The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1872-08-09
HaTtranft q JObGer.

This fact is exhibited on every page o1
his official record. He was selected on ac-
count of his jobbing history III connection
with the Cameron clique in the State. The
old chief knew his man. He had tested
him in various ways. In all he proved
worthy of the confidence reposed in him
bv the Senator from Pennsylvania. In the
Evans case the job was well put up, and
executed with pluck and determination:
Hartranft placed the claims in Evans
hands. Hartranft made the contract with
reference to the compensation in such
manner as to favor the jobbers and rob the
State. Hartranft shut his eyes to the we'll
known fact that Evans was not acting III
proper manner with regard to payment OF
the proceeds of his collections. Hartranft
failed to comply with the law, and lntorn
the Legislature that these claims had not
been properly reported to his oftlce. hart
ranft accepted a loan of seven thousand ool-
lars from Evans, and then allowed the JoD 10
proceed until Evans was defaulter TO the
state TO an enormous amount. In all this
stupendous job, the Auditor-General OF the
State the Grant-Cameron ofhce-holders
candidate for Governor OF the state, Johli
F. Hartranft. was directly implicated and
interested and that fact is upon record lor
the people to contemplate.
John f. Hartranft also stands lndlcUeu
for using State funds for private stock7job-
=.
ported by the following sworn testimony !:
Charles T. Yerkes, a well-known broker OF
this CITY, said upon the stand: For some
wears past | have been acquainted Win
John F. Hartranft, Auditor-General OF
Pennsylvania / have, at various times
purchased and sold stocks OF different xmas
and carried the same, with money beIonS-
ing to the Commonwealtho OF fenhsy lV'illh; @
which the same j. F. Hartranft had caused
to be deposited with this deponent by the
State Treasurer" The same witness fur
ther declared under oath: That this de-
ponent did pay to J. +. Hartrantt, Auditor
General on the 10th of December, lS'O,
the sum of So, 700, which sum was derived
from profits on purchases of loans OF the
Commonwealth and sale OF the same 20 the
Fund, which sale was made on the 29th OF
April, 1870; that said deponent has also
paid to said J. +. Hartranft various amounts
of money for profits arising from stock
speculations with money deSposlted with
this deponent by the State Treasurerat the
instance of the said Hartranft. These
oath-supported facts show that John r.
Hartranft did not hesitate to use State funds
for private stOck,jobbing operations. lie
caused large sums to be drawn from the
State Treasury, and put into the possession
of Yerkes, and with these stocks were
bought and traded upon for the benefit of
the Auditor-General. Such use OF the
funds of the State was illegal. That fact
was known to Hartranft when he entered
upon the stock speculation. But he Is a
desperate jobber, and trampled upon both
law and his oath of Office for the purpose
of making money. In this movement he
did no discredit to his training in the Cam
eron school. A iobbing AUditor-General
will make a iobbing Governor. Do the
people of PENNSYLVANIA want such a chief
Executive officer?
Another Job in which John F. Hartranft
was engaged, was that in relation to com
promising claims against corporations for
unpaid taxes. In 1871 suits had been in
stituted by the Attorney-General of the
State against large number of corpora
tiOns for taxes. The gross sum claimed
amounted to nearly three quarters of a mil
lion of dollars. In May of that year, Mr..
Strang, from TiOga county, an agent of
Cameron, and brother jobber with Hart
ranft, Mackey, Quay and Errett, introduced
in the House of Representatives resolu-
ton authorizing the Auditor-General, State
Treasurer, and dAttorney-General,o or ma
jority of them, to compromise all claims
against corporations for taxes then in liti-
cation before the Courts. By the wording
of the resolution it will be seen that in re-
ality Hartranft and Mackey were to do all
the business, they constituting majority
of the Board. Why was the Attorney
General excluded from the affair? Because
he had disavowed all connection with the
job, and insisted that every cent of the
taxes claimed could be collected by law,
and the sequal showed he was right. But
Auditor-General Hartranft urged the pas
sage of the bill, and used all possible means
to influence members of the Senate and
House to vote for its passage. The reason
of this action on his part is plain. The
bill was the fore-runner Of a job. The pro-
posed compromise of these tax claims
would have resulted in loss to the State
of at least $500, 900, a full proportion of
which would have gone into the pockets of
the men who engineered the business.
In all these jobs John F. Hartranft was
nOticeably conspicuous. The loan from
Evans; the neglect to inform the Legisla-
ture of the condition of his accounts; the
stock -jobbing operations with Yerkes, and
the tax claims affair with Cameron, Mac
key and others, are stains upon his official
record which cannot be removed. An Au-
ditor- General who will thus disregard his
oath of office, thus trample on the Interests
of the State committed to his charge, GER
tainly has no claim to be elected Governor.
The Age.