Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 4.djvu/271

Rh let us carefully examine whether that face may not possibly deceive us. For explanation we naturally turn to Mr. Blaine himself, and to his nearest friends. What have they brought forth? Let us see.

First, Mr. Blaine, in a solemn statement in the House of Representatives, said that the “company derived its life, franchise and value wholly from the State,” and that “the Little Rock road derived all that it had from the State of Arkansas and not from Congress.” The obvious object of this statement was to convey the impression that the House, over which Mr. Blaine presided as Speaker, had no power over that land-grant road or its interests and value, and that, therefore, his owning or his asking for an interest in that enterprise, while he was Speaker, was an absolutely harmless thing. I regret to say that this explanation, coming from Mr. Blaine, was almost as bad as the original offense, for in making it he deliberately said what he knew to be not true. And this I affirm, not upon the authority of one of Mr. Blaine's enemies and detractors, but upon the authority of Mr. Blaine himself. Remember Mr. Blaine's letter of October 4, 1869, to Mr. Fisher. “It was on the last night of the session,” he wrote, “when the bill renewing the land grant to the State of Arkansas for the Little Rock road was reached.” This was the bill which he informs Mr. Fisher and Mr. Caldwell would have failed to pass but for his (Speaker Blaine's) opportune intervention. And Speaker Blaine wants it understood that by intervening he did Mr. Caldwell “a great favor.” Who was Mr. Caldwell? Was he the State of Arkansas? No; he was the builder of the Little Rock road. And it was he, the Little Rock man, and not the State of Arkansas, to whom Mr. Blaine claims to have done this favor. Mr. Blaine knew, as every well-informed man knows, that land grants for railroads, with some exceptions, were nominally