A large number of the members
voted for his expulsion. Ames was a successful business man.
He was regarded by his neighbors as a man of integrity. He
was generous and public spirited. But he and his associates
in the Union Pacific Railroad seemed, in this matter, to be
utterly destitute of any sense of public duty or comprehension
of the great purposes of Congress. They seemed to treat it
as a purely private transaction, out of which they might get
all the money they could, without any obligation to carry
out the act according to its spirit, or even according to
its letter, if they could only do so without being detected.
They seemed to have thought they were the sole owners of the
Union Pacific Railroad and of the Credit Mobilier corporation,
and that the transaction between the two concerned themselves
only and not the public. They treated it as if they were
transferring money from one pocket to another.
When Congress met in December, Mr. Blaine, the Speaker, who
had been one of the persons implicated by public rumor, although
in fact he had refused absolutely to have anything to do with
the transaction, left the Chair, and, calling Mr.
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