The Daily clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1866-1888, 1886-02-10
The Telephone Matter

lAe ltlephVue mhttSI'
/ There can be no safer guide to public
officials in their business transactions Of
private nature than Is contained in the
/ following admirable editorial which We
/ find in the Cowi9.Jownqi
The moral question. how far and in What
manner, public official may connect MIN
/ sell with private enterprises, was pretty
/ we'll settled in the Credit Mobilier affair.
/ No one will pretend that because q man is
a Senator, COugTessmsn or Cabinet Minis
1 ter, he must dispose Of all the business in
| terests be may happen to be Possessed VI.
The case against Patterson, Brooks and
others in the matter Of Credit Mobilier was
| that they got the stock without any money
consideration aud then lied about it. Sam
/ Hooper, a member Of Congress from Bo--
! ton, a capitalist and hnancier, announced
4 very promptly that he owned 100000 Of
Credit Mobiliar; that he had bought it as
good Investment and psid his money for
I it, adding that he would like 10 purchase
/ more "A the same rates. No one question
/ ed his integrity, ~ the legitimacy Of the
/ Transaction.
! The real point ~ such transactions turns
/ upon the bona tldc relation OF the officials
/ 10 the outside business pursuits with which
/ they may pc identified Mr.. Blaine was
cen4ured, aud justly censured, for holding
railway shares which had been given him
! because he was Speaker Of he House, and
not because OF the payment OF their value
] in money. 1t was stated during the last
! Presidential campaign that Judge Ed
munds also owned railway shares. But
/ Judge Edmunds had no difficulty in show
ng that he had paid for his shares. Nobody
| blamed him, Of course, and there WAS All
end Of it.,
| Mr. Speaker Carlisle man Of un-
erriug judgment and unswetvlng integrity,
saw the point at once when the Pan. Flee
/ tric telephone stock was offered him
gratis, aud promptly and properly de-
clined il. But on the other hand if Mr.
Attorney General Garland and the
Senators and officials named az holders OF
this stock, came by it aud paid for it
honestly, their official positions should be
no bar TO their holding it. Or il they got
it when not in Office, the Improperly OF
their holding it would be essened, and
their disposition, which is advisable, would
be admissible. But If whilst occupying
public places OF responsibility and trust.
they took the stock as gift, the inference
being that their misuse oil their official
trust should be given in lien Of money as
payment, then they were guilty OF pre-
csely the crime set up and sustained by
the country against Mr.. Blaine.
Thus far, only one side Of the story has
h.an b.orI II IL g., las hnnal tho in,Yli-
Gated gentlemen will be able at the proper
time to completely clear themselves.
Otherwise, it will involve scandal OF no
mean proportions. 1t is only just, how |
ever, to say in this connection, that the |
effort to connect Mr.. Lamar With the /.
alleged scandal rests on no sort of lounda- |
ton, There Is every reason 20 believe |
that the suits against the Bell Telephone |
people ought to be brought There is no
pretense that Mr. Lamar is a party in /
iutercst. The final disposition of the case
was referred 20 him az Secretary OF the /.
Interior, aud it was his duty to consider it |
and decide il exclusively upon It's legal /
merit. That he did 40 will not be gain |
said when all the facts are known and the
suits come to trial. This ends his connec- .
ton with it.. That Mr. Garland owns Pan |
Electric stock, aud is Mr.. Lamar's col /
league, ia altogether beside the question !
As an honest Secretary, fearless aud .
upright in the discharge of his public .
duty he has no right to consult anything |
but the equities and the law.
The moral OF all this Is that public men .
cannot be too careful in their business
transactions, though IL must be admitted .
that there has been q great lapse ot deli .
cacy aud discretion in this regard the last
thirty years Mr.. w. W. Curcoran, the .
eminent philmthropist aud millionaire Of .
Washington, tells a story which illustrates
the feeling which animated former gen .
GRAFTON of statesmen rs TO business dealings. /
When MIR. Polk was President he had IN /
his charge few thousands OF dollars .
placed in trust with him for minor, his .
relative. He asked Mr.. CorCoran, his per- .
sonal friend, aa well as banker and 6nau |
cier OF ability, 10 invest this sum for his /
protege. Mr., Corcoran did SO. A few .
months later the President questioned the .
banker about this investment, when Mr.. .
Corcoran told him, with no little pleasure, /
that he had done very well with it--that .
he had put it ia United States bonds that /
these had advanced, and that he had already |
quite little profit on the adventure |
My dear sir, said Mr.. Polk, II beg you
will change the investment at once What
ever profit there may be, turn il over TO
some charitable institution | must not .
allow it even TO he limited that the Presi-
dent of the United States is specializing or
the securities of his own government, and
| cannot allow my ward TO touch one cent
of the proceeds Of such a tran, action
In those days Office was public trust
and virtue was the rule, and not the excep-
ton. among our public men,
A Legacy Paid.