New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-07-02
CHAIRMAN BOYLES REPORT.

Chairman BOylcs report on the Pan Electric
investigation does not require exhaustive treat
ment 1t is good plc, as Casey Young or
any of the implicated officials in the Depart
ments of Justice and the Interior could cave
prepared in extenuation of their own miscon
duet Certain portions of it disclose ingenuity
in advocating bad cause; it is wel-wlitten
report; but partisanship colcIs nearly every page
1t cannot be compared with Mr.. Ranney's re-
port in lucdity of exposition or in mastery of
the evidence of the case. If Chairman Boyle
had attempted to compete with the Republican
members in these respects he could not have
acquitted his clients like the loyal Democrat he
is. If he had stated the case clearly ne would
have convicted them and if he had mastered
the evidence he would have been mastered by
it. As it is with all its partisan bias and
labored argument, the report in reality con-
victs those who are OstentatiOuSly acquitted
The evidence on the vital questions in contIo-
versy Outweighs the pleading and forces
verdict against the partisan attorney. Two IL
luStratiOns Will suffice to prove this:
Mr.. GOode is shown to have granted per-
mission for the Memphis suit without referring
the application to the Department of the In
terror and after devOting an afternoon and
evening to an examination OF the papers. I hai-
man Boyle finds nothing i'll the conduct OF the
Solicitor General deserving censule. The fail
ule to refer the application to the interior
Department he considers 'at most only mis-
take " since Mr. Goode already had al the in
formation obtlinable there. But when Chair
man BOYLE DISCUSSES in detail the authority tOi
Government intervention in patent cases and
Il. l. tnI St.fn
rs a party against the Bell Company, he con
victs his client Twenty-Five closely printed
pages are devoted to the law, plccedents and
practice in such cases, to the papers i'll the
Memphis case and the decisions Ill telephone
litigations bearing upon them. If Chairman
Boyle succeeds in proving anything, it Is
this that Mr.. GOode could not have adequately |
examined the law, precedcnts, practice, papers
and dec relating to the application III Il
single afternoon and evening The pIecipi- |
tate haste with which he acted taken In cOnncc- |
ton with the neglect to refer the case To the |
interior Department, the calls from Senator
Harris and Casey Young, and a hundred other
suspicious circumstances, which Chairman
Boyle overiooks, proves that he knew what he
was expected to do and did ii Is promptly IL
the necessities OF the con. pirators required.
Or take as second illustration Chairman
BOyle's views of the acceptance of the gilt
stock by Mr.. Garland and the other cOrpOrat-
ois He admits that Dr. Rogers thought that
% the standing given To these gentlemen by
81 their official positions would be of service
90 TO him." and that they themselves expected
their skill as lawyers, their regulations as men
Of integrity " and even their official position
TO aid in hrin inv |
- to be the best of their kind, into public use
. and thus make them of e eat value" These
acts, he frankly says, need not be denied;
md then adds "Fhe Committee and the
House have nothing to do with improperly
: and questions of taste. . All that can
. be asked and all that is expected is that man
= in public Office shall not use the power or i'll
= fluence of his place for the advancement OF
= his private int csts and that, he shall not BE-
. controlled or Influenced in the discharge OF
official duties by any other considerations
E than those that look to the public good
That is, certainly, all that can be asked or ex-
)ected OF men in public life but since Chair:
nan Boyle has admitted that both Dr. Rogers
md the speculative statesmen expected that usc
would be made Of their official positions i'll
mpartng e eat value to the gilt stock, his
lients are condemned out of hi, own mouth.
1t is unnecessary to pursue the subject fur
her We are content without additional ar
,ument to adopt the judgment of the two lead
ny Democratic journals in this city on Char
nan BOyle's report us whole The San
,ronounces it whitewash OF very thin quail
ty and even where il is laid Oh the thicke>t
does not cover the black shame behind it,"
he World asks if it can be possible that a
democratic majority elected on the pledge OF
efoim will apply to the Pan Electric statesmen
the whitewash prepared for them by Mr..
Boyle and his Democratic associates On the
Committee