The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1875-09-16
OONCEALING THE EVIDENCE.

It is notorious fact that on Wednes-
day of last week Col. Robert Monteith,
for several years clerk in the Office of
Secretary of State, applied to the Assist
ant Secretary for permission to examine
the records in the matter OF the Urea
srry agency, and received flat derial
to his request, together with the IN
formation that no one but the Governor
could have access to the records of that
ofiice-something unheard of during the
time Republicans held the Office.
This is not the only instance of the
kind, rs the following from The Sentinel
of yesterday viii show; and the question
naturally arises: if there was no fraud
to be unearthed by an examination OF
the books, why was the request to do SO
refused? Speaking Of this subject, the
Sentinel says: To this recital We now
add a communication from Mr.. f. 5.
Mcbride, setting forth his experience in
the persuit of knowledge in the Office of
the Secretary of State.
1t seems that Mr. Mcbride called up
on Secretary Doyle and asked for lnfor-
nation as to how much money had been
paid into the treasury by the treasury
agent, according to the books in his Of
fee. Mr.. Doyle admitted that Mr..
Mcbride had right to the information,
but desired him to see DIR. Ebert, "a
very unnecessary proceeding, one would
suppose, since the office of the Secretary
of State ought to contain record OF
every license issued. Finally he was
told that if he would call on the following
Monday, the information would be given
to him. He called at the time designat-
ed, but was referred by Mr., Cadwalla-
der to Mr.. Kuehn, by Mr.. Kuehn
to Dr. Ebert, and by DIR. Ebert,
to Mr.. Menges; but no amount of
Professionalism from The room of one
Democratic State officer to another en-
! abled him to secure the information that
he sought, which all the time eluded
/ him like veritable will o the wlsp.
It is now over five weeks since Mr..
Mcbride first applied to the Secretary
of State fcr this simple piece of lnforma-
| ton that ought to have been given to
| him in five minutes, and, though he has
called repeatedly since, he has not yet
been able to obtain it.
In this connection The Madison
Journal reproduces from the files of that
paper an article giving the experience
| of Gen. Atwood and William WEIGH,
| Al, 244,a
cratic administration twenty years ago.
In November, 1855, after the Barstow-
Rashford election, they went to the Sec
retary of States office and asked to be
shown the official returns of the vote in
Waupaca County. This was insolently
refused. Subsequently Mr.. WEIGH re-
turned and demanded copy Of the re-
turns under the provision of the statute
that requires the Secretary of State to
| furnish a copy of any document OF pa
paer deposited in his Office, upon being
paid for the same at the rate of II cents
a folio. This was also refused. The
motive for the refusal in this case is now
well known, the returns were concealed
that they might be trampered with and
made to assist the fraud by which the
| certificates were given to BarStOw. How
Is it possible to conceive that the present
Democratic State officers have any honest
motive in concealing the records of their
administration
A third contribution to this exposure
of the conduct of Secretary Doyle and
| his subordinate is the correspondence
of Messrs. Atwood & Culver, of The
State Journal, and MIR. John S. Dean.
ex-assistant secretary of state, which
will be found in another column. Messrs.
Atwood & Culver inquire of Mr.. Dean
what the practice of that Office was while
he was assistant secretary of state from
November, 1870, to January, 1874. Mr..
Dean replies that it was the practice to
exhibit to any citizen any paper on file
or any official records upon his appll-
cation. There is no doubt that such
was the uniform custom during the
whole of the fourteen years when that
Office was in the charge of the Repub-
Leans.
The Democratic organs, while defend
ing the action of Mr.. Cadwallader in re-
fusing to open the records to examina
ton, say that statement of the accounts
of the treasury agent will be made out
and presented to the public. We answ
er that this will not allay the suspicious
that have been very justly excited by
the conduct Oh the OellOcfdblC hotttc VI
ficials The people of Wisconsin wan
no garbled statement manufactured an6
put forth by the very men who are in
cuIpated. They are too wise to render
a verdict of mot guilty" upon the evid
ence of the accused alone. They viii
not fail to understand that if there haC
been nothing to conceal, if the treasury
agents had properly accounted for al
moneys that they had received, and i
there had been no evidence of NAL
feasance in the records of the Secretary
of State at the time that Mr.. Mcbride
and Gen. Monteith asked permission tt
inspect them, no objection would have
been made. Now that they have beer
warned of the danger of exposure and
have had time to doctor the account;
and to make up any deficiency that ex
listed, no statement that they may put
forth, though verified by the whole
State administration, including the kit
| i l. IF ,-xI.