The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1881-07-09
The President and the "Star-route''
Engineer.

The fact that the system of "Star-
route swindling was not merely toll
Grated, but encouraged, all through the
Fraudulent Administration, notwith-
standing frequent and thorough expos
ures, is sufficiently discreditable to the
party which made itself responsible for
both the one and the other. But the
Garfield letter to "My dear Hubbel,'
Chairman of the Congressional Com
mittee on Blackmail of Government
Employees, adds a chapter which is
simply infamous; and the explanation
offered by General Garfield seems to us
worse than the letter itself.
1t was necessary to carry Indiana and
interest depending upon Government
favor had been bled to the last point of
endurance. The Rings had come down
with all they could squeeze from the
recipients of their plumber. Many of the
manufacturers had contributed what
they could afford. The pet banks
and the railroad kings had yielded
up freely. The officeholders, from
Cabinet officer to tidewaiter, had
been assessed three times. But
still the election fund was not large
enough; the cry of Dorsey and Cor
ham in Indiana, and of the managers
under Garfield's own eye in Ohio, was
for more money. Then the excellent
Mr.. Hubbell bethought him of the
"Star-route' contractors reveling in
the plumber of years. OF course, the
person to compel them to hand over
was the person through the perversion
of whose official power they had made
their money. But Brady refused to as
sess them unless at the written request
of Hayes or.Garield. Hayes, fraud and
imbecile as he was, had still self-respect
enough to refuse to do thing SO bare
faced as this. But Garfield took anoth-
er view of it. He was to be the imme-
date beneficiary of the proposed cor
ruption; and he never seemed to have
thought for moment of rejecting
Brady's shameful proposal. Does any
body suppose that he misunderstood its
character? That was utterly impossi-
BILE; it was too plain for child to be
mistaken about it. General Garfield
has put in the infants plea before with
some success; but it will hardly do in
this case. He knew perfectly well that
Brady's object was to make terms for
the "Star-route" plunderers in the flu
tnre; and that they would pay up for
his election only on those conditions.
AS usual, Garfield hesitated between
the sin and the shame of it, and after
several days consideration, came at
the object by a circuit. Instead of
writing directly to Brady, he wrote to
Hubbell to tell Brady to go ahead, and
the letter was passed over to the con-
tractors as Brady's voucher for the
money he squeezed out of them;
and now it is produced to show how
the election was carried. and what
manner of man the Republican candi-
date was.
General Garfield said that he did not
know what the Credit Mobilier was,
| and that he had no reason to suppose
that Cakes Ames was attempting to
bride him by giving him stock. He
cannot say as much with regard to
Brady. He had been investigated and
I.exposed in Congress; the newspapers
were full of his criminal misconduct;
and General Garfield must have been
perfectly aware that he was making
terms with a gang of public thieves
when he wrote the letter to Hubbell We
admit that it does not follow that he
intended to keep the bargain because
he understood clearly what he was do
ing when he made it.-N. y Sun.