Rensselaer Union, Volume 5, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 January 1873 — Congress and the Credit-Mobilier. [ARTICLE]

Congress and the Credit-Mobilier.

WHBH the charge was made last summer against certain eminent members of Congress that they had been bribed to vote in favor of the Paoiflc Railroad, •very intelligent man probably felt that the charge was untrue. The bribery of Speaker Blaine was said to have been “proved.” He promptly and ftallv denied it, and it is evident that he told only the truth. The late Mr. F. D. Eliot was among those named. He was a man of singular purity of character; and those who knew him could only pity the party ferocity that did not spare him. It now appears to everybody that the charge was as false as his friends knew it to be at the time, and simply because of his character. Mr. Boutwell, also, one of the most spotless of our public men, was assailed by the same Infamous slander; It was' wholly without justification. Mr. Dawes was aspersed. But the evidence shows how unjustly. There are other gentlemen who were involved in the charges. But although they had to do with Mr. Oakes Ames and his stock, it ig entirely unnecessary to suppose, and it is certainly not yet proved, that it vras with any nefarious purpose. That Vice President, Colfax, for instance, would not and could not be bribed is as plain a proposition as could be imagined.

Nobody can doubt his statement before the committee. He had long been, as is well known, a friend of the Pacific Road, and one day Mr. Ames offered to sell him some stock in the Credit-Mobilier. After some inquires Mr. Colfax said that he ~ should like tobuy, but that he had no money. Mr. Amies replied that he would sell him twenty shares at par if he would Day also interest until the first payment. Mr. Colfax agreed, thinking, as he most naturally and honestly might, that there was no more probability of Congressional legislation upon the Pacific Railroad than upon any ojher chartered company—a national bank, or a manufactory. Some time afterward Mr. Colfax paid five hundred dollars upon his contract, but he received no dividends and no certificates of stock. Presently he heard of difficulties among the managers and probable lawsuits, and he instantly told Mr. Ames that he must recede entirely from the transaction. Ary ear afterward Mr. Ames failed, and Mr. Colfax told him not to think more of the five hundred dollars, the loss of which is the net result to the Vice President of the Credit-Mobilier operation. This is a very simple, natural story. Told by Mr. Colfax, it is not a story to be doubted. Mr. Ames may or mny not have had a sinister' intention in his offer. But surely Mr. Colfax was not bound to know it or to suspect it. There are many gentlemen in Congress who have little money to invest, and who know very little of good investments. When they wish to invest, naturally they would consult their colleagues who are constantly engaged in such business; and when such colleagues suggest that if their friends have money to spare there is a good opportunity to in vest, it is not surprising, and implies no kind of dishonor, that the opportunity is improved. Indeed, there is nothing questionable infthe matter until it is shown that the gentleman ought, to suspect the colleague who makes the ofter. If a mau consults a Jim Fisk upon investments, he must expect, of course, to be called a pigeon, or a sharer of the booty. And again, if a member of Congress is pecuniarily interested in any company or project which asks Congressional aid, he should refrain from voting. But this is a rule which affects votes upon tariffs as well as railroads. If we assume that Mr. Ames had improper intentions, he would, of course, seek to entangle men of the best character, and to affect their votes indirectly; and of -course, however essentially innocent a transaction may be, when an exposure is made showing knavery somewhere, those who have had any part in it whatever are smirched. If it shallfinally appear that members owning stock voted favors to the company, then they must suffer in public estimation with the members who, being interested in any manufacturing industry, vote for its special protection. But that members of Congress were bribed, as originally stated—that is, that they consciously received stock as a consideration for votes—there is no evidence whatever.— Jlnrjier's Weekly.