Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1881-05-02
AUGUSTA. MA1NE MONDAY MORNING, NAY 2 1881

Forepaugh's have come and gone in a blaze
of glory, and left the Capital minus great
many thousand half dollars. The Farragut
statue unveiling has brought the cadets,
officers and sailors TO our city in great num-
bers. and they too. have gone, and yet the
Senate remains.
This side show, although quite amusing at
first, is getting to be monotonous. Were it not
for some political events in the form of a
wordy encounter or brilliant speech like
our Frye's for instance, the comedy would
be nearly void of interest, and vet the comedy
must 60 on until the principle involved is set
tied. There can be no square back out on
either side without a consequent acknowl-
edgment of defeat. And so 1.-THE wheels 90
round and round and round again.
In this connection wish to refer to the al
ready widely praised speech of Senator
Frye. Ii is not astonishing that this speech
has created so profound an impression, and.
SO far as the opposition is concerned, stirred
up, as it were ''hornets" nest. The Senator
went clear to the bottom of facts, probed the
ulcer of southern oppression, rascality. fraud
and insinceritv. and the result has been \
general squirming in that quarter which still
continues although the Senator is away-far
away from the scene. The speech was original.
| not dictated by any one, and preciritated
upon the Senate in the same manner as when
he sometimes eloquently electrified the
other House. He is fully able Ito paddle
his own canoe" as his State. if not his coun-
try. already fully knows.
Executive Sessions will very probably be
held during the intervals of this short session
of the Senate for the purpose of confirming
| nominations which require confirmation in
order to relieve public necessities and those
where no opposition appears. In all proha-
bility this will be the only let up in the present
struggle, AT least until after the Virginia cam
paignlis closed; (for virtually, this factor is in
volved) and then there may be short recesses
so continuing the session into December
unless one party or the other gives way
The Brady issue, now so well known, has
resolved itself into this one patent fact that
the Government under the forms Of tar, has
been swindlcd ont of millions Of dollars, To-
enrich the pockets of a few Legislators, more
Officeholders. and many contractors. Ii is
in vain for Gen. Brady to plead that all the
transactions were lcgalized and made opera
tive by acts OF Congress, and therefore prop
er, honest and unassailable, and he himself
innocent and clean.
Any man who has arrived at wears of dis
cretion and has any knowledge of geography
and mathematics, could have seen at glance
WneH examining any one OF tnc nunuTeUs OF
these expedited 'star' routes, that the rates
were exorbitant and the expenses vastly too
heavy in comparison with any other postal
routes; and before he would have sanctioned
the expediting of routes from the hundreds to
as many thousands of dollars, and from
thousands into the millions, he would have
had careful agents or commissions to exam
inc most thoroughly, and report conscien-
tiously regarding them, and not take the
dicta of contractors and their confederates.
That he did depend upon them and did so
make up his statements and estimates to
the Postmaster General. and through him to
Congress. is officially evident and cannot by
him, or by any of his friends, be denied nor
such action be excused by an overflow Of
words or retorts. 1t is also damaging TO such
men as George G. Gorham to attempt to de-
fend Gen. Brady on such fimsy basis.
Gorham by reason of previous connection
with the Senate and various other positions,
political and otherwise, cannot be ignorant of
the laws of contracts, the necessary guards
which ought to be thrown around contracts
and especially those involving the expendi-
ture of hundreds of thousands and even mil
lions of dollars. He is Californian. has
been all through the vast territory in which
these mail lettings were in operation, and can
easily know an honest from fraudulent con-
tract. If he cannot distinguish. he is not a
fit candidate for Secretary of the Senate.
There is no doubt that many honest Sena-
tors and Representatives were hoodwinked
and blinded into favoring these estimates for
"expedited mail facilities. Others, no doubt,
had direct or indirect interests in them, and
by reason Of a mixture of guilt. ignorance,
csrelessness and innocence, the appropria-
tions for these steals went through both
Houses. On this action Gen. Brady tries to
fortify himself against the accusations Of
fraud, and George Gorham attempts to boil
ster up the tumbling character of his friend.
1t won't do. The game is very thin.
The Evening Star" is the only paper in
this city which exposes the scandal and dishes
up the facts. Brady has large interest in
the National Republican, and is said to
own the building in which the Post (dem-
ocratic) is printed Quilt expressly for it)
which paper also strongly sustains him. 1t
is also said that several new spaper corrcspon-
dents have been kindly remembered by him
mot red has yours received-that's
honest r. j. b.