Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-12-20
THE STAR ROUTE TRIAL.


Chandler resumed his address 10 the Jury In the
star route trial He read statutes applicable TO
the letting Of contracts &c, prescribing the pun
ishment fer failure. He said that there was hang
Ing over those Who bid, should the bid be accepted
and they failed to perform the service, penalty
or 5000 and enc years Imprisonment This pun
lshment hung over the head OF contractor by a
thread. 1t was provision not applicable to any
other defendant. These contracts provide that II
the service was increased the compensation should
| be increased pro rata. Mr.. Bliss had endeavorei
10 impress upon the jury that IL was optional with
the Second Assistant Postmaster General whether
ne should pay pro rata or less than pro rata. Any
onlcer who would exercise his power to deprive
the contractor OF the benefits which he had a right
| 10 claim under his contract would be tyrannical
THE CONTRACTOR WAS HEpGgD ABOUT
with consequences more terrible than was ever
devised in any other business relations. 1t was
| only Just that the contractor should have the
benefit of every clause in his contract
Mr. Chandler, I'm referring to Mr.. Bliss remarks
to the effect that productvenesS had been entirely
| disregarded by Brady ia making increases said
that the law provided that the Post Office DEPART
| ment should have due regard to ''protuctIveness
| stances were not defined by law. They were such
circumstances as presented themselves TO the
IheSe other circumstances might be the cogent
| reasons: One or these circumstances might be
lne clvlllZlng influences OF the mails when they
enter a new country.
TAKING THR MOST RIGID ASPECT OF THE QUESTION
that could be presented, and suppose these In
creases were to be MADE solely with due regard to
product1veness, Mr.. Bliss had not told them what
| due regard to productiveness was He had told
| them that they did not expect to pay. How was
| the standard Of prouuctiveness to be fixed? 1t
seemed to him (Mr. Chandler) il they were going
| TO sweep men who had held high Offices OF trust
and honor into the penitent1ary they ought to TX,
with certainty the line OF their liability The law
olu not say that the productlvenesS should be so
per cent or o per cent OF the cost 1t did that
II you double the trips you shall pay twice the
| amount
Neither the law nor the prosecution fixed the
standard Then what was the standard? It was
TIE amount OF prejudice the prosecution may ex-
clte In the minds OF the jury against the allow
ances made by Brady. That prejudice, the opin-
TO by the government to establish the criminal
nature OF these transactions Mr.. Bliss had
draw drawn eomparison between what Mr.. Brady had
t uone ana what had been done during the preced-
| Ing administration concluding that because he
| held Giferent opinions from his predecessor, he
| must be guilty.
| REFERRING TO wALsHs TESTIMONY,
| Mr. Chandler asserted that Walsh had a contract
Which Was Increased from sls 900 to $la5 600 year.
| walsh, the prosecution claimed, was an honest
| man, SO he could not have paid for his increase.
Doubtless fnWalShs case also there was due regard
| for productiveness and other circumstances. The
| dsproportion between the original amount and
| the Increased amount In Wash's case was greater
| Indictment, yet the government did not claim In
| his case that there was any corruption. In
| Walshs case also 1t was claimed that the conse-
quence or the expedition was to ruin the con-
tractor, SO that. being "broken-up" financially. lie
went TO Brady to recover money he had loaned
| His opinion was that the jury would not believe
Walshs story when they heard 1t, but that did not
alter the governments position. They asked the
jury to believe the 1nquty OF the other contracts
| ana to regard Walshs as perfectly fair and
honest
p1,n1,
sented to the jury by the prosecution was whether
they, II they had been sitting in the Office of the
Postmaster General, would have increased the
service quite as much as he, 1t was not claimed
that the limit OF the law had been exceeded In the
allowances, but the limit nxed by the opinion Of
! the prosecution. He declared that this style Of
prosecution was rcsorted to for certain purpose.
which was not cOmInendable.
THE DOCTRINE OF CONSPIRACY
was In its nature and In its history an oppressive
one. After discussing the nature OF the charge OF
conspiracy and the right Of citizens Mr. Chandler
urged that the old oppressive law OF conspiracy
had no place in the enlightened law of Today
This doctrine OF conspiracy he said was introduced
into this case for the purpose OF subtecting one
man TO punishment for another mans act, for the
| purpose OF bringing into evidence circumstances
which In themselves constituted no crime, but to-
gether extended perhaps prejudice against these
defendants The purpose to be secured was to
gda1S ESo wane ane political ambition OF the men
them up high in public admiration. They
accused Miner or having sworn to false affidavitS
they knew they could not convict him OF perjury
Yet they told THIS jury that he guilty of per-
psy NJ They declared that they hoped to prove
try Mr.. Brady for bribery? Because they knew
that they could not prove that Mr.. Brady ever re-
| PENDANTS gave Mr.. Brady money. Ir that was true
the men who gave the money could be tried for
giving br!bes, but they were not SO tried, because
the government knew that the charge could not
be true. They wanted to create little suspicion
against all these defendants and then, by multi
plying these suspicious and ringing the charges
upon themget verdict that Will net be righteous
That was the reason that they had picked up this
OLD instrument, the law or conspiracy.
SECRET NATURE OF THE oFFENsK
Mr.. Chandler, referring to Mr. Bliss description
OF the secret nature OF the ofense OF these de-
PENDANTS, said that the Second Assistant Post
master General made daily reports to the POST
master General, and the law required the Post
master General to make an annual statement OF
every contract in force with the government OF
the United States for carrying the mail With full
and perfect Information each year, Congress had
solemnly made appropriations for the service II
1t were possible for transaction to be public, to
be In light from beginning to end, these transac-
tions We're public. Mr.. Bliss had imputed by
look and implication some dShOnOr upon Con-
gress. but he did not believe Congress needed any
defense When they proved that Congress was
factor In every transaction taking money from
prove that Congress was honest They were not
here to defend the whole universe or the laws OF
the universe. He believed something would be
taken rs granted.
Mr.. Chandler argued that Mr. Brady, in provid-
Ing for the filing OF sub-c0ntracts, said that he
had himself caused the evidence, which Mr.. Bliss
claimed would convict him, to be placed on public
record.
at o'clock recess OF half an hour was taken.
AFTER RECESS
Mr.. Chandler resumed his address He said the
essence Of the ofrense OF these contractors was
that they had made more money than the present
representatives OF the government thought they
ought to have made
STAR R0CTE NOTES
Ex-Congressman Eppa Hunton, OF Virginia. was
a visitor this afternoon within the enclosure set
aside for counsel
The defendants rarely appear in the courtroom
now. Mr.. Brady has been present at intervals
while Mr.. Chandler has been speaking.
Mr.. Ingersou is to follow Mr.. Chandler.
Rricks for the Pension Office.
RESULT OF THE TESTS OF STRENGTH.
Gen. Meigs has received a report OF the tests
made at the Watertown, Mass, arsenal OF the
samples of brick for the new Pension once build