Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1897-10-30


with the whole subject, in a speech de-
livered at Chillicothe just after the
publication appeared. said:
In The Enquirer of today they have de-
parted from the carlcature. They have
published very respectable picture Of
Senator Hanna, and In connection with the
article accompanying his portrait they have
| a sensational account which they entitle
"A Fifty Million Dollar Deal" and they go
on to create the impression that he has
had something to do with robbing the gov
e. nment of the United States of fifty mill
! lions of dollars. Well, now, l wonder why
they made IL so moderate? They might
iave made 1t 150,000,000 as we'll as 50,000-
900. 1t is in connection with the Union Pa
| cihc railroad, which Is shortly to be sold
not by the order of this administration,
not by the order of Marcus a. Hanna, but
| by the order of the United States court
into which forum the Cleveland admins
tratlon took the government of the United
| States is plaintiff suitor with respect to
that matter.
| do not Know all the facts that they
assume to set out In this article, but l do
know this, I have talked with Marcus A.
Hanna and l have talked with William
Mckinley, president of the United States
! | have talked with both of them In regard
| to this matter and l know that neither one
of them had anything whatever to do with
| this transaction In the sense In which it
| is charged in the Cincinnati Enquirer of
| today.
7 do NOT vont to dipnifv tbis with nm
| ,,uo attention. I do NOT want TO spend anv
| nnnecessory time upon If. but I do want to
call your attention TO the fact that the
| Union Pacific railroad was built by the
aid of the government. The government
had a second lien for S33,000,000 l believe
upon that road principal debt. Interest
and nrincinol II omounts TO s53 Ooo ono nov,
aftor allowing certain credits. If am right
in INV recollection. There was n first lien
ahead of il of s33, 900 900 in favor of what
ara known os the first mortrnre bond
holders. Under the Cleveland administra-
tion Inv direction of Democratic prnsi-
dent, the then attorney general, Judson
lIia harmon as , nohest man. anu .ahe sleas ,
brought suit in the United States court
to foreclose the government lien and sell
th dnpt .o+ anu tI ,o,rst - p"' VI
When Governor Mckinley came into the
Office of president he found this suit al
ready pending. He found that the court
already had jurisdiction OF this matter, ana
nothing has been done from that day until
this excepting only to nave the court pro-
ceed In due order to enter Its decree, find
Ing the respective liens that attach against
the property and ordering sale of the
property to the highest bidder at public
auction In order that they might be paid.
If there should be anything wrong about
It, and think l am safe In saying l know
there Is nothing wrong about It, 1t belongs
not to the administration of President Nc
kinley, but to the administration OF Gro
yer Cleveland, and / must be allowed to
say that do not feel under any obliga-
tions TO stand here on hot night like this
and make labored defense OF Grover
Cleveland or anything that he did. The
charge made In this particular, my fellow
citizens Is characteristic of the many
charges that are made against Senator
Hanna.
Attorney General McKenna's Statement.
A+torro,, co,oroI ,5oxa,,o +ho lou,
nv :"
oIncer Oh tne government, VINO Is Oh
course thoroughly familiar with the
entire transaction REGARDING the sale
~, ,et.,e -.
vi .ne ioau' III an ih'ei VIC" on 'niS
SUBJECT sald:
1.-THE reorganization committee has In
no way been shown the slightest favor
or given the least advantage. The road
will be sold to the highest responsible bid
der, without any reference to his person
ality. If the bid of Sol, 100000 is made
and the reorganization committee do not
increase their offer to $50, 900 600, the prop
erty will go to the parties making the new
proposal. The guarantee bid was obtained
to prevent the possibility of disastrous loss
If this guarantee did not exist an oppor-
tunity would be afforded bidders to form
u combination and offer a comparatively
low figure for the road.
1.-The increase in the reorganization COM
mittee's bid is easily explained. subse-
quent to the filing of the original guaran-
tee bid Of S45, 4059 a number of over
looked contentious were discovered. These
included the bridge across the Missouri
river at Omaha and number Of money
considerations. The bridge mortgages
amounted to about 81, 200. .000 the lien on
the Omaha and Council Bluffs division to
more than 81, 900, 900 and other contentious
brought the aggregate to nearly $4,000 900.
"In view of these contentious the de-
crees of the courts were unsatisfactory
and papers were prepared for an appeal
At that time the reorganization committee
increased their bid by $4,243 941 to cover
these additional sums, thus raising the to-
tai did to even $50, ,OO0, 600 In all other re-
spects the DEGREES were just and satisfac-
tory