.. Blaine'S statements was AS
thorough refutation as was ever made
We are convinced that no candid person
can investigate without prejudice all the
facts connected with Mr.. BlaineS record
in this case without coming to the firm
conclusion that it was in all respects hon.
orable and proper, and creditable to him
both as private citizen and as a public
man.