Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 4.djvu/310

 &emsp; Senator: In the newspapers I find a letter addressed by you to a friend, the principal object of which seems to be to discredit some of the statements made by me in a speech recently delivered at Brooklyn. You will pardon me for pointing out to you some serious mistakes into which your zeal for your friend Mr. Blaine seems to have betrayed you. Among them the following are the most important:

1. On June 29, 1869, Mr. Blaine, then Speaker of the House of Representatives, wrote to Mr. W. Fisher, Jr., thanking him for having admitted him (Speaker Blaine) to a participation in “the new railroad enterprise,” the Little Rock road, and expressing a strong desire to have Mr. Caldwell also “dispose of a share of his interest&quot; to him (Speaker Blaine), adding that he felt he would “not prove a deadhead in the enterprise,” and “saw various channels in which he knew he could make himself useful.” Mr. Caldwell hesitated to comply with Speaker Blaine's wish. Thereupon, Mr. Blaine, three months afterward, on October 4th, wrote Mr. Fisher two letters, in which he related quite circumstantially how he (Speaker Blaine) had, without knowing it, and in a correct way, done the Little Rock road and Mr. Caldwell a great favor by an exercise of his power as Speaker. At the same time he reiterated his “anxious” request for the share of Mr. Caldwell's interest in the enterprise spoken of three months before, suggesting to Mr. Fisher to tell Mr. Caldwell about the “favor.”

The question is what Speaker Blaine meant when he said that he would not be a deadhead in the enterprise, and that he saw various channels in which he knew he could make himself useful; and also what the object was of the letters of October 4th. You say Speaker Blaine