The Credit Mobilier of America; A Paper Read Before The Rhode Island Historical Society, Tuesday Evening, February 22, 1881

[Garfield, James A.] Hazard, Rowland G.

Published by Sidney S. Rider, Providence, 1881

About this Item

Octavo, [2], 42pp, [2]. Pebbled brown cloth, title in gilt on the front cover. Historical society stamp on title page and page [43]. Small loss to linen on the spine, offsetting to front endpaper. This paper was issued in half morocco, brown cloth and paper wraps. Bookplate of James A. Garfield, which reads: "Library of James A. Garfield. Inter Folia Fructus" on the front pastedown. This copy is inscribed by the author on the copyright page: "The Executive Mansion Library / Washington DC / from the author / R. Hazard." The Crédit Mobilier scandal of 1872 involved the Union Pacific Railroad and the Crédit Mobilier construction company, whose executives created a scheme to inflate construction costs of a portion of the Transcontinental Railroad, which was backed by government grants. The stockholders retained the profits and bribed members of Congress with discounted stock options to prevent investigation. When the scandal broke publicly in 1872, it implicated several prominent politicians. Representative James A. Garfield was accused of accepting ten shares of Crédit Mobilier stock, though he denied wrongdoing and maintained that he had merely been offered the shares but never received them. While no conclusive evidence proved Garfield profited, the controversy damaged his reputation, though he weathered it politically and continued to rise in public office.

Seller Inventory # 18248

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Credit Mobilier of America; A Paper Read Before The Rhode Island Historical Society, Tuesday Evening, February 22, 1881
• Publisher: Sidney S. Rider, Providence
• Publication Date: 1881
• Binding: Cloth
• Illustrator: From the Executive Mansion library of President James A. Garfield, The Credit Mobilier of America by Rowland Hazard, a railroad construction scandal that almost ended Garfield's political aspirations.
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Very good
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Presidents