Credit Mobilier of America, 1881
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A Paper Read Before the Rhode Island Historical Society, Tuesday Evening, February 22, 1881, by Rowland Hazard. Printed by the Providence Press Company, Providence R.I. 8vo; 42 pp. Missing piece of cover page top left corner, small piece missing bottom right corner. One half of front page unattached from spine. Light toning.
"Credit Mobilier of America, was a construction company whose operations in connection with the building of the Union Pacific Railroad gave rise to the most serious political scandal in the history of the United States Congress. The company was a deliberate attempt to falsely present to the Federal Government and the general public the appearance that an independent (of the Union Pacific Railroad and its principal officers) corporate enterprise had been impartially chosen by the Union Pacific Railroad’s Officers and Directors to be the principal construction and construction management firm for the Union Pacific Railroad Project. It was created by the Officers of the Union Pacific to shield the companies' shareholders and management from the then common charge that they were using the construction phase of the Union Pacific Project (as opposed to the operating phase of carrying passengers and freight), to line their pockets in excess profits; profits which these corporate officers did not in fact believe would come to exist from the actual operation of the railroad, so they created a sham company to charge the U.S. government extortionate fees and expenses for the construction of the line.
"Credit Mobilier of America, was a construction company whose operations in connection with the building of the Union Pacific Railroad gave rise to the most serious political scandal in the history of the United States Congress. The company was a deliberate attempt to falsely present to the Federal Government and the general public the appearance that an independent (of the Union Pacific Railroad and its principal officers) corporate enterprise had been impartially chosen by the Union Pacific Railroad’s Officers and Directors to be the principal construction and construction management firm for the Union Pacific Railroad Project. It was created by the Officers of the Union Pacific to shield the companies' shareholders and management from the then common charge that they were using the construction phase of the Union Pacific Project (as opposed to the operating phase of carrying passengers and freight), to line their pockets in excess profits; profits which these corporate officers did not in fact believe would come to exist from the actual operation of the railroad, so they created a sham company to charge the U.S. government extortionate fees and expenses for the construction of the line.
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