Morning journal and courier., 1881-04-29
Friday Morning, April 29, 1881.
THE ATTEMPT TO DEFEND BRADY

THE ATTEMPT TO DEFEND BRADY.
 Two attempts to defend General Brady of
 Star route fame have thus far been made.
 One of these appears in the National Repu6-
 hcaas of Washington, in which paper the
 General is large stockholder. The gist of
 it is that Samuel J. Tilden. by his next
 friend, c. F. Mclean, is the principal prose-
 cutor and persecutor of Brady, being in-
 spired thereto by indignant revenge because
 Brady supplied to the New York Tribune
 copies of the cipher despatches therefore,
 according to the Repu6lica,a, it would be an
 ungrateful business for Republicans to lend
 hand to help Tilden to pull down an able
 and seryiceable Republican. This is de-
 cidedly queer, not to say thin, defense The
 other attempt is that of Brady himself, and
 is in the shape of letter to the New York
 Rerold. Referring to what he calls "clam-
 or'' he says that for a time it ssmay even suc-
 ceed in bringing national names into con-
 tumely and disgrace" He makes much of the fact that the late Congress granted the appropriation asked for by the department, including the money for the Star routes, and that it in effect approved the contract ''rais- SAesAAooSs4OA1os set his face against the liberal policy inau- gurated by Judge Key.'' He also has some thing to say about the wonderful growth" of the postal service and of "a class of news paper correspondents ;'' and he asserts that
 ''aH this talk about rings and corruption comes from disgraced contractors and would be blackmailers.'' He does not refer to the peremptory demand for his resignation which he promptly sent in without protest. He ignores the facts about the Star route swindle, and he omits to mention that the Postmaster General and President of the United States probably knew something about the matter before they removed him.
 It will take something more-yes a good deal more-than this to change the general opinion of him and his performances. As the New York ISnnes puts it: t'In the face of the fact that he increased the cost of the smallest branch of the postal service to an enormous and unprecedented extent, spending millions where hundreds of thousands had before been sufficient, MT. Brady has the assurance to say that this was done in pursuance of Postmaster General Keys liberal policy and in pursuance of the recommendations of Congressman. In consequence of this noble and patriotic action, Brady, according to his own account, has been beset by press brigands, who have endeavored to blackmail the virtuous Star route contractors whom he has defended. He has set his face as flint against all propositions to buy off the whole body of defamers, but he fails to show why he laid down his papers and fled out of his office to New York as soon as the President asked for his resignation. He indulges in general denial and defiance, but until he offers bet ter defence of his policy than the assertion that Congressmen were equally blameworthy with him we must continue in the belief that his wanton increase of public expenditures to the amount of more than $6, ,ooo, ,oo0 was deliberately dishonest act.''