The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1885-10-24
BrOadbrimS New York Letter.
Special to the CARBON ADVOCATE.

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The revelations now being made be
fore the Commission which is LOOKING
into the workings of our Excise Boar,
are as disgraceful as anything ye
brought to light in the history of thi,
ill-goycrned city.
A license is applied for by the keeper
OF disreputable dive, the known resort
of prostitutes and thieves. There wa.
no doubt about the character of the
place, and when the Excise Commits
sloners made application to the Police
Captain of the precinct for report, hC
promptly reported against it. The pro
prletor of the place, a notorious thief
finding his nefarious business blocked
applies for aid and advice to a loca
politician. This worthy, a gentleman
OF influence in the ward, advises him tc
get somebody else to apply for the H.
cense, although the person obtaining il
has to swear that no one but himself is
interested in the business, and the gen.
tleman Of influence promises to see the
matter through for $500. There GER
tainly could never have been better
test of the value of political influence,
for the three Excise Commissioners had
voted unanimously against it. The po-
lice captain of the precinct had reported
against it. The place was known to be
thieves den, when the gentleman OF
influence steps into the ring. First and
foremost he procures a reputable man
to commit open and deliberate perjury
he swears that he alone is interested; lie
pays five hundred dollars to the go-be-
tween, and hey, presto, fly, the license
is granted without any further delay.
Bad as. this city is, there never was a
more fragrant case than this, and the
man who received the money acknowl-
edged the fact without bushing, and
the only satisfaction that he gave the
commission was, that he did not sell
his political influence for nothing, and
Ii he had known at the time of his ap.
pllcation that Captain Williams had re-
ported against the place, he would have
charged him double what he did. II
seems as if every public office was hon
eycombed with fraud. For many years
the Commissionership of Jurors has
been worth more than the PreSi-
dency of the United States. The salary.
though liberal, would scarcely furnish
whisky and cigars for the incumbent.
but II is as much of prize as Consoli-
dated Virginia was when they struck
the big bonanza. You nay ask how
this Is. Well. simple enough, in its
way. The business Of making up jures
for the Courts is delegated to the Com
missioner of Jurors. In making up the
poll suppose he puts In the box from
which he draws the names of lot of
rich men-lIenry y. Smiths. V.White,
Z. Il. Huntington, Mr.. Jaffray, Mr..
Bates, Judge Hilton. Jay Gould, w. Ii.
Vanderbilt and Russell Sage; now out
OF the lot he draws ten or twenty such
names as these. The Deputy serves
them with a notice. Here is the ease
OF very rich man whose business
would suffer by his absence, being COM
PEELED to sit in foul smelling court for
weeks TO listen TO cases of murder, as
sault and robbery. All the surround
ings are degrading and disgusting, If
the rich man has sick wife CT child, or
has important business out OF town, so
much the better for the commissioner
OF jurors-the rich man Is willing to
nay for his immunity; and the official is
not unwilling to receive, and the amount
agreed on depends on the victims finan.
oial ability to be squeezed. Thousands
upon thousands are annually paid
by our wealthy men to secure exemp-
tion from jury duty, and that Is the
reason that you seldom see any Of them
serving on criminal trials
In regard 10 the granting of licenses
10 disreputable and immoral places, !
do not see how the Commissioners can
escape imprisonment We seem o be
getting back TO the worst DAYS OF the
King, and nothing will bring rs on to
sol!d ground but just such = revolution