Omaha daily bee., 1885-01-31
BILL TO LEeALIzE ROBBERY.


for the relief Of the Pacific railroads Il
very deceptive on its face. Apparently
1t is fair and reasonable, but upon close
examination it will be found to be {
measure for the purpose Of legalizing tn,
3 robberies ofthe railroad wreckers ant
permitting them to continue their extor
lions upon the people. 1t is based upor
9 the false assumption. from the beginning
to the end, that the obligations of the
1 Union and Central Pacific railroads were
incurred honestly, that an equivalent wal
received by the corporations and that
, the stock was issued In pursuance tC
charter requirements making It obliga.
tory on tho companies to tissue one dollar
In stock for one dollar in money. Now,
as a matter of fact, the Union Pacific
alone has injected into it's bonded obliga-
tions S57, 900, 900 of fraudulent deb
through the Credit Mobilier contracts
made by the officers of the company
with themselves. Instead of paying dol
lar for dollar for the $50, 000, 900 of stock
Issued on the main line, the managers
have only paid S21S,CoO in cash, the
first and only payment on 50, 1o0, 900,
subscribed when the Union Pacific was
first organized. Never tas there been a
dollar paid except through fraud.
The land grant of the Union Pacific
amounted to more than $4,000, 900 acres
of land, an empire within itself. The
company issued land grent
bonds to the amount of
ten millions, originally for the purpose of
assisting In the construction of the road.
There has been realized on the sales of
land the sum of over $50, 000, 600, but
instead of paying the land grant bonds
with the proceeds, as they should have
done, the managers of the company have
only paid less than 1000, 900, and have
issued so-called income bonds to the
amount of $40, 900, 900, which were
bought up by Gould, Dillon & Co., at
fifty cents on the dollar. That syndi-
cate, composed of managers of the road,
turned around and reimbursed themselves
out of the land grant fund, thus making a
clean steal of So, 900, 900 by the transac.
ton. 1t Is easy enough to see how these
men have made their vast fortunes In a
few years.
The consolidation of the Kansas Pacific
with the Union Pacific was made In def.
ance of Claw. BY that move millions
upon millions of water were injected into
the Union Pacific. These are but a few
sample transactions by which these rail-
road wreckers have enriched themselves
at the expense of the people. The cor
porstion managers have deliberately com-
mitted crimes which would send them to
the penitentiary if they were managing
trust funds or a bank.
The bill of Mr.. Hoar proposes to legal
liza all the highway robberies of Dillon
and Gould and recognize as valid all the
fraudulent debts. Not only this but IL
proposes, by the legallzation of those 81.
gantic frauds, to at once place the stock
of the Union Pacific on a par with other
railroads, owned by honest men. The
stock of the Union Pacific, In view of the
actual condition of the road, has been
depressed and brought down to less
than 30 cents from $50, to which point
it had been doomed by Gould by means
of his fraudulent dividends. If the
government funds the entire debt of the
road and extends its payments forty.six
years beyond the time when the debt ma.
lures, the railroad wreckers will resume
their operations and again boom the
stock of that company into the market,
compelling the patrons, as a matter of
necessity, If they desire to earn, divl-
denda, to contribute to their Golfers by
submitting to extortionate rates.
Now, why docs not the government
treat the railroad as 1t would
a national bank? Suppose that
the officers of a national
bank had deliberately robbed the insti.
tuition by gambling away Its resources
and placed 1t In a condition where it
could not meet It's obiiga-
tions. Suppose, furthermore, that
the bank officers had issued to
themselves stock on which only ten per
cen was paid. What course would the
government pursue under such circum.
stances? Would 1t not first compel the
stockholders to make good the ninety
cents on the dollar? And then, with
this amount paid in, would it not en-.
6eavor to make good the loss? Would
the government attempt to levy contri.
buttons on the patrons of the bank to
make good the defslcations2 OF course
1t would not2 Why then should not the
government pursue the same course with
Jay Gould and the men who have robbed
the people as 1t would with ~defaulting
bank officials. Why should 1t not
indict them for diverting the money
OF the people to their own
use, and send them to the
penitentiary where they belong?" Why
should the government treat jaw |