Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1882-09-27

Mr.. Jay Hubbell's Second De-
mand On the Clerks and
Scrubbing-WOm
From Harper's Weekly.l

From Harper's Weekly.l
Mr. J. Hubbell's committee has re-
sumed the farce of voluntary coutri-
buttons" Having requested the clerks
in the pcblic service to pay two per
cent. of their salaries and to say that
it was free gift, and many of the
clerks having declined to give
to Mr.. Hubbell the irresponsible dis
position of the money which their
families required, that gentleman now
informs them that he has "noted with
surprise" their failure to respond to
the demand, and that be hopes that
they will voluntarily send two per
cent Immediately. Meanwhile his
agents, armed with complete lists of
the clerks in the various Departments,
and with the authority of the heads of
bureaus, summon every clerk whose
name is marked upon their lists as de-
linquent to pay up; and obedience or
refusal is marked accordingly. While
this inquisition is making and their
reluctant money is extorted through
terror by the official pickpockets some
victim in the Office should be delegated
to read aloud to the other clerks, like a
monk in the refractory to his fellows,
the words of Secretary Folger to Mr..
A. Thomas II would have him think
and feel and do as if in the religious
Westinghouse of his choice the preach
er should lay before him the needs of
some cause"
Mr. Hubbell's circular says that his
committee cannot hope to succeed in
the pending struggle if those most d.
rectly benefited by success are unwill-
ing or neglect" to send him money.
He means that it is office-holders who
are directly benefited by the success of
the party. But if this is true of q
messenger-boy at $500 a year and
clerk at $1,000, it is equally true of
foreign Ministers at $4,000 or ST.
500 Does Mr.. Hubbell assess them
two per cent. F? Has he assessed Mr..
Lowell, Mr.. Morton or Mr. Astor ?
Has he demanded specific sum of
money ofMr. Robertson or of Mr.. Pear
son? Fortunately the searching dis
cussions of the summer have fully ex-
posed the contemplate trick of "vol-
untary" contributions, and the extor-
tions with which Mr.. Jay A. Hubbell's
name will be always Unidentified are now
perfectly we'll known to the country.
What does Mr. Hubbell mean by say
ing that party success cannot be ex-
pected unless the offce-holders will
furnish the money? There was time
when the Republican party succeeded,
without any ofice-holder to assess, in
carrying the election against a party
which had all the Offices and assessed
all the offce-holders. The doctrine
then was that the people as we'll as
the office-holders were interested in
Republican success.
If that is changed-if, as Mr.. Hub
bell suggests, it is the office-holders
who are mainly interested in that
successfully should the country help
to keep them in place? On the con-
trary, why should not the country
feel it duty to put out of office those
who raise an enormous fund to keep
themselves in? An enormous election
fund justly alarms every honest voter,
because it is not necessary and means
dishonest election. Mr. Hubbell's
circular substantially announces that
the Republican party depends for sue
cess not upon its principles but its
purse. If this was true it would be
the most conclusive possible argument
against the party, and shows that
every intelligent and patriotic voter
should oppose it. But it is not true.
Mr. Hubbell does not mean what be
virtually says. He means only
that if the messenger-boy or the clerk
does not promptly pay up he will
probably lose his place. The Phila-
delphia Press truly says: "a genuine
service will be done the hopeful Re-
publican leaders on the Congressional
Committee if their collectors are kicked
out of the Departments and the scandal
paa COO in tho land ~