The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-11-30

}. q Tyler 70.
ment securities for 80 cents on the dollar, v
realizing handsomely on the purchase Y
MONEY IN RAILROAD SCHEMES. I
The big railroad grants which were given
by Congress were productive of wealth to I
many statesmen. The credit Mobilier in I
vestigation showed that a number of votes I
had been secretly bought with presents Of
stock and there are men living in Washing 6
ton to day who made their fortunes out of /
it. 1t is said that five hundred thousand 1
dollars were given by the lobbyist Dick
Irwin to secure the passage OF the Pacific ]
Mail subsidy, and c. P. Huntington and {
Jay Gould have spent, it is said, fortunes {
in passing or killing bills. Judge Jerry !
Black once visited Tom Scott, the presi- I
dent of the Pennsylvania railway company {
in behalf of a client who had claim {
against the Texas Pacific Scott opened /:
drawer of his DESK took out a paper con-
tanning long list of names of distinguished {
men with big rigures on number of
ciphers opposite them. "What is this!"
said Black. This is what paid to get the
charter of the Texas Pacific" replied Scott
Black grew angry. He threw down the
paper and said: sWhat do you mean by
showing me that. l don't want my soul
scared with your sinful secrets. shall not
be able to read those names again as they
appear from day to day in the newspapers
without, thinking of my countrys dis
honor.'' OH said the railroad king as
Black turned away. They don't think it
dishonorable, and pulling out a bundle of |
letters, II have notes here from nearly |
every one of them demanding more money"
Stephen A! Douglass is said to have made a !
81 Of4 he q
trial railroad grant. He aided in getting this |
bill through Congress, and invested largely
in the stocks and bonds.
MONEY IN LANDS.
Public men at Washington have many
chances to make money in land specula
ton. A great deal of money has been
MADE in Washington real estate, and this
has been in nearly all cases of late years
| legitimate. I know of Congressman
| from Kansas who made more than one hun
dred thousand dollars during the past year
out of suburban property on the Massa-
chuSettS avenue extension. The man is a
millionaire and he Is a bold Spectator. a
railroad is now being built from the north
western fashionable part of the city out to
the district line by what is known as the
California syndicate. This syndicate has
more than a million dollars capital, and
several Senators are interested in it. They
will make fortunes, if I'VE do nave panic
in the rise of the land from the building
of this railroad. Senator Sherman, William
Phelps James G. Blaine, Don Cameron
and score of other statesmen of national
note have added to their fortunes by in
vesting in Washington property. Senator
Sherman is both an investor and specu-
| lator and the same may be said of many
! of the other men of the Senate l do not
mean to say that they speculate on matters
before Congress, but they are shrewd and
far-sighted and they are not afraid to pay
for good thing WHEN they see it. During
the Boss Sheppard regime here there was
a great deal of speculation in Washington
property and every time that new public
building is located there is chance to
make money in buying lots if one can know
where it is to go before hand. The loca-
ton of the city postoffice last summer
gave a business value to Eleventh
street. which was almost altogether a
residence street prior to this, and num-
Der Of Washington real estate spectators
did well out of it.
A STORY OF HANNIBAL HAMLIN.
One of the most punctilious sta tesmen
who have ever been IN Washington was
Hannibal Hamlin. He did not believe that
he had any right to use Information which
be got as public servant to advance his
private interests, and he once refused to
buy whole square in Washington for half
a cent a foot on this ground. Had he made
the purchase, he would have bsen now a
millionaire; for this square is worth about
three dollars square foot to- day. He
acted the same in regard to bonds, and at
one time one OF his fellow Senators, in
speaking of a bill which was before the
Senate, asked him to vote for it, telling him
he take him to place where he could get
: all these bonds he wanted for six cents on
| dollar yyhlnn yy0nId a worth
cents when the bill passed He closed with:
"Well Hamlin, what do you say to the
. chancem Il say" replied Hamlin, with
an angry frown as he turned his back, Il
say, damn your chance, and damn your
bonds.n And that was the end of the mat
ter.
PUBLIC LAND FRAUDS.
The commissioner of the general land
Office and the secretary Of the interior have
. knowledge of the most valuable tracts Of
public land in this country and it is only
their honesty that keeps them from being
wealthy. Suppose a valuable tract of coal
land is reported. 1t could be bought of the
government by their friends at dollar and
quarter an acre and they could have an
interest in it and no one be the wiser. Con-
greSsmen have the same chance as to land
grants and as to the opening up Of new re-
servatious. The first steals which were
discovered in the government serv zee were
land steals, and as far back as 1895 there
was scheme TO get %, 600 million acres
of western lands from Congress for nomi-
nal sum- This scheme was engineered by a
lobbyist named Randall and he claimed
that he had thirty members of the House
and majority of the Senate in with him.
In 1857 two New York Congressman had to
resign because they acted corruptly as to a
land grant and the bride to one OF these for
his services was seven square miles of land.
HOW CABINET OFFICERS COULD MAKE MONEY.
There are hundreds of men in the gov
! eminent departments in Washington who
, could make money if they would out of
their information and OUT of their position.
, Every member of President Harrison IS
Cabinet might grow rich if he cared to be
= corrupt and some of the Cabinet positions
a have The possibilities of riches beyond the
q dreams CT avarice. 1t is to the credit of our
. government that we have so few scandals.
e The argus eyes of the press are on all gov
. eminent officials and do not now recall a
n Cabinet minister who has been impeached
Q for crime. Take the position Of the secre-
tary of the treasury. Secretary Windom' S
word will raise or lower the value of bonds
and stocks. He knows of legislation and OF
Y the financial acts which the department is
e to perform days and weeks in advance and
t a wink from him could turn certain things
f into gold. Still he is to day poor man
a and no one mas ever charged him with cor
!. ruption. In the awarding of contrac'
? like that of the seal trade of Alaska involv-
: ing millions a corrupt man could squeeze
n matters this way ana that so IS to make his
p services worth thousands, and every secre
l. tary of the treasury has chance to make
/, his friends rich. 1t is said that Salmon p
t. Chase while he wOuld do nothing for his