Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1882-12-12

been promised the treasury, and the |
promise should not be evaded; but that |
II Morton was disqualified, then Judge
Folger, John ]. Astor, and many other
eminent men were at hand, who would |
fill the office creditably, aud then he
added:
"Of course, know that you would
not accept any minor place in the cabi-
net.'
Mr.. James said: mo, sir, I will accept
nothing and take no Office without your
endorsement and that OF General Ar
thur"
"Well, suppose yon should be appoint
ed without your consent, and suppose
you went into the cabinet without ours,
and then suppose some contest should
arise between General Garfield, General
Arthur, Mr.. Platt, or myself; of course,
stand in that case" said Mr.. ConklinR.
MIR. James promptly replied: II am
amazed that you should ask me such q
question. When you had me appointed
in the custom house, my little country
newspaper had broken me entirely up,
and all am and have made since then |
owe entirely to you. l would be the
worst OF all ingrates to say or do anything |
to your injury, and il l 60 into the cab
met, go there as your friend, and if it |
ever transplres that the administration |
With which l am connected, is against |
you, l shall be against the administra.
ton. l don't know that would decline |
place in the cabinet if offered to me,
but you may always be certain of one
thing, that you will have one friend in |
the administration if I am there, that
you can call upon at any time."
During this talk Arthur and Dorsey
were in the next room. and could hear
every word which James uttered. and, of
course, it was astonishing to them,
that James knew perfectly well that he
had heard him talk to Garfield, yet did
not seem in the least abashed by it.
MacVeagh probably found little if any.
thing in the conduct of the Office of attor-
ney general under his predecessor, or, if
there was, the discharges had been SO
| few there were no disgruntled bummers
Ground to point them out. But James
had struck mine, q regular bonanza, as
it were, and he and MacVeagh saw in
this their opportunity to get the holds,
and at the same time be revenged on
Dorsey. They would m1ngle vengeance
with justice, and hold Garfield down
under the threat that if he removed them
they wonld cry aloud to the country
that he was aiding the star-route thieves
to escape, and, before Mr.. Garfield was
aware of it, they had tied him baud and
foot, One day James would announce
that he had reduced the postal expendi-
lures hundreds of thousands of dollars,
and the next day MacVeagh would pro-
claim that he had the star-route thieves
on the straight road to the penitentiary,
and would land them there if he were
, allowed to remain in Office. The expec-
I highest point, only to get dreadful fall
Tie ASSASSINATION followed, and fol
9 months the nation sat bowed in grief at
r the bedside of the sufferer whose mis-.
t fortune was their calamity, and the busl.
I ness of the nation stalked along unheed
u ed by the people. But all this time
{, James and MacVeagh were working out
Il what they called reforms, and never il
f, our history were the groundwork of 81
,r much scandal laid and the building il
e process of construction,
!. The James Mac cVeagh reforms can b,
% best understood by a little introduction
II and explanation before touching on the
Il raw facts. James was posing before th,
e country as the d1scoverer, and Mac Veagl
= IS the prosecutor of the thieves. Ant
James was visiting the different newspa
II per men all the time, informing then
70 70 how much he was daily reducing tn
W mail-carrying expenses. In the soutl
70 and west he did abolish many routes dc
~ priving many people of mail facilities
= and now the official history disclose
+. who was benefited thereby.
i. Very few people understand how rail
N roads are paid for carrying the maill
- The records show that between nine an
u, 10 ten million dollars were paid betwee
IA 1879 and 1881, as Z" railway mail pay
Il. and since the inauguration Of Mr.. Gal
field the item has increased from les
than ten 10 more than thirteen millio
y dollars for the past fiscal year, ther
" r. having been deficiency-not prospec
1879, but actually existing-$1, 1900, ,OO
as on the first day of July last, and vet til
q ! officials have not increased compensatio
~ in any direction, but have kept thel
III where the model James left them.
e5 Railroads are paid so much per mil
eS11 for so many pounds of mail carrie,
~ The weight of the mail carried by eac
OF road is determined by weighing for or
vs. month all the mail carried by that roa,
al and taking that as the average until tt
" next weighing, which can be made an
y, time at the order OF the postmast,
e; Is general, but which have usually bee
NC made only once in four years. 1t ca
us a. thus be seen that the post master gel
~. eral has it ill his power to favor the roat
" by ordering reweighing at any tim
and it can also be seen that If he desire
lr. to favor certain roads he could do so.
zee A general weighing had been mac
We not great while before James went int
nd Office. Rnt with lively. sense OF favo
he to come he ordered reweighing
ne 1881 on certain lines. The list weig
ny ing had been made in January and Fe
rurary of 1880, aud liberal advances ha
o. been made to all the railways on uccou
,r- of it. The result was an increase
"a S650,OOO per annum in the pay
he Vanderbilt's road, and increase on sor
n; other lines which created the defiicien,
ew Of $1,l20.OOO which I have mentione
lid This increase in vanderbilt,s p'
re-. was not the legitimate j
crease of the weight of the mails. b
Of was done by divert!ng the mail fro
xn other routes over this one line duril
in. weighing, which gave the average tn
nv largely belonged to the Erie aud Pen
M sylvania roads. The son.in-law of N
on James succeeded the father of his wi
mr. in the New York post Office, and when
IL. was time to serve the Pennsylvania rou
,os reweighing was ordered on that lii
Aft hence 1t is not much out of the way
Ito assume that each one of the roads is n,
on receiving pay for all the through freig
,Id carried by both of them, And n
es1 James retired from the postoffice depa