New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-11-01

mo0rings, and at thc same time to throw away
oars and sails, wond he She act OF a madman.
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THE GREAr IN EICAN TRAVELLEh
we had no idea. until We inspected parts of
tbe mileage accounts of the Hon. Allen c.
Roach. how laborous and unceaSinS were the
l2bors exaced of that much misunderstood
officer. the Lieutenant-G Governor of the State
of New York 1t has generally been sup
posed that, beyond presiding over more
or less troublesome Senate, and attend
ing the meetings of a certain number
Of Bohrds and Commissions, in which all
the work was done by experts who
were paid for understanding il. his dntics
were not many; he lived at Albany during
the session in easy dignity, and then ne went
home to spend the rest of the yea: in honor
able comfort. But this seems 10 have been all
a mistake. The Lieutenant Governor was al
most worked TO death. While Albany pOilu-
clans, in common with the rest OF mankind,
imagined that he was occupying the char oil
the Senate. he was in realty-if these ac-
counts are correct-scurrying 10 and fro from one
end of the State to the other. surveying water
lots, and approving unbalanced bids lie only
touched his house, now ard then. with lying
foot Reaching Waterfowl late on Friday nights,
after n weeks struggle with the Senate and
dusty ilde by railway, he never had more than
time to get clean shirt and snatch a hasty
bit of pie before he was summoned back TO
Albany to pass on a claim or examine IL feeder
He was perpctually trying to 90 home, and
perpetu,ly being called away as soon a' he
got there.
A bill for few days mileage which he sub
mitted in June, 1871, VIII show how he was
kept spinning. On the ODD lie was summoned
from WATERFOWL to 0wego; on the oath he
went homo again; on tie same day be was
carried off 20 Albany; on the och he re-
turned to Watertown; on the same day be
was retracing his steps toward Syracuse 1t
would have been very simple and easy mat
ter to take all three places on one trips but
the strongest luck pursued Mr.. Beach; he bad
no sooner got back from Il journey than he was
started off again generally over the same road
and often on the Samo day. Thus although
the little tour we have mentioned rightly in
volved q much shorter distance for the round
trip. Mr.. Beach was obliged to charge the
State for 99S miles at 80 cents n mile.
In four years his mileage is supposed
to have exceeded $4,000, end his
travels must have amounted accordingly to
nearly $4,000 miles, equal to twenty
times the distance from Massachusetts, 10
the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunate Dir. Beach
Always warming for the domestic repose of
WateItown, and never getting it. Always
going home and never resting there. Captain
Vandcrdeckcn was not a more miserable wan
dcrcr The Licutenant-Govcrnor was the Fly
ing Dutchman of the Erie Canal.
How he ACCOMPLISHED 80 much. and yet APP
pcared all the while to the casual observer to
be steadily presiding over the Senate, is the
great mystery of the age. II has been
supposed that he discovered a method of
making two days out Of one, and GER
tain items in his accounts do give color
to this odd iGea. For instance, besides
mileage he was paid per diem allowance, and
the little bill we have already cited contains
charges, June 22 for days, June "A for 3
DAYS. and June % for 3 DAYS; SO that between
tho 22d and the Goth Alr. Beach's almanac
reckonod days. Again after presiding in the
Senate on Fridays we find HIM regularly charg
ing for . days and 800 miles travel on Sat
urdavs in attending Canal Board Committee
meetings at Albany. Unchantable persons,
however have pretended 90 discover that these
long journeys were myths. Mr.. Beach
did not leave Albany at all. He travelled no
further than from one Office at the capital to
another Just across the street or around the
corner; and if he called the distance in his ac
counts 800 miles ard the time consumed in
the transit two days, that was only by pleas
ant fiction which looks very much like fraud,
but is known in political circles as the
system OF constructive mileage. In the
mind of Mr.. Beach, Watertown was the
pivot upOn which turned the politics of
the State and the affairs Of the canal
and, unfortunately, WatertOwn-if we may mix
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. to have been also the key
to many puzzles in the public accounts. Hence,
whenever a messenger from the Canal Board
asked the Lieutcnant-G0vernor to "5tcp over
"to the other Office" he used to take down
hls railroad guide, calculate the distance firm
WATERFOWL ard duly credit himself with 366
miles, at 80 cents Il mile. I'm like manner, be-
fore the present State Engineer discovered the
use OF Typographical maps. whenever six or
seven people in Buffalo, or some such place,
applied for water-l0ts, Mr.. Beach would 20 and
look at the spot, and having satisfied himself
it was water, would proceed to reckon up the
distance from Buffalo to Watertown CT Albany,
and charge mileage for GiX or seven imaginary
iourncys-a separate journey, there and back,
for each separate lot. Can it be doubted that
MIR. Beach is heartily in sympathy with the
great Canal Reform movement
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THE COUNTY NOUINATIONS.
II is only on lis county ticket that the Anti
Tamm9uy combination can be said TO he per-