The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-03-24
The Postal Robberics.

For more than four years THE Sun has
repeatedly ana in detail exposed the
shameless system of straw bidding i'm the
Post Office Department. This system, in
vented by CRLswELL's corrupt gauP, has
enabled a Ring OF theving contractors and
their confederates in the depaI tment to
rob the Treasury Of millions OF dollars.
Like the whi,key Ring, the combination
has depended for its success upon the aid
1t received from trusted officials.
When CREswELL became Postmaster
General he took with him to Washington,
az First Assistant in the departments ms
former law partner, GEORGE E. lie. AZ
ter spending year in learning the inside
ways Of the service and making the nc.
quaintoncc % me contractors, EARLE re-
signed iis Office and set up III business for
himself, trading on his influence with the
department and his position as the recog-
nizcd friend of CREswrLL. At this time
GILES 4. SMITH was Second Assistant POST
mast'r and his brother, MORGAN l.. SMITH,
since deceased, acted rs his agent IN nego-
tiations with the contractors.
Under such auspices, ana with the di-
rect collision of the department. all the
great mail contracts for the Territories,
the Pacific coast, and the Southwestern
States soon fell into the hands of the Ring.
This result was Effected by scandalous
perversion Of the law. by the technical
terms Of an old statute, conveniently re-
| yived by CREswELL, all contracts were 10 be
given TO 1.-THE lowest bidder rendering suf-
| nCient guarantees" The Ring contractors
would put forward their straw men, who
would bid so low as TO exclude ali honest
competition. or course these lowest bid
d RS, who were mere blinds, would fail to
| produce the requisite guarantees. Then
| CREswELL, instead of going up the scale,
ms was the practice OF his honester prede-
cessors and giving the contracts to the
next responsible bidders would shut the
gates against all competition, and contract
with she Ring chieftains at their own
prices. This dishonesty was generally fol-
lowed by an increase of the service re-
quired, us from weekly to tri-weekly, or
from trl-weekly to daily. The greater the
increase, the greater the spoils to share.
There was hardly any concealment about
this impudent system of plumber. Its
methods and its results were notorious at
| Washington. CREswELL aud his confed-
erntes grew rich. II Is said that other OFF,
cias, high in position, demanded and re-
ceived liberal percentage as the price of
foTbearance. And as the thieves stole, the
annual deficits Of the Post Office enor-
mously increased.
Then came the investigation of 1872,
started, us is now believed, IN order to
compel the Ring contractors TO make
terms with some OF their competitors. The
testimony then taken most conclusively
proved that both the straw bidding abuses
and other postal frauds had been for two
years concealed from Congress by CREs-
WELL; that he had invariably failed TO re-
move postmasters who had certified to
fraudulent guarantors; and that the old
contractors had invariably secured the
valuable lettings at their own prices by
the system Of sham bids already described.
The investigation Of 1872 proved beyond a
doubt that the Postmaster-General had
! violated bOth the law apd department