St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-09-25
THE STATE HOUSE RING.

Eighteen years service on the clerical
force at the state house has served to iden-
tifv 4. r. MCGILL with the state house
ring about as thoroughly as man could be
identified with anything. He is part OF
the ring, has been one of its most active
workers, and is to-day its candidate.
There are some things in connection with
the management of state affairs which the
state house gang evidently want to keep con-
cealed from the public eye. Sopronounced
is the anxiety of the state house
ring to keep its skeleton shut up in its
own closet that it is not willing that
any member of its own party who is not
identified with the ring shall occupy the
governors chair, lest its secret might be
discovered. In its twenty-seven years
uninterrupted possession of the state house
the ring has had opportunity to cover up
a great many crooked things and to prevent
them from being exposed to the light OF
day. The people are curious to know what
secrets lie hidden among the musty records
of the state house and have determined
upon change of administration. Thou
sands of honest Republicans who hold that
the welfare of the state is of higher consid-
Grafton than mere party success have united
in the movement to overthrow the ring
dynasty. They feel that it is time there
should be an overhauling of the books and
a balancing of accounts. They know that
there can be no risk in giving the Demo
Gratis control of the state government for one
term, while there may be a great deal
of danger in perpetuating the rule Of the
state house oIigarchy. III there has been
no crookedness, it will not hurt anything to
have the fact demonstrated by turning the
books over for examination to the OppOSi-
ton party, If there has been crookedness,
it is time that the opposition had the OPP
portunitY to show it up and put an end to
it. That is just the way in which all
intelligent, fair-minded people of the state
look at the political situation.
Are there any facts upon which to
base a suspicion that there might have been
crooked practices during the twenty-seven
years of ring rule at the state house? This
is question which the voters are PROFOUND
ing and have a right to PROFOUND. And it
is also question which is entitled to a
plain, straightforward answer. A general
averment of fraud and peculation and cor
ruption is so common in political campaigns
that people attach no importance to it I'M
less accompanied by statement of facts
supported by evidence. Every one
can readily realize the difficulty in
sustaining charge against an indicted party
when all the record evidence is in the
possession of the party that is arraigned at
the bar of public judgment and when there
is no way of producing that evidence until
it has first undergone the manipulations of
the accused. Now, as to the testimony
which can be adduced to show that there is
probable guilt in this instance. The over
eagerness of the ring to retain control of
the executive department and the DISPOSE
ton it has manifested to discard every
principle of fairness, justice and decencY in
its machine methods is circumstantial proof
of itself sufficient to justify a suspicion
of crookedness. But fortunately there is
more direct proof, and it comes from a
source that leaves no room to doubt its ac-
curacy. 1t comes, too, in the shape of
documentary evidence. 1t was not manu-
featured by the opposition for campaign
purposes. The Democrats had no hand in
its preparation. 1t is the report of Repub
lican officeholder, and if it has partisan bias
it would naturally be in favor of his own
side. We refer to the last report of Public
Examiner KNOX, the advance sheets of
which now lie before us. and which dis
closes a condition of affairs in connection
with the management, or rather mis-
management, of tn state treasury of a
most startling character. A few days ago,
the GLOBE took occasion to refer to the
fact that the law had not been complied
with in relation to the banks
which have been designated as
state repositories, and that the fnan-
civil interests of the state were seriously
ieopardized. In addition to this fact the
public examiner calls attention to the made
quacy of the amount fixed by law as to
the penalty of the state treaSurer's official
bond The penalty is fixed at $500, 900, and
vet at one time the balance in the treasury
was in the neighborhood of 81, 600, 600.
The defects in the system of management
of the various state institutions are pointed
out and will be discussed more fully
later along. But the worst feature
of all which is disclosed by the examiners
report is the vicious and defective system
OF accounting. by which the auditor is made
dependent upon the treasurer for informa-
ton as to his cash transactions. The ex-
aminer says that very considerable sums
Of money dre regularly paid into the treas
ury with which the auditor has and can
have nothing to do, and as to the correct