The daily gazette., 1878-09-21
From the N. Y. Sun.
ROBESON'S NOMINATION.

The Republicans of the First District
OF New Jersey have nominated the motor
lous Robeson for Congress, and thereby
have assumed the odium and the infamy
[ OF his corrupt administration of the navy
under Grant. No man ever held high
Office in this country who so openly and
daringly prostituted 1t to venal uses dur
ing the seven or eight years in which he
converted the department into brokers'
shop for jobs and contracts, and auction
ed the public patronage to the highest
bidder. In this plundering system he was
upheld by stolid President, himself de-
liant of public opinion, and party ma
Jorities in both Houses of Congress.
During the seven years, from 1870 to
1876 inclusive, before the House of Rep
resentatives passed into the hands of the
Democrats, the expenditures for the uavy
aggregated $l57 1880, ,S47.37, or an average
OF nearly twenty-five and half millions
a year in round numbers. TO this enor-
| nous total must be added about twenty
millions to public property which Robson
| bartered away with favored contractors,
without authority of law, in order to
swell their collusve profits. The expen-
ditures for the navy in the fourteen years
| from lS4S to 1861 inclusive, summed up
$l59, ,456, ,S30.1S, or less than half the av-
erage Of Robeson's seven.
For these vast expenditures there is no
thing to show but rotten hulks, a de-
bauched service, and the sudden wealth
of Ring who had pass keys into the
department. The investigation of 1876
probed beyond the possibility of success
full dispue that regular combination of
middlemen was organized, who, with
Robeson's favor, levied toll on all con-
tracts and open purchases for the navy
and divided the spoils. In spite of the
appalling perjury of different witnesses,
Of the alteration and mutlation of the
books Of account, OF fabricated vouchers
and of other deceptions, the corrupt con-
nection between Robson and the Cat
tells, and Matthews, Noblitt, and Roach,
and many others, who monopolized the
great jobs, was fastened SO strongly that
no artifice, or lying, or false swearing
could unite the knot.
Identified with Jay Cooke and the
throng of spectators of which he was
the ostensible chief, Robson did not
hesitate when the panic came to take a
million of dollars of the public money
and transfer it to London to prop up the
tottering fortunes of the foreign branch
of that concern, for which act impeach
ment and its penalty would have been a
deserved punishment. Utterly reckless !
and inscriptions, he stopped at no vio- |
lation of law by which his Ring might |
be enriched, or the party on which he re- |
lied so defend his eXcesses could be |
strengthened.
The navy yards were transformed into
political headquarters, their commanders |
into partisan agents, and the employees
OF all grades became mere creatures of
the caucus, who at Mare Island were |
marched to the polls in double file, every
man bearing large ticket with the \
names of the Republican candidates to |
prevent the exercise Of any independent |
opinion. AT home and abroad, under /
this disgraceful rule, the navy fell in
public estimation, and the gallant officers |
who took a just pride in their profession
would not cross the threshold of this |
spokesman, knowing that promotion and
favor could only be procured by the
sacrifice of self-respect.
His career as Secretary closed consis-
tently with its whole course. Invited TO
act temporarily until the advent of his
successor, to discharge the routine duties,
in the six days of holding over he made
Illegal contracts for three or four mil
lions of dollars, which had to be broken,
after having, in the remaining hours of
his own term, diverted the money appro-
priated for pay OF the navy to the benefit
of the Ring contractors.
During the two terms of Grantsm in
which he fourished, in company with
other plunderers. Robson lived riotous-
ly every day, affected certain official
S ate, was one of the leaders of shoddy,
and maintained costly establishment,
after the pattern of Tweed, Connolly,
Shepherd, and other patriots of that
order. A constant and very great
revenue from some source was indispen-
sable for this vulgar parade, and Secor
Robson had 1t.
1t is no secret that he went to Wash
ington poor, and that Mr. Adolph e.
Borie, whom Grant first appointed Sec
retary, obtained the place for him as
livelihood. The salary was the chief OBJ
ject of his ambition, and with 1T the op-
portunity to improve his straitened con-
dition. His accounts with the National
State Bank of Camden throws some light
on his personal means. 1t was sworn TO
before Mr.. Whitthorne's COMMITTEES, two
years ago, by the officers of that iustitu-
tion. On the first of January, 1876,
Robson had to his credit there $403.O1
on the 1st of January, 1867, $40 88; on
the 1st of January, 1868, $518 SO, and on
the 1st of January, 1869, $2,376,68. 1t
thus appears that he usually expended
whatever money he received from pro-
fessional business or from the office he
he held, during these years, for the debit
side of the ledger shows that his checks
were mostly for small sums.
Later in 1869 he went to washington,
and it is worthy of note thal among the
first sums to his credit in the fall of that
year in this Camden bank, were derived
from checks and notes of A. q. Cattell
& Co., and the Corn Exchange Bank OF
Philadelphia, of which the elder Cattell
was the President. 1t Is not unlikely
they were loans made to start his ofhcial
life at Washington. OF course he had to
feel his way, and to learn the ropes be-
fore plunging into jobs, but the figures
show that he did fair business from the
start. Three bank accounts were exami-
ned by the Committee, with the follow
ing results IN d. posts alone
NATIONAL BANK OF CAMDEN.
1869-Deposits .................$34,9 ,9l4 oo
......... '..'... ~, 70 ~
1S71-Deposits. .......'..'...'..' il'9io oa
Total. '''''lof ,oh' ~
FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF WASHINGTON
(JAY cooKE9
12G0-nanOSifg,