The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1877-09-20
CIVIL SERVICE REFORM IN CANTON,
Congressman McKinley's Answer
to the Charge Of Corruption,

versy, and very reluctantly appear in
print to contradict slander, made by one
not courageous enough to declare 1t over
his own signature, but the gravity Of the
charge and the confident terms in which
1t Is eouched, forces me to positive and
public denial. / should have been glad, If
the Editor could have seen his way clear,
to disclose the name of the author of the
which respectfully requested
of him last Monday morning This
being denied me, submit the following
statement of facts, and invite the author,
or any one over his own proper signature
10 successfully controvert.
I never sold the Canton Post Office to
anybody, and never fixed the price OF
8 900 or any other sum or amount for the
appointment, I never was approached
with such a proposition from any source,
n )r had any interview with such an OBJ
ject in view, and had any such PROPOSE
ton or arrangement been suggested to
me, I should have repelled it with the
scorn which it would have fifty deserved.
Mr.. t. w. SaXton was not my agent for
effecting the sale Of the Canton Post Of
flee, nor was any other person my agent
for that purpose, nor was he or any other
person authorized by me to promise said
office, Nth or withoaSt consideration, to
any one. He never sought such an
agency, and never sought to control me
In my support of any candidate. I never
said that Mr.. Shafer could not be count
ed out under the civil service planks.
Whatever may have taken place in the
alleged interview or interviews between
Mr.. Saxton and Mr.. Shafer, I had no
knowledge of the same until long after
ward, when 80 informed by Mr.. Shafer.
Certain it is, they were had without my
knowledge or consent, tacit or expressed.
II Mr.. Saxton made any assurances that
II he (Shafer) would accede to Saxton's
terms, he (Saxton) could control me, or
had the interview which is imputed to
him, he acted on his own responsible
Ity, and must have known that he could
not keep the promise, which he is
charged with having made. Mr.. shafer
in his interview with me, did not charge
that Mr.. Saxton said that had any
knowledge of his proposition, or that 1
had authorized him to call upon him
and 1, myself, in this interview, indig-
nantly disclaimed any knowledge on my
part, Of the whole matter, as Mr.. Shafer
well knows.
Again. whenever Mr.. Shafer consulted
me about his proposed deputies-that is,
after Mr.. Reifsnider had determined to
retire from the office, and before Mr..
Skaters term of Office had expired-Mr.
Slanker among others, uniformly and
repeatedly told him that would have
nothing to do with Ihis deputies, that so
long as he was Postmaster, he must be
responsible for his own deputies.
never made any assurances or prom
ises to Mr.. Shafer, or Lo any one in his
behalf, that he should be Postmaster at
Canton; but on the contrary, l repeated
lv told him and others, that l would
make no promises to any one.
When Mr.. Shafer called on me for his
petition, I gave it to him nth entire 'OtI-
yingne8s, and only exacted of him prom
ise that should have that morning to
notify Messrs. Huntington and Vignos,
whose petitions I also had, that they
should take theirs, and if they 30 desired
they could all be sent by the same mail,
which Mr.. Shafer consented to as only fair,
and it was accordingly done. Sometime
after the petitions were all in, the Post
master General notified me, and asked
that I give my views in relation to the
respective candidates. l accordingly rec
commended Maj, Vignos. Before l recon-
mended him for the place, I had been in
formed by persons interested in Mr.. Sha-
fer, that there were suspicious that there
was an arrangement between Maj. Vignos
and t. w. Saxton, that if the former re-
ceived the appointment, he was to divide
the proceeds with the latter. 1 at once
called upon Mr.. Saxton and Maj. VignOs,
stating what had heard, and they both
positively and Indignantly denied the
charge-going further, and saying thai
there not only was no such arrangement,
but that the subject had never been talk
ed about I told Mr.. Vignos, in that in
terview, that if any such combination
was proposed or understood between
them, under no circumstances would he
be the Postmaster at Canton, if l could
prevent it. He called upon me number
of times subsequently, and before 1 had
made the recommendation, and repeated
his former statements, if possible in stron'
ger terms. 1 was satisfied that there
was no such arrangement, and as stated
before recommended Maj. Vignos. The
petitions which were sent in by the three
candidates, were about equal in point Of
numbers. Mr.. Shafer having few more
names than either of the others. But, du'
ring the time the petitions were being cir
culated and afterward, received num-
ber of letters from citizens of Canton who
had signed either Shafer' or Huntington'E
papers, asking me to recommend Vignos
and saying that when they signed the 9TH
or petitions they did not know Maj. Wig
nos was candidate. Twas called upon by
other citizens for the same purpose,
also consulted with citizens and business
men very freely and found them Of the
same mind. was, accordingly convinc.
ed that the appointment of Maj. Vignos
would meet the views of majority of oul
citizens. 1 Learned from those who knew
him best that he was competent, and
believed that he was honest and deserving
He was one-Grmed soldier, and poor
man, and who in his disabled condition
had seized every opportunity to work