New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-12-05


porstions referred to in the second OF the quota
lions at the beginning Of this article :" spanning
the continent from ocean to ocean" The subject
Of the sketch was not demonstrative Success
had not changed his nature or his habits. Whether
weaving webs or not. be certainly operated on
his own account without admitting other persons
into his confidence" with the result that a few
weeks ago he permitted the fact to be known that
he had regained control Of the corporation Of
which the ARTIST was the head.
So it happened that, just Is in june, 1884. Mr..
Jay Golld passed out and Mr.. Charles Francis
Adams passed in. on the day before Thanksgiving.
1890, Mr. Charles Francis Adams passed out and
Mr.. Jay, Gould resumed his seat at the head Of
the table.
Apple Of discord to be quarrelled over and
fought for from the time the franchise was
granted; apple Of Sodom turning to ashes in the
hands of so many heldersl Such is the story Of
the Union Pacific, q story Of daring enterprise
and Of seldshness and greed, Of large statesman
ship and laundering legislation, Of wise forecast
and weak expedients, Of patriotic purposes and
urderhanded methods, of openhess and intrigue.
success and failure.
Congress planted seed of endless mischief in
the requirement in the charter that the books
for subscription to the stock should be kept open
till the whole 800, 100000 capital should be
subscribed, of which $40 a share should be paid
Immediately and the remainder in instruments Of
S. each si1 months following until the whole
was paid, the payments to be in cash. The i'm
practicability Of this feature was so obvious that
there seemed to ne no hesitation on the part of
any of the originators of the enterprise at setting
it entirely aside. 1t was the excuse for the
Credit Mobilier by means Of which the stock was
all subscribed and the requirement Of cash gay
ments evaded. In defence Of their proceedings in
this regard they said, and said truly, that the
same provisions were in all the railroad charters
granted by States, but that not the least atten-
ton had been paid to them that no railroad
had been built for thirty years. if ever. on a
straightforward cash subscription to the stock,
nor could be. It was assumed that the require
ments were a dead letter.
So it began with evasion. Sin in the cradle. If
not by Inheritance. Its first act was disobedience.
and the fruit of that forbidden tree brought much
woe into the world. Crookedness in the founda-
ton can never be entirely Strengthened out in
the superstructure. The complication which it
led to grew with every movement more complex,
until it puzzled the authors themselves to unravel
their own work. Looking it all over ten years
later from the witness stand, they might well
exclaim with Marmion at Flodden Field:
o what a tangled web we weave
When first we practise to deceive.
w.
General John A. Dix was the first president
Of the company-a very eminent man, Of too
kindly a nature to refuse this or any other
adequately endowed place of responsibility.
With single-hearted devotion he went 30 the
office almost every day and signed uncomplaininsly
the documents prepared for him by Messrs.
Durant and Bushnell, among which were re-
ceipts for his annual salary Of 81 5000. General
Dix had the confidence Of the public in an I'M
usual degree from having given orders to shoot
anybody who hauled down the American flag at
a time when many Of his personal and political
friends were engaged in that exercise. He also
had the confidence Of the gentlemen engaged In
organizing the Credit Mobilier, as was evident
when the first engineer of the road, Mr.. Peter
A. Dey, wrote him that contracts for oonstruc-
ton were ordered to be made at 5000 o mile,
when the actual cost was but $40 900, and the
General gave him 10 understand In his brief re-
ply that he had some information himself as 30
" what trees make shingles
General Dix was appointed Minister to France
in 1866, but absence in foreign lands did not
dull his interest or Diminish his fifth in this
great enterprise. He continued 70 draw MS
salary with diplomatic grace and military pre-
cision until 1893, when some Boston men of the
baser sort suggested that however benign an in
huence he might have shed on the bond market
from the neighborhood of Nassau-st., he could not
shed Ss, 900 worth of it from so far off as France,
so Mr.. Oliver Ames, who had been doing the
work, was elected to the place in 1883.
At this point the General remarked with a
slight tinge of sadness that If he had known
this he would not have gone abroad. His in
terest in the enterprise continued. nevertheless. un-
abated. Almost Immediately he effected a sale Of
500 shares of Union Pacific stock to the Credit
Mobilier for $50, 900, thus by a single stroke OF
genius sending the stock which had been given
TO him by DR.. Durant and had no market value to
par.
v.
Mr.. Oliver Ames was the actual executive
officer of the company from 1868 to 1871. the
period in which most of the work of construction