The Labor enquirer., 1884-11-01
The Colossal Infamg Of Blaine
in the Pacific Railway
Job.
How the Republican Candidate
for President Stood in With
Thieves.
The People Robbed Of One Hundred
Millions by a ,onnivance With
Congress-.

vealeu Dy e4a2enalef hnui hn nian .iio o'''oi
day in an interview with correspond
ent of the Chicago Herald, respecting
his efforts to 47rotec; the government m
its relations With THE Pacific railway COM
panies; the alleged ptterances of Senator
Edmunds. WHO was an able ally Of Thur
man, to the effect that the republican
candidate for the presidency was ever
ready musk,t in hand, to rise up be-
hind the breast-works OF the lobby TO
repel any ASSAULT Upon the monopoly
citadel, and finally The general masslng
of facts and figures IN the speeches OF
Thurman; Edlnonds Booth OF California,
and others, to- show the extent of the
great Pacific railway job, which in its
rsmifcations is believed to have cor
rupted for period of twenty years or
more every department of the govern
ment, has awakened new, and general
interest in the history of that gigantic
scheme, American annals show no
greater or bolder erterprise for private
enrichment at the cost of the whole peo-
pie than this A recent writer aptly
points to the organization of the British
East India company to despoil the rajahs
of the Indian empire, as the only fitting
parallel in the worlds history, and his
comparison of Lord Give and Warren
Hastings with some of those in power in
America, who aided TO .consummate this
gigantic scheme of robbery, appeals with
striking force 10 all readers of history.
The brazen audacitY Of purpose, the reckr
less methods AVID the startling measures
employed to c(lnsumnate the enterprise
with its resultant desooilment of millions
upon millions of dollars, certainly stand
unparalleled in Americas history. No
body at this day believes that the offgi-
nal promoters Of the Pacific railway en-
terprise deliberately planned a scheme
ofrobbery on such a scale. But seeing
the ease with which legislation could be
influenced, tempted by the great posi-
bilities revealed fronit day to day as the
scheme developed, the originators and
promoters gave rein to thelr impulses
and subservient and greedy law makers
stood ready te, aid their infamY and
share the spoils. The original Pacific
railway scheme, was honest in purpose
and its promoters sincere in their e1-
pressed wish TO srrY forward a legiti-
mate enterprise. Th,re is no evidence
that the original act of 1862 granting a
charter and pledging government aid to
the extent of S55,000,000 in bonds was
conceived in sill or seIfshness.
By that act the government was am
ply secured by its first mortgage on all
the property of the companies, includ-
ing road-bed, telegraph lines, fixtures
and property Of every kind and descrip-
tion. That mortgage was to the extent
of $27 800 per mile on 1000 miles of road.
1t was not until toward the close of the
war, when it WAS seen that the Union
arms must triu nph, that the credit of
the government was rapidly rising and
that the bonds guaranteed were to be
marketable at par, that the promoters of
the scheme saw their opportunity.
Under the plea that the roads would
cost much more than their original eSti-
mates, and that It would be necessary to
raise much greater sum than the gov
ernment bonds, even ii marketed at par
would produce, the companies came to
congress and asked that they be allowed
) to issue S55 900 bonds of their own,
the same to be secured by first mort
gage on all the property of the companies,
while the government should give up its
own first mortgage and consent to take
a second mortgage to secure its heavy
loan. Such an iniquitous measure could
never have eluied public scrutiny in
time of peace. The lteople were busy
with the war, and gave but little thought
to outside Legislation, With the excep-
tion of E. iB. W2shourne, in the house,
and Thomas A E.endrisks, in the Senate,
, no influential voice waaraised againstit.
A powerful lobby swas organized, ana
bribery and corruption held high carni-
val. Subsequentin igation revealed
to some extent the inWardness of this,
but the exact methods of the bribery-or
the names of the briilees have never
come to light Ii is enough to know that
: the bill passed, il. Junts 1864, and by it
the government was despoiled of the
only adequate sec lrity il ever had for its
loan of S55,o0o,ot0. BIZ the same act.
: too, the land grants to these roads were
doubled-ten miles on each side being
given and valuable coil lands having
in the meantime been discovered, the
clause in the act of 1862 sreserving mine
raj and coal lapds to the government
was repealed. Thus the government
as-deprived of lis last point of vantage,
and the conspirators thereafter had mat
ters all their owp way. The measure
was engineered in the Senate by John
Conness, a Republican Senator from Cali
fornia, who at the close of his term left
the state With fortune of $500, 600 and
settled in Connecticut. Long before his
term ended he hati become known as the
hired attorney of the Western promoters
of the Pacific railway scheme, and he
found the climate ,f Cal fornia injurious