The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1874-03-20
The Boston C0llectorship.


1877 ah'NA 'H@"fi"N faAN NNN"' NANI 81
pointment 0fSimmons a. Collector OF Bos-
ton. There Is, 10 be- sure, very little to be
said In favor Of his selection. He Is "A
young man OF about the age OF thirty-five,
who's circumstances rendered II impossi-
bile for him TO continue his education be-
yond the age of twelve Though il Is stated
by his friends that he afterwards read law
between the hours Of 4 and s "A. MI, and TO
whom a naturally energetic disposition
early pointed out the field OF predatory
politics as one in which he was most likely
To shine. He has since spent some OF his
time as a revenue detective, some Of IL as a
Supervisor Of Internal Revenue. the duties
of the post being chiefly to arrange ward
meetings and "a he Is quite illiterate, and
Ia appearance a good specimen of the street
rowdy, Mr.. simmons is not exactly the
person we should ourselves select 10 sue
coed Mr.. Russell as Collector of Customs
in one of the chief ports of the United
States. Still, we do not know that there
Il much more reason To consider him fit
for the post of Supervisor of Internal than
Collector Of External Revenue. Indeed.
according 10 the Boston Adpertiser, Mr..
Simmons was, as Supervisor. $50 grossly
negligent or incompetent that John ID.
Sanborn, following around In his tracks,
almost without effort discovered several
hundred thousand dollars worth Of taxes
due the United States that had escaped no
tice," these large moun being chiefly
such as the most ordinary efficiency might
have secured-namely. legacy and success
sion taxes. and taxes on railroad dividends:'
and the advertiser says that as it was the
duty of Mr.. Simmons to collect these taxes,
and as the Government employed Sanborn
on a contract giving him half the proceeds,
the United States lost a hundred thousand
dollars by the manner i'm which MIR. Sim
mons performed the duties of his Office.
The appointment, however, was one OF
a kind which wa IA the Butler cards six
months ago quite as plainly as it is now
that il has been played. Butler has been
e~ndeavoring for some ten years, not. as
some people seem 10 imagine, to persuade
the people of Massachusetts, that he is a
noble and virtuous citizen, deserving their
sufirages for high Office. but to get control
of the political machinery of the
State through the local machinery
of the United States: and he has
not worked in a very underhand
manner either. Ii was announced at about
the time OF his defeat three years ago that
the next movements to take place in Wash
ington and Massachusetts, politics We're
the resignation of Boutwell, as Secretary
of the Treasury. and the installation i'm his
place of Buffers friend Richardson; the
election of Boutwell, to the Senate as the
Butler candidate, and the temperance of
Butler himself a "A candidate for the nomi-
nation of the Massachusetts, Republican
Convention. These things all happened.
Boutwell, did resign, Richardson did ac-
cept, and Boutwell, wa elected to the
Senate. Notwithstanding the opposition of
Mr. Dawes. Butler r~eappcared rs candi-
date for Governor, and having been mar
rowly defeated, he naturally enough began
again. One of things made evident by
the contest was that Simmons was Buffers
right-hand man ; indeed. this was made so
evident that the Republican Convention
passed a resolution directed at him. and
virtually calling upon the President to re-
move him from office. Obviously, undo r
these circumstance the thing for Butler TO
do was to place Simmons in some secure
position of honor and profit, from which,
with the United States authority behind
him. IL would be difficult to Gust him, and
where he would have great political power.
The position of Collector was clearly the
position. 1t was still less a secret tina the
politics of Mr.. Thomas Russell were of that
uncertain stripe which would naturally
lead him to adopt any arrangement which
might seem To be for the best interests OF
the party of Human Rights /: it was his
influence ofwhich both the Butler and the
anti-Butler party had been mos: aIraid
throught the campaign: and it had been
for a long time well understood among
the politicians that Butler and Russell
were not irreconcilable foes. That Butler
should 90 quietly to work and elect his
local legislature and make his arrange
ments with Mr.. Russell and his friends a
Washington who, it must be remembered
are no Others than the President OF tn,
United States and the Secretary OF tn,
Treasury of the United Sites. To say
nothing of Mr.. Boutwell,. ex-Secretery o.
the Treasury and active Senator from
Massachusetts,. and about half Of the Massa
chusetts delegation), was not unnatural
: either. The curtain rises on the vacant
collectorship and the appointment OF Mr.
simmons. There il nothing so very
strange or unnatural in this. Ii is said Il
be an insult to the people of Massa
chusetts. but why should the PEG
pie of Massachusetts not be msulted
When Tom Murphy was APP
pointed some years ago Collector 0
the port of New York, that was general,
considered an insult TO New, York and
, Murphy was good enoughhcre, we canno
see why Simmons j. not good enough
there. Insulting the people" is in fac
the way in which the machinery OF thu
! Government is carried on-by Conklin,
in New York. by Casey in New Orleans
: by Butler in Massachusetts. Ii the inhah
itants of Massachusetts had just awok
from a sleep OF half a century. or were al
| newly arrived from some foreign country
they might indeed be surprised at a goo
many things they hear and see; but VIII.
should il surprise or dismay any one Q
the present day to see the ins and outs Q
the little gam we all know 80 wellg
! The population of Massachusetts, Is not
AZ the good people of that State seem I
suppose. the quiet. orderly, religious. he
: mogencous agricultural community. con
: posed of church-members and gOyerne