Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-08-28
Jay GOuId's New Man.
NelU York Times

Let other men stand abashed before the
halo of legislative purity and forensic rectf-
tude which surrounds New York's "favorite
son." Mr.. Gould has taken the measure of
legal talents which were hired to overawe
Judges whom the great man had appointed.
and to reassure corporate interests which
his creatures had the power to attack. And
so Mr.. Gould secured the legal services of
Mr.. Roscoe Conkling for fee.
But 1t need hardly be stated, the fee was
only conditional one. The first payment
was promised to secure the signature of the
Governor OF the State of New York to the
bill which passed the Legislature relieving
the Pacific Mail Steamship Company of
some $780, 900 of taxes already assessed and
levied. The bill found its excuse in a pre-
ceding enactment relieving American steam
ship companies from State taxation for a
long term Of years, butas It was in the nature
OF retroactive legislation, and was in plain
terms an act of deliberate theft from the
Treasury, 1t was not approved by Governor
Cornell. Mr.. Conkiing appeared before the
Governor as the attorney of JAY Gould in
support of that bill. He made no
concealment Of the fact that whatever pro-
fessional retainer he may have had for ap-
pearing in the matter at all, his real interest
lay In getting the bill signed, and that It
would be most valuable service to him.
which he would reciprocate BY all means in
his power If the Governor would allow the
bill to become law. For reasons already
indicated the Governor found this impossi-
BILE. Then came the infamous measure.
bearing also the emphatic approval OF both
roads from their share Of taxation.
and with 1t came Mr.. Roscoe Conk.
ling as attorney for Jay Gould.
On this occasion the ex Senator
was In his suavest mood, ready to let by
cones, political or otherwise, be by cones.
but most persistently pleading that here, In
sooths was the turning point of his life, and
that between the liberal fee which he would
earn and the railroad speculations, of which
he would have the benefit, by securing the
Governors signature to the bill, he might,
IN very brief time, gain respectable COM
potency. The ex Senator caiOled, and the
eX Senator threatened, but the Governor
was obdurate, and Roscoe Conkling left the
executive chamber no longer the concealed
but the avowed and open foe, politically
and personally, of AloDzo B. Cornell.
So 1t has happened that Messrs. Conkling
and Platt are heard of as visitors of Jav
Gould, that the order has gone forth to all
the henchmen of the ex-SenatOrs that Cor
nell's denomination must, at any cost, be
beaten, and so, perhaps, it has appeared that
some recent moves in the disposal of the
Federal patronage OF this State have been
uau6 IaVner WIN the view OF D6aung Cor
nell than with a due regard to the necessf-
ties Of the public service. We are not
among the partisans of Governor Cornell.
We have criticised his public acts with
entire freedom and impartiality, and,
while finding much to admire, have
fOuLd a great deal to condemn. But II
the contest for the Governorship of
this State is to turn upon satisfying the
boundless ambition ana greed of Jav Gould,
and carrying out the sordid and selfish re-
venges Of Roscoe Conkling, then, were the
man who has earned the enmity of both by
simply doing his duty tent fold more vulner-
able than he-is, the Times, in common with
all honest Republican,, will be fouud on his
side. The safety Of the commonwealth
dominates all law and policy, and not even
the ill-starred alliance between the puritan
and the blackleg' was SO shameful or SO dan
gerous to the rights of free people as the
association between such a master as jaw
Gould and such man as Roscoe Conkling.