CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



223 



and facilities in all running connections and 

 interchange of business. It likewise provided 

 that in case the Central Pacific should reach 

 the eastern boundary of California before the 

 Union Pacific should be built to that point, 

 the former company should have the right to 

 extend its road one hundred and fifty miles 

 eastward, and this power was afterward en- 

 larged by Congress, by act' of July 2, 1866, so 

 as to authorize such extension indefinitely, 

 until the two roads should meet. Thns by act 

 of Congress these two corporations were sent 

 forth upon a race across the continent, which 

 finally culminated in the construction of five 

 hundred miles of road by each company in a 

 single season, through a desert country, upon 

 a route beset by unparalleled obstacles, and at 

 a necessary cost largely in excess of the most 

 extravagant estimates. 



" It is in testimony before a committee of 

 the House, that after the impracticability of 

 building the road under the first act had been 

 demonstrated, when it had become apparent 

 that additional aid was necessary to induce 

 capitalists to embark in the enterprise, the late 

 President Lincoln was urgent that Congress 

 should not withhold the additional assistance 

 asked, and that he personally advised the offi- 

 cers of the company to go to Congress for such 

 legislation as would assure the success of the 

 enterprise, declaring it a national necessity, 

 and recommending them to apply for addi- 

 tional concessions, ample to place the con- 

 struction of the road beyond a peradventure. 



" Notwithstanding this favorable legislation, 

 no capital was attracted, no additional stock 

 subscribed. On the 8th of August, 1864, a 

 contract, for building one hundred miles west 

 from the Missouri River, was let to II. M. 

 Iloxie, the only contractor offering to under- 

 take so hazardous a venture. Six months de- 

 monstrated his inability to perform his con- 

 tract, and, with the experience of the company 

 in dealing with individual contractors, no 

 course seemed open unless to seek a consolida- 

 tion of personal means into a corporate body, 

 whereby the pecuniary ability of a large num- 

 ber of persons might be made available to the 

 task of constructing the road, while nt the 

 same time enjoying the shelter of corporate 

 liability only. Accordingly, by a contract 

 made March 15, 1865, the Credit Mobilier of 

 America, a corporation created by and organ- 

 ized under the laws of Pennsylvania, in sub- 

 stance, assumed the obligations of the Hoxie 

 contract, and entered upon its performance. 

 It was soon manifest that even this organiza- 

 tion, as then constituted, would be unable to 

 oconplidi the work for which it was created. 

 The state of the country and the peculiar 

 l<>r;il conditions surrounding the enterprise 

 WITO exceedingly unfavorable to a successful 

 prosecution of the work. Gold was 150 ; there 

 w.-i- no market for the first-mortgage bonds ; 

 and the Government bonds, payable in cur- 

 rency, 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 was 

 compelled, instead, to follow the long and 

 tedious route of the Missouri River, at an ex- 

 traordinary cost for transportation, and with- 

 out insurance against the perils of the hazard- 

 ous navigation of that treacherous stream. All 

 materials were high, and all classes of labor 

 scarce, and only to be obtained in limited 

 quantities at extravagant prices. Add to this 

 the universal distrust in financial circles of the 

 ultimate completion of the road, and the gen- 

 eral conviction that when completed it would 

 fail to prove remunerative or profitable, and it 

 is easy to anticipate the result which speedily 

 followed, namely, the practical failure of the 

 new organization to carry forward the work 

 until rec-nforced by a new class of capitalists, 

 bringing with them larger means, and a more 

 powerful influence in the financial world. 



"Early in September, 18C5, it became mani- 

 fest that the contract could not be performed, 

 and that the work must stop unless additional 

 strength could be imparted to the corporation. 

 Accordingly, after urgent solicitation and long 

 considerati&n, myself and others associated 

 with me for the first time took an interest in 

 the organization. Its capital stock was in- 

 creased, additional money was raised, aiid the 

 work went forward. Under this arrangement 

 two hundred and forty-seven miles of road 

 were built, when, on the 16th day of August, 

 18C7, it was superseded by the Oakes Ames 

 contract, so called, and this contract was on 

 the 15th day of October, 1867, assigned 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 moment at the 

 situation of the Union Pacific Company and 

 my connection with it at that time. After a 

 long and nearly ineffectual struggle, the final 

 construction of the road had been assured by 

 my intervention in its affairs. No one doubted 

 that it would he rapidly pushed to completion. 

 Congress had long before, and not at my in- 

 stance, enacted the laws tendering induce- 

 ments to the capitalists of the country to cm- 

 bark 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 department 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 in- 

 fused into the enterprise. Heads of depart- 

 ments and Government officials of every grade, 

 whose duties brought them in contact with 

 the affairs of the company, were clamorous for 

 increased speed of construction, and never lost 

 an opportunity of expressing approval of the 



