The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1884-03-14
The Star Route Gases.


The Star Route Gases.
SOME INSIDE HISTORY AS GIVEN BY GAR.
FIELDS POSTMASTER GENERAL
AND ATTORNEY GENERAL.
Ex-Postmaster General Thomas l..
james appeared before the Springer
committee last week aud gave a
history of the prosecution of the Star
route cases while he was in office. Mr..
James said his attention was first spe-
officially called to the matter by Ex-
United States Senator George K.
Spencer, of Alabama, and other we'll
informed gentlemen. 1t was their be-
lief that millions of dollars had been
wasted on unnecessary Star service
service much of which had never been
performed and which was procured by
improper means. 1t was also maintain
cd that an honest, thorough investiga-
ton would render practicable retrench-
ment, without detriment to the service,
which would not only make the Post
Office Department selfsustaining, but
would yield respectable revenue to
the Treasury. Continuing, Mr.. james
said "That | entertained such views
was more or less well known. The
publicity given to them, added to the
fact that while Postmaster at New
York when asked by Stephen W. Dor.
sey to certify, in my official capacity,
to a large number of papers connected
with the contract Office of the Post Of
fee Department l refused to do so,
may account for the bitter opposition
to my appointment to Cabinet po-
sition which developed in certain quar-
ters.
"General Garfield said that he was
afraid that there was something very
wrong in the department itself ; that,
if so, he expected me to find it out and
then put the plow in to the beam and
after that to subsoil it." Mr.. Dorsey
was not present at this interview, nor
did Mr.. James see him, neither did be
call on him nor on Senator Conkling
or Vice President Arthur. On the 9th
of March, Mr.. James having been ap-
pointed Postmaster General, the presi-
dent sent for him and brought up the
subject of the Star route service. He
said that he was satisfied that there
had been wilful waste of the public
money and gross corruption that,
while he did not wish to have mail
facilities necessary to the welfare of
any community curtailed, all unneces-
sary and extravagant service must be
releptlessly cut off ; that the proposed
investigation must be aimed at a sys-
TEN and not at men. but that if the in-
quiry should disclose the fact that any
person or persons have been guilty OF
corruption or fraud that person or per-
sons must be handed over to the De-
partment of Justice. He gave instruc-
tions to pursue this investigation until
there were no more facts to ascertain.
Witness appointed Mr. p. H. Wood
ward, of Connecticut, his confidential
agent in the investigation of the Star
route frauds. He was commissioned
as an inspector on the 14th of March.
Mr.. Woodward was sent South in con-
nection with matters not related to this
Star route service and during his alb
sence witness visited New York and
was then informed by Mr.. David f.
Nelson, clerk in the New York Post
Office, that Mr.. John Swinton, one of
the editors Of the New York Sun.
would, if so desired, place him in COM
munication with gentleman who
would materially aid him in the i'm.
pending investigation.
This resulted in Mr.. A. NJ Gibson,
TO, ,merly connected with the New York
San as its Washington correspondent,
calling on witness at the department,
making valuable suggestions and plac-
ing in his hands evidence of great i'm
portance bearing upon Star route mat
ters and methods. All sources of in.
formation at command were made
available and the investigation was
pushed in every way. The state of
affairs thus revealed was truly appal-
ling. Aiiidavits of contractors, upon
which increase of service and expedi.
tion were unhesitatingly ordered, were
freely accepted, when even the most
superficial inquiry on the part of an in
spector, procured at a small cost
would have saved untold thousands
to the department. Inspectors de-
signed by law to jealously guard the
interests of every branch of the service
and advise the Postmaster General Of
any abuses or Irregularities which
might at any time or in any place fall
under their notice, were peremptorily
forbidden to trench upon the ''Star
route domain by power which ap'
peared to be greater than that of the
head OF the department and whose
unspoken word was obeyed as law.
This vast and important service,
stretching for thousands of miles east,
west, north and south, in regions OF
country infested by bands of hostile
indians or desperate outlaws, and often
accessible only by blackboard" or on
horseback, was relegated to the care OF
one man, borne upon the rolls of the
department as an assistant superinten-
dent of railway mail service. and who
occupied desk in the office of the
Second Postmaster General. This man
was Ray p. Eaton, who was afterwards
removed and is now Collector of Gus
toms in Maine.
Mr.. James continued ; "In the early
part of April, fortified with facts and
figures laboriously and carefully COL
lated, Mr.. Woodward and myself call
ed on the President aud exhibited a
comparative statement of the most cor
ruptly manipulated routes. He dis
played great surprise and wished to
know if the figures had been verified
by the records. He also added that
he had been providentially saved from
falling into trap which had evidently
been set for him and seemed to be con
templating some peril which he had