California 
 
 jgional 
 
 icility
 
 ID E IF^ E 157 C IB 
 
 OF 
 
 OAKES AMES 
 
 AGAINST THE CHARGE OF 
 
 Selling to Members of Congress Shares of the Capital 
 Stock of the Credit Mobilier of America, with intent 
 to bribe said Members of Congress. 
 
 Bead in the House of Representatives Fch. 25, 1873. 
 
 Before the House proceeds to the consideration of the reso- 
 lution reported on Tuesday last by the special committee 
 charged with the investigation of alleged transactions with 
 certain members of this body, in the disposition of shares of 
 the capital stock of the Credit Mobilier of America, I desire 
 to submit the following; statement: 
 
 The charges on which said resolution is based relate to 
 events so intimately connected vrith a portion of the history of 
 the construction of the Union Pacific railroad that I shall 
 ask the indulgence of the House while I proceed to trace such 
 history in greater detail than would otherwise be necessary. 
 
 On the 1st day of July, 1862, was passed and approved an 
 act of Congress, authorizing and providing for tlie construc- 
 tion of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri river 
 to the Pacific ocean. The practicability and importance of 
 such a measure had long been urged by our most sagacious 
 public men, but it failed to receive the sanction of the Gov- 
 ernment, until a great civil war threatened to result in the 
 withdrawal of the States and Territories of the Pacific coast 
 from the authority of the Federal Government. For a variety 
 of reasons, then long before the public, but chiefly to avert 
 the calamity indicated, this act was passed. It was universally 
 esteemed not only a measure of sound policy, but a scheme 
 appealing to the patriotism and loyalty of the capitalists of
 
 the United States, as the instrument whereby a fntnrc separa- 
 tion of the Pacific from the Atlantic States would be rendered 
 forever impossible. 
 
 The meeting of commissioners named in the act to carry 
 the same into effect b}'^ the organization of the corporation 
 was held pursuant to act of Congress on the first Tuesday of 
 September, 18G2. Though composed of a great number of 
 the leading capitalists of the country, and in addition to tlie 
 ordinary inducement of pecuniary advantage, acting under the 
 etimulus of patriotic ardor, the meeting failed to accomplish 
 anytbing beyond the opening of books of subscription. Not 
 a dollar of stock was subscribed or promised, and it was not 
 until about the 27th of October, 1863 — and then only with 
 the explicit understanding on the part of the subscribers that 
 in case of failure to secure future legislation the project must 
 be abandoned — that a suiHciont subscription was obtained to 
 authorize the election of a board of directors. On this sub- 
 Bcription was the name of no recognized capitalist. Parties 
 known to the country as wielding large capital in railroad en- 
 terprises had studiously avoided all apparent association with 
 tlie enterprise, and in their ]>lacc appeared a class of com 
 paratively unknown men, Avhose names, when rising to the sur- 
 face, had been cliieli}^ connected with enterprises involving 
 Bpeculative and extra-hazardous risks. Until the passage of 
 the law lieretofore mentioned, notbing was done under tliis 
 organization beyond such acts as were necessary to preserve 
 the existence of the corporation. 
 
 Then came the act of July 2, 18G4. Its principal features 
 were as follows: It authorized a reduction of the par value 
 of the shares from one thousand to one hundred dollars, with 
 a corresponding increase in number ; it enlarged the land 
 grant from a ten to a twenty-mile limit ; it authorized the 
 company to issue first mortgage bonds on its railroad and tele- 
 graph, to an amovmt per mile equal to the amount of United 
 States l)onds authorized to be issued to the company in aid of 
 the construction of the road, and made the mortgage securing 
 tlie same a lien prior t(j that of the United States ; it de-
 
 clared that only one-lialf of the compensation for services ren- 
 dered for the Government should be required to be applied 
 to the payment of tlie bonds issued by the Government in aid 
 of construction. While thus strengthen inii; the company by 
 these changes, Congress at the same time and in tlic same act 
 dealt it two well nigh fatal blows, from the effect of wliich 
 complete recovery is impossible. It authorized the Kansas 
 Paciiic, which was required to effect a junction with the 
 Union Pacific not farther west than the one-hundredth mei-i- 
 dian of longitude — a distance of about 247 miles west of the 
 Missouri river — to make such connection at any point wcsfe- 
 wardly of such initial point deemed practicable or desirable. 
 The result is a rival parallel road connecting with the Union 
 Pacific at a point 510 miles west of the Missouri river — being 
 one-half the length of that road — and claiming equal advan- 
 tages and facilities in all runnino; connections and interchange 
 of business." It likewise provided that in case the Central Pa- 
 cific should reach the eastern boundary of California before 
 the Union Pacific should be built to that point, tlie former 
 company should liavc the right to extend its road 150 miles 
 eastward, and this power was afterwards enlarged hj Congress 
 by act of July 2, 18G6, so as to authorize such extension in- 
 definitely, until the two roads should meet. Thus by act of 
 Congress these two corporations were sent forth upon a n-aee 
 across the continent, which finally culminated in tlie construe- 
 tion of five hundred miles of road by each company in a sin- 
 gle season, througli a desert countr}', upon a route beset by 
 unparalleled obstacles, and at a necessary cost largely in ex- 
 cess of the most extravagant estimates. 
 
 It is in testimony before a committee of the House that 
 after the impracticaljility of building the road under tlie first 
 act had been demonstrated, when it had become apparent tliat 
 additional aid was necessary to induce capitalists to embark 
 in the enterprise, the late President Lincoln was urgent tliat 
 Congress should not withhold the additional assistance asked, 
 and that he ])ersonally advised the officers of tlie company to 
 go to Congress for such legislation as would assure the succesa
 
 of the enterprise, declaring it a national necessity, and recom- 
 mending tlicni to apply for additional concessions, ample to 
 place the construction of the road beyond a peradventnre. 
 
 Notwithstanding this favorable legislation, no capital was 
 attracted, no additional stock subscribed. On tlie 8th of Au- 
 gust, 1864, a contract for building one liundrcd miles, west 
 from tlie Missouri river was let to II. M. Hoxie, the only con- 
 tractor offering to undertake so hazardous a venture. Six 
 months demonstrated his inability to perform his contract, and 
 with the experience of the company in dealing with individual 
 contractors, no course seemed open except to seek a consoli- 
 dation of personal means into a corporate body, whereby the 
 pecuniary ability of a large number of persons might be made 
 available to the task of constructing the road, while at the 
 same time enjoying the shelter of corporate liability only. Ac- 
 cordingly, by a contract made March 15, 1805, the Credit 
 Mobilier of Americii, a corporation created by and organized 
 under the laws of Pennsylvania, in substance, assumed the ob- 
 '^ ligations of the Hoxie contract and entered upon its perlbrm- 
 ance. It was soon manifest that even this organization, as 
 then constituted, would be unal)le to accomplish the work for 
 wiiich it was created. The state of the country and the pecju- 
 liar local conditions surrounding the enterprise were exceed- 
 ingly untavoral)lo to a successful prosecution of the work. 
 Gold vv'as onc! hundred and fifty ; there was no market for the 
 iirst mortgage bonds ; and the Government bonds, payable in 
 currency, were of uncertain value and of difficult sale. No 
 eastern railroad connection existed whereby the vast amount of 
 material essential to construction could find reasonable and. 
 rapid transportation to the line of the road ; it vv'as compelled, 
 instead, to f(dl()W the long and tedious route of the Missouri 
 river, at an extraordinary cost for transportation, and without, 
 insurance against the perils of the hazardous navigation of. 
 that treacherous stream. All materials were higli, and all 
 classes of labor scarce, and only to be obtained in limited quan- 
 tities at extravagant prices. Add to this the universal dis- 
 trust in financial circles of the ultimate completion of the road,
 
 and the general conviction that when comi^letcd it wouhl fail 
 to prove rerannerative or profitable, and it is easy to anticipate 
 the result which speedily followed, viz: the practical failure of 
 the new or<2:anization to carry forward the work until rein- 
 forced by a new class of capitalists, bringing Avith them larger 
 means and a more powerful influence in the fluancial world. 
 
 Early in September, 1865, it became manifest that the con- 
 tract could not be performed, and that the woi-k must stop un- 
 less additional strength could be imparted to the corporation. 
 Accordingly, after urgent solicitation and long consideration, 
 myself and others associated with me for the hrst time took 
 an interest in the organization. Its capital stock was in- 
 creased, additional money was raised, and tlie work went for- 
 ward. Under this arrangement two hundred and forty-seven 
 miles of road were built, when on the 16th day of August, 
 1867, it was superceded by the Cakes Ames contract, so called, 
 and this contract was on the 15th day of October, 1867, as- 
 signed to seven persons as trustees, and under it six hundred 
 and sixty-seven miles of road were built. 
 
 The alleged corrupt transactions imputed to me are all charged 
 to have been initiated in December, 1867. Glance for a mo- 
 ment at the situation of the Union Pacific Company and my 
 connection with it at that time. After a long and nearly in- 
 effectual struggle, the final construction of the road had been 
 assured by my intervention in its affairs. No one doubted 
 that it would be rapidly pushed to completion. Congress had 
 long before, and not at my instance, enacted the laws tender- 
 ing inducements to the capitalists of the country to embark in 
 the construction of the road, and I and my associates accepted 
 its offers and undertook the work. The company had no reason 
 to apprehend unfriendly or hostile legislation, for every de- 
 partment of the Government manifested a friendly attitude, 
 and the whole country was loud in demonstrations of approval 
 of the energy and activity which we had infused into the en- 
 terprise. Heads of departments and Government officials of 
 every grade whose duties brought them in contact with the 
 affairs of the company were clamorous for increased speed of
 
 6 
 
 eontjiruction, :ind never lost an opportunity of expressing ap- 
 proval of tlie ^\ork and urging it forward. It liad never en- 
 tered my mind that the company would ask for or need addi- 
 tional legislati(jn, and it would have been difficult to find a 
 man so reckless of popular opinion as to have lent himself to 
 a crnsade against an organization whose praises everywhere 
 tilled the press and were on the lips of the people. 
 
 As a matter of history, no legislation at all afiecting the 
 pecum'ary interests of the company was asked for for three 
 years and a hrJf after the date of the alleged sales by me of 
 Credit Mobilier stock, and then only in settlement of a purely 
 judicial question suddenly and without warning sprung upon it, 
 in a critical period of its fortunes, and in relation to which no 
 controversy had ever before l)een made. Under no otb.er state 
 @f affairs and in no other attitude of the Government could I 
 for a moment have been induced to assume the enormous re- 
 sponsibilit}' entailed by a contract involving a liability of forty- 
 6even millions of dollars. To undertake the construction of a 
 railroad at any ])rice for a distance of nearly seven hundred 
 miles, in a desert and unexplored country, its line crossing 
 three mountain ranges at the highest elevations yet attempted 
 on this continent, extending through a country swarming with 
 hostile Indians, by whom locating engineers and conductors 
 of construction trains were repeatedly killed and. scalped at 
 their work — upon a route destitute of water, except as supplied 
 by water trains hauled from one to one hundred and lifty 
 miles to thousands of men and animals eno-aored in construe- 
 tion — the immense mass of material, iron, ties, lumber, timber, 
 provisions, and supi)lies necessary, to be transported from five 
 hundred to fifteen hundred miles — I admit might well, in the 
 light of subsequent history and the mutations of opinion, bo 
 regarded as the freak of a madman, if it did not challenge the 
 recognition of a higher motive, namely, the desire to connect 
 my name conspicuously with the greatest public work of the 
 present century. It is by no means sti-ange that my credit 
 with conservative financiers like Governor Washburn should 
 have been shaken, and that he should have hastened to Call iu
 
 loans wliicli iu his judgment this contract proved to be in un- 
 safe hands. 
 
 Under these circumstances, with all legislation sought 
 granted, and no future action of Congress to be asked for or 
 feared, it is charged that I "have been guilty of selling to 
 members of Congress shares of stock in the Credit Mubilier 
 of America for prices l^clow tlie true value of such stocl:, with 
 intent to influence the votes and decisions of such members in 
 matters to be l)rought before Congress for action." 
 
 If this charge is true, it is predicated upon three facts, all 
 of which should be shown to the satisfaction of this body, iu 
 order to justify the extreme measures recommended l)y the 
 committee. 
 
 First. The shares must have been sold at prices so mani- 
 festly and palpably below the true \alue as to conclubively 
 presume the expectation of some otlier pecuniary advantage 
 in addition to the price i)aid. 
 
 Second. The shares must have been of such a nature as that 
 their ownership would create in the liolder a cori-upt pur[)ose 
 to shape legislation in the interest of the seller. 
 
 Third. Some distinct and specific matter or thing to be 
 brouirht before Contjrress, and on vrhicli tlic votes and decisions 
 of members are sought to be influenced, should be alleged and 
 proved. 
 
 It is by no means clear from tlie testimony that the stock 
 was sold at a price less than its true value. It was not on the 
 market ; it had no market value. Unlike an ordinary mar- 
 ketable commodity, it had no current price, and the amount 
 for which it could be sold depended upon the temperament 
 of the buyer, and his inclination to assume extraordinary 
 risks on the one hand, or his tendency to conservative and 
 strictly solid investments on the other. It is in proof be- 
 fore a committee of this House, by witnesses largely interested 
 in railroad construction and operation, and of great financial 
 ability and strength, that when this stock was oftered to tliem 
 at par, it was instantly declined by reason of the enormous 
 risks involved in the enterprises on which its value depended.
 
 8 
 
 These capitalists believed that all the capital invested in the 
 stock was jeopardized, and tlic venture was declined on the 
 rule that no promise of profit justifies a prudent man in em- 
 barking in any enterprise in which all the capital invested is 
 liable to be sunk. Apart from some proof that a small amount 
 of this stock changed hands between persons addicted to specu- 
 lation at about one hundred and fifty, nothing is shown in 
 reference to its value except that it was not on the market, 
 and had no ascertained price. To overturn the presumption of 
 innocence and substitute the conclusive imputation of guilt 
 from the simple fact of such a transaction occurring between 
 men who had long maintained the most friendly personal re- 
 lations — of whom nothing was asked, and by whom nothing 
 was promised — is to overturn all the safeguards afforded per- 
 son and property by the common law, and in lieu thereof es- 
 tablish an inquisitorial code, under Vvdiichno man's reputation 
 is safe. 
 
 It has been assumed that the ownership of Credit Mobilici 
 stock necessarily created in the holder a personal and pecuni- 
 ary interest in procm-ing Congressional legislation favorable 
 to the Union Pacific Railroad Company, or preventing legis- 
 lation adverse to it. At the date of the allcsccd distributior. 
 of Credit Mobilier stock, the Oakes Ames contract had beer 
 made and was in progress of execution. It was completed. 
 and the road co\"cred by the contract turned over to tiie com- 
 pany about the close of the year 18G8. iSTot until two years 
 after was any legislation asked for by the company, and then 
 it was such as arose out of exigencies presented by the action 
 of the Government in reversing a long-continued and uiiifonn 
 previous policy, which could not, by anj^ possilrility, have 
 been foreseen or anticipated. The stock depended for its value 
 upon the connection of the Credit Mobilier with the Oakes 
 Ames contract, which was simply in the capacity of a guar- 
 antor of its execution, whereby a certain class of its stock- 
 holders became entitled to participate in the profits of that 
 contract in money. There is no provision of the Oakes Ames 
 contract, the assignment thereof, or of the triplicate agree-
 
 nicnt, whereby n stocklioldcr hecnmc entitled to anj of the 
 securities of the Union PnciiicRaih-oad Company, or in any way 
 interested in their vahic. Tlie profits derived, if any, were to be, 
 and were, in casli. AVlien (he Oakes Ames contract was com- 
 pleted, and the consideration thereof divided in cash to the 
 several parties entitled, in due proportion, the interest of a 
 holder of Credit Mobiiier stock in the Union Pacific Rail- 
 road Company, and everj^thing pertaining to it, was at an end. 
 In other words, tlie stipulations of that contract and the cash 
 prohts derivable therefrom were the end and the begin- 
 ning — the centre and circumference — the absolute measure of 
 the pecuniary interest of a holder of Credit Mobilier stock in 
 18G8. To say that tlie AVashburne Inll, which professed to 
 deal exclusively with the operation of the road in the ha^ids 
 of the company after it had been built and turned over by 
 the contractors, was a measm'e feared, and to protect the rail- 
 road company against which the stock in question was sold to 
 members of Congress, seems to me to invoke the last extreme 
 of credulitv. 
 
 It is impossible to impute to me the purpose to corruptly 
 .influence members of Congress by (conferring upon them pe- 
 •euniary benefit without adequate consideration, unless the ben- 
 efit conferred is of such a character Jis to necessarily create an 
 inclination to aid the donor to tlie detriment of the public. 
 There is but one escape from this position, and that leads to a 
 lower deep. It may be said that the giving by any person 
 and the receiving by a member of Congress of any gratuity 
 whatever, or, what is identical therewith, selling and buying 
 at an inadequate jn-ice, imports corruption in both the giver 
 and receiver, the buyer and seller. Whoever proclaims this 
 doctrine should instantly set on foot the inquiry how many 
 railroad presidents and superintendents have presented to 
 members of Congress the value of transportation over their 
 respective railroad lines, and by whom the same have been 
 ioceived, to the end that justice may be done, and the one 
 l^»rescntcd for indictment and the other lor expulsion. The 
 dimensions and vaUie of the gratuity have notliing to do with 
 the question. There is no middle ground on which to stand.
 
 10 
 
 For the first time in the history of an}^ tribunal tliis body 
 has before it an alleged offender without an offence. Any per- 
 son accused in the courts of the country, under like circum- 
 stances, might well, when called upon to plead to the indict- 
 ment, insist that it failed to charge a crime. I am charged by 
 the committee with the purpose of corrupting certain members 
 of Congress, while it, at the same time, declares said members 
 to have been unconscious of my purpose, and fails to indicate 
 the subject of the corruption. In other words, the purpose to 
 corrupt is inferred, where the effect of corrupting could not 
 by possibility be produced, and where no subject for corrup- 
 tion existed. No lawyer who values his reputation will assert 
 that an indictment for bribery could stand for an instant in a 
 common law court without specifically alleging who was the 
 briber, who was bribed, and what precise measure, matter, or 
 thing was the subject of bribery. There can be no attempt 
 to bribe without the hope and purpose of corruptly influencing 
 some person or persons in respect to some particular act. Until, 
 therefore, it is alleged and shown not only who tendered a 
 bribe, but who accepted or refused it, and what was the spe- 
 cific subject-matter of the bribery, any conviction which may 
 follow the alleged offence must rest upon the shifting and un- 
 stable foundation of individual caprice, and not upon the solid 
 rock of justice administered under the restraints of law. 
 
 I shall not enter upon a discussion of the jurisdiction of 
 this body over offences alleged to have been committed dur- 
 ing a previous Congress, leaving that cpicstion for such addi- 
 tional comment as the lawyers of the House choose to make. 
 The position, however, that the fault — if such exists — is a 
 continuing offence, is so extraor dinar}" and fruitful of such fa- 
 tal consequences that I cannot forbear a reference to it. Since 
 the Credit Mobilier stock sold by me passed into the hands of 
 the several members of Congress referred to in the report, I 
 have been in the judgment of the committee a perpetual and 
 chronic offender against the dignity and honor of the House, and 
 BO far as my own volition is concerned, must so continue to 
 the end of the world. So long as a single share of this stock
 
 11 
 
 eliall not he restored, but shall remain in the hands of the seve- 
 ral receivers, or either or any of them, my offence goes on, 
 and I am bereft of the power to stop it. And yet, notwith- 
 standing tlie world is now apprised of my alleged corrupt in- 
 tentions — and no member of Congress can be ignorant of 
 them — the ]iarties who alone have the power but fail to release 
 me from the necessity of continuing my offences by return ol 
 the stock, are themselves without blame, and in no way ob- 
 noxious to the sins laid upon me. The committee declare that 
 want of knowledge alone of the corrupt intention of the seller 
 excused the buyer, v.-hilc liolding and owning the proceeds of 
 the sale. Now that such knowledge is everywhere and among 
 all men, how can this, in the absence of a restoration of the 
 stock or its proceeds, be a living, continuing, perpetual crime 
 in the seller and not in the buyer ? 
 
 I beg to bo corrcv>tly understood ; I allcdge nothing 
 against those members of the House who purchased Credit 
 Mobilier stock. I am simply following the reasoning of the 
 committee to its logical] I'esults. I make no assault upon any 
 man or class of men, but I most carnestl^^ protest against 
 being chosen the victim of a line of reasoning and assertion, 
 in my judgment, unjust, partial, unsound, inconsistent, and in- 
 conclusive — calculated, if endorsed, to bring this body into 
 disrepute, and repugntmt to the sense of justice and fair play 
 imljcdded in the liearts of the American people. < 
 
 Hefercncc is made by the committee to the act of February 
 26, 1863, and after setting out the same, the following lan- 
 guage is used : " In the judgment of the committee, the facts 
 reported in regard to Mr. Ames and Mr. Brooks would have 
 justified their conviction under the above-recited statute and 
 subjected them to the penalties therein provided." I beg gen- 
 tlemen to note the entire section carefully and critically, and 
 verify the assertion I now make that every penalty denounced 
 upon him who shall " promise, offer, or give, or cause or pro- 
 ciu'c to be promised, offered, or given" * * .* "any val- 
 uable thing " » * * " to any member of Congress " * * * 
 "with intent to influence his vote on any matter pending or
 
 12 
 
 to be brought before liim," is alike laimchecl with impartial se- 
 verity against any member, officer, or person who shall in any 
 wise accept or receive the same, not knowingly^ xcilfully^ or 
 feloniously receive the same, but in anywise accept or receive 
 the same. Mark the language : " And the member, officer, or 
 person who shall in anywise accept or receive the same, or 
 any part thereof, shall be liable to an indictment as for a ]iigh 
 crime and misdemeanor, and shall, upon conviction thereof, be 
 fined not exceeding ten times the amount so offered, promised, 
 or given, and imprisoned in a penitentiary not exceeding ten 
 years." 
 
 Again I protest against the conclusion of the committee, 
 which makes this unequal, partial, and discriminating allot- 
 ment of the penalties of a statute designed by its framers im- 
 partially to strike or shelter all to \V'hom it applies. AVhatever 
 result may be reached here, none can doubt that in the com-ts 
 of the country there will be one law for all. 
 
 Aside, then, from the letters addressed to Mr. McComb, it 
 is impossible to infer the motives attributed to me by the com- 
 mittee. Mr. McComb claimed that about $20,000 of the 
 $25,000 of stock voted me to fulfil my obligations to my 
 friends should be given to him for distribution to his friends, 
 and the letters to him were written to show that I was selling 
 the stock in small quantities to my friends, and could not 
 give his friends tlie entire amount they desired. A perfect 
 understanding of the circumstances under which these let- 
 ters were written, and a candid consideration of their object 
 and purpose, must, I tliink, carry to any unbiased mind 
 the conviction that my motives were very far from those 
 ascribed to me. Mr. Durant, Mr. McComb, and myself, were 
 each anxious to secure as large a portion as possible of the 
 shares of Credit Mobilier stock, and professedly for the same 
 purpose, namely : for disposition to those persons with whom, 
 from past favors or personal friendsliip, we were willing to 
 share opportunities of profitable investment. I had iu:> desire 
 or expectation to further enrich myself, for my sole object was 
 to get and retain as much of this stock as possible to be used
 
 13 
 
 in redeeming ol)ligations of the character named. These 
 obh'gations had been incurred not only to members of Con- 
 gress, but to many private citizens in no way connected with 
 official life; they had been contracted early in the year 186Y, 
 when the stock could not be sold above par, and it v/as to 
 meet these contracts that I made special efforts to obtain the 
 stock. In doing so, I took it, not for my individual use, l)ut 
 as trustee, for the sole purpose of conveying it to the parties 
 entitled, and it would have been a breach of faith in me to 
 have asked or taken a price in excess of the par value, not- 
 withstanding it may have in the meantime advanced. No dis- 
 tinction was made between members of Congress and unoffi- 
 cial friends, and in performing the obligations I had incurred 
 I sold to both alike stock at its par value, in accordance 
 with, my agreement. When, therefore, Mr. McComb objected 
 to mv Veceiving so large an amount, and entered u]:»on a 
 struggle to prevent it, I naturally addressed to him such 
 arguments and considerations as in my judgment would 
 make the deepest impression upon his mind. It so hap- 
 pened that, in tlic ])rosperity and success of the Union 
 Pacific Railroad Company, Mr. McComb and myself had a 
 common and identical interest, and I therefore urged upon 
 him that I had so disposed of the stock as to enhance the gen- 
 eral strength and influence of the company, for M-hose welfare 
 his solicitude was not less than my own. It is no sufficient 
 answer to this to say that the statement contained in tlie let- 
 ters on which I most relied to influence his mind I now con- 
 cede contained expressions liable to be construed against the 
 purity of my motives. Tried by the test of casual and confi- 
 dential letters, often written hastilv and under circumstances 
 and surroundings entirely different from those in the light of 
 which they are interpreted — framed for a specific purpose, and 
 to accomphsh a particular end — their collateral and incidental 
 bearings not reflected upon and deliberately weighed, but 
 flung off hastily in the instant press of business- and the free- 
 dom of that personal confidence ordinarily existing between 
 parties jointly concerned in financial schemes or enterprises
 
 u 
 
 of public improvement, he would, indeed, be a cautious, a pru- 
 dent, a wise, and almost perfect man, who could emerge from 
 such an ordeal completely free from the suspicion of fault. 
 
 I wish, therefore, to declare, in the broadest sense of which 
 iauij^uage is capable, that in writing the McComb letters I had 
 alone in view the objects above enumerated ; that I never for 
 an instant imagined that from them could be extracted proof 
 of the motive and purpose of corrupting members of Con- 
 gress — motives and purposes which I solemnly declare I never 
 entertained. The insio-nilicant amounts of stock sold to each 
 member with whom I had dealings ; the proven fact that I 
 never urged its purchase, and tlie entire lack of secrecy — ordi- 
 narily the badge of evil purposes — in these transactions, ought, 
 in my judgment, to stand as a conclusive refutation of the of- 
 fences cluirged. And above and beyond this, I submit that 
 a long and l)usy life spent in the prosecution of business pm'- 
 suits, honorable to myself and useful to mankind, and a repu- 
 tation hitherto without stain, should of its own weight overcome 
 and outweigh charges solely upheld by the unconsidered and 
 unguarded utterances of confidential business communications. 
 
 A vast amount of error has been disseminated and preju- 
 dice aroused in the minds of many by incorrect and extrava- 
 gant stateuients of tlie profits accruing from the different 
 contracts for the construction of the road, and especially that 
 commonly known as the Oakes Ames contract. The risk, 
 the state of the country, the natural obstacles, the inflation of 
 the currency and consequent exorbitant prices of labor and 
 material, the Indian perils, the unparalleled speed of construc- 
 tion and the clamorous demands of the countrj* for speedy 
 completion, seem to be forgotten, and the parties connected with 
 the Credit Mobilier and the construction of the road are now 
 to be tried by a standard foreign to the time and circumstan- 
 ces under wliich the work was done. It is said that when the 
 failure to secure the necessary amount of cash subscriptions to 
 the stock was proved, and it became manifest that the only 
 medium through which the work could go on was by a con- 
 structing company, which would undertake to build the road
 
 15 
 
 and take the securities and stock of the eouipany in payment, 
 when the whole entcrpri^.e had come to a C()ini)letc halt and 
 was set in motion by my individual credit ^md means and that 
 of my associates, the enterprise should have been abandoned. 
 Were it possible to present that question to the same ]niI)lio 
 sentiment, the same state of national opinion, which existed 
 at the lime the exigency arose, I would willingly aud gladly 
 go to Congress and the country on that issue. But I am dc^ 
 nied that justice, and the motives and transactions of one 
 period are to be judged by the prejudices of another, at an 
 hour when the tluctuatious of opinion are extreme and violent, 
 beyond the experience of former times. The actual cost in 
 money of building tlie road was about seventy millions of 
 dollars, and all statements of a less cost are based upon mere 
 estimates of eno-ineers who never saw the work, and utterly 
 fail to grasp the conditions under which it v>-as prosecuted. 
 The actual profit on this expenditure, estimating the securities 
 and stock at their market value when received in ]>ayment, Avas 
 less than ten milliou dollars, as can be demonstrabl}^ established 
 in any court. It is in testimony before a committee of the House 
 by witnesses who have spent their lives as contractors, as well as 
 those Vidio have been builders, owners, and operators of some 
 of the great trunk lines of the country, that for twenty 
 years past the ordinary method of l)uilding railroads has been 
 through the medium of constructing companies ; that few, if 
 any, roads involving a large outlaj' of capital arc built in any- 
 other w^ay ; that a profit of from twent}- to thirty per cent, is 
 not unreasonable in any case, and that upon the construction 
 of the Union Pacific railroad, estimating it with reference to 
 the magnitude of the work and the risk incurred, no man could 
 reasonably object to a profit of fifty per cent. The like evi- 
 dence is given by a Government director long intimately 
 acquainted w^ith the manifold diificulties and embarrassments 
 encountered, and who has not yet outlived the recollection and 
 realization of them. 
 
 So far as I am pecuniarily concerned, it v/ould have been 
 better that I had never heard of the Union Pacific railroad.
 
 16 
 
 At its completion the company found itself in debt about six 
 millions of dollars, the burden of which fell upon individuals, 
 myself among others. Tlie assumption of tlie large portion 
 of this lial)ility allotted to mc, followed l>y others necessary 
 to keep the road in operation until there sliould be developed 
 in the inhospitable region through which it runs a business 
 alFording revenue sufficient to meet running expenses and in- 
 terest, finally culminated in events familiar to the public, 
 whereby losses were incurred greatly in excess of all profit 
 derived by me from the construction of the road. 
 
 What, then, has the CTOvernment received as the fruits of 
 the connection of the Credit Mobilier with the Union Pacific 
 Railroad Company and the transactions now under considera- 
 tion ? By the terms of its charter it agreed, among other 
 things, to loan the company for thirty years its bonds to cer- 
 tain amounts per mile, and until their maturity one-half 
 the earnings on account of Government transportation should 
 be retained, to be applied in repayment to the C-fovernment of 
 whatever interest might in the meantime be paid on the bonds 
 by the United States. The company in turn, by acceptance of 
 the charter, agreed to pay the United States the amount due on 
 the bonds at their maturity and to perform certain scr\dces. 
 Without asking additional legislation, or being called upon to 
 resist obnoxious legislation, except wherein this contract had 
 been disregarded and ignored by the Government, the road 
 has been completed and successfully operated throughout its 
 entire line now nearly four years. 
 
 No complaint has ever come up i'rom any rpiarter of any 
 failure to faithfully perform its obligations to the Govern- 
 ment, both in respect to transportation services and its pecu- 
 niary obligations. In the only instance in which it hasdift'ered 
 from any department of tlie Government, the variance has 
 been upon a purely judicial rpiestion, upon which tlic courts 
 have been open to the United 'States, but closed to us. The 
 Government made itself the creditor of tlie Union Pacific Com- 
 pany, tying its debtor hand and foot with a multiplicity of 
 stipulations, and then refused to submit their interpretation to
 
 17 • 
 
 its own courts. Tliat it lias so far reaped the principal benefit 
 of the bargain cannot bo denied. Official statements of the 
 Postmaster-General are befoi-o the House, which show that for 
 the six years ending June 30, 1872, the saving to the Govern- 
 ment upon the transportation of postal matter alono by reason 
 of the construction of the Union Pacific railroad, assuming 
 the amount carried to bo equal to that transported previous 
 to its construction, has hvcu $343,579.55. Br.t the amount of 
 postal matter has been over six times greater by rail than by 
 stage, so that the real saving is not less than $3,861,477.30. 
 Even this result fails to represent the increased speed of car- 
 riage and convenience of handling and distribution aflbrded by 
 postal cars to the employees of the department accompanying 
 the mails, thus insuring safety and regularity in delivery. A 
 like statement from the War Department shows the saving 
 upon military transportation for the same time to have been .$G,- 
 507,282.85. No oflicial estimates are before the House for 
 the saving upon transportation of Indian goods, for the Navy 
 Department, or of coin or currencjy, but they may ])e safely 
 aggregated at not less tlian $2,500,000. Tliis gives a total 
 saving for the six years ending June 30, 1872, of tlic sum of 
 $12,868,760.15. Tlie Secretary of the Treasury in a conunu- 
 nication to the House, bearing date May 20, 1872, in answer 
 to a resolution calling for such information, estimates the 
 amount of interest and principal which will be due from the 
 Union Pacific Railroad Company at the maturity of the Gov- 
 ernment bonds, at the present rate of payment, at $58,156,- 
 746.98. Assmning that the saving to tlie Government of all 
 the difierent classes of transportation in tlie future will be the 
 same as in the past, (a s\ip])Osition entirely on the side of the 
 United States, for it will in fact increase in almost geometrical 
 progression,) and the result is a total saving at the date of the 
 maturity of the bonds of $64,343,880.75, a sum in excess of 
 the principal and interest duo aT: that time to the amount of 
 $6,187,053.77. In other words il" at the maturity of the bonds 
 not one cent of interest or })rin('ipal was paid, but on the other 
 hand was entirely lost, the Government would be the gainer 
 in money to the amount of $6,187,053.77.
 
 18 
 
 All tliis is solid gfiin, involving no consequential ele- 
 ment, and susceptible of exact computation. To attempt 
 to grasp the national benefits which lie outside the do- 
 main of figures, but are embodied in the increased prosperity, 
 wealth, po])ulation, and poAv^er of the nation, overtasks the 
 most vivid iraaacinatic^n. Vriicn the rails were joined on 
 Promontory Summit, May 10, 1869, tlic Pacific and the At- 
 lantic, Europe and Asia, tlie East and the West, pledged 
 themselves to that perpetual amity out of which should spring 
 an interchange of tiie most precious and costly commodities 
 known to traflic, thus assuring a commerce whose tide should 
 ebb to and fro across the continent by this route for a<2;es to 
 come. Utah was then an isolated community, with no indus- 
 try but agriculture, and those manufactures necessary to a 
 poor and frugal people. In 1S72 it shipped ten millions of 
 silver to the money centres of the world, and is now demon- 
 strated to be the richest mineral storehouse on the continent. 
 An institution repugnant to the moral sense of the Christian 
 world is fast yielding to the civilizing contact of the outer 
 travel made possible by the construction of the railway. 
 Many believe it has already substantially solved the perplex- 
 ing problem of polygamy. A vast foreign immigration, 
 bringing with it from Europe an immense aggregate sum of 
 money, has already been distributed far out on tlie line of the 
 road, and its means and muscle are fast subjecting the lately 
 sparsely -peopled Territories of Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, 
 and Idaho to the uses of an enterprising and rapidly-increas- 
 ing population. A steady and copious iiow of Britisli capital 
 is pouring into the mines of Colorado and Utalu Tlie In- 
 dians have been pacified ; fruitless and costly hostile military 
 expeditions, frequent elsewhere, have ceased in the vicinity of 
 its line, and the facility and speed of communication aifordcd 
 by the railroad enables the Government to offer adequate pro- 
 tection to the frontier v»'ith a handi'ul of troops, and, at the 
 same time, dispense witli large garrisons and fortified posts, 
 hitherto maintained at fabulous cost. The countless herds of 
 Texas arc moving up to occupy the grazing grounds of the
 
 19 
 
 buffalo in the valleys and canons shadowed by tlic Rocky 
 Mountains. A region of boundless natural resources, lately 
 unknown, unexplored, and uninhabited, dominated by sa\'- 
 ages, has been reclaimed, hundreds of millions added to the 
 wealtli of the nation, and the bonds of fraternal and commer- 
 cial union between the East and West strengthened beyond 
 the power of civil discord to sever. 
 
 Docs any one, yearning with solicitude lest the United 
 States, which has made this fortunate bargain, sliould fail to 
 receive each cent due at the precise moment it may ])e de- 
 manded by its officers, doubt the ability of the company to 
 perform its obligations and pay the last dollar due, long before 
 the maturity of the bonds ? Four years ago the road was 
 opened, without local business, wdth no considerable through 
 traffic, and in the dawn of the friendly relations between the 
 United States and those Asiatic nations which now liid fair to 
 prove the source of its largest and most lucrative business. 
 Tlic conservative capitalists of the country believed it would 
 bankrupt any organization which undertook t# operate it. 
 Four years have reversed that opinion, and now the same men 
 arc putting forth their best efforts to secure the benefit of a 
 close traffic connection, and perhaps ultimate ownership. 
 Twenty -four years ago there was scarcely a mile of railroa.d 
 west of Lake Erie, and no connecting line west of iMitfalo. 
 Let him who would riglitly estimate tlie future of this com- 
 pany go back to the year 1848, and, thenceforward to the 
 present time, trace the growth and development of that por- 
 tion of the United States lyiug west of the great lakes, and he 
 will be able to approximate tlie coming history of the region 
 through which this road stretches for a thousand miles, and of 
 the trade and products and commodities of whicli it is to be 
 the great commercial artery. There is but one ]")Owcr that 
 can destroy its ability to perform all its obligations to the 
 Government ; there is but one agency that can render it inca- 
 pable of paying all its indebtedness to the last dollar — namely, 
 the Congress of the United States. It t^lone can so crijiple, 
 weaken, or destro}^ the company, as to make the loan of the 
 Government to it a total loss.
 
 %43 
 
 
 20 
 
 These, then, are my offences : that I have risked reputation, 
 fortune, everything, in an enterprise of incalculable benefit to 
 the Government, from which the capital of the world shrank ; 
 that I have sought to strengthen the work, tlius rashly under- 
 taken, by involdng the charitable judgment of the public upon 
 its» obstacles and embarrassments; that I have had friends, 
 some of them in official life, with whom I have been willing 
 to share advantageous opportunities of investment ; that I have 
 kept to the truth through good and evil report, denying nothing, 
 concealfng nothing, rescrving'nothing. Who Mnll say that I 
 alone am to be oilered up a sacrifice to appease a public clamor 
 or expiate the sins of others? Not until such an offering ia 
 made will 1 believe it possible. But if this body shall so order 
 that it can best be purified by the choice of a single victim, I 
 shall ciccept its mandate, appealing with unfaltering confidence 
 to the impartial verdict of history for that vindication which 
 it is proposed to deny me here. 
 
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