The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-03-27

s introduced by him mr. Ingallsl showed
ran ossr oVVV fourth-class postmasters had been
rImoveo In the past year by an administration
pleugeo 10 remove men only for cause. This was
s"Susy eight removals for every day in the year
anu, counting seven hours to days work. it was
Iour removals an hour. and one for every fifteen
III nutes or every working day for twelve months
mat was non partisan ciyil-seryice reform
Mr. Cockrell inquired how many fourth class
postmasters there were in the country.
Mr. Ingalls, did not know.
!, Mr. Cockrell said there were So COO and of
'nose only about 5000 had been removed.
We'll" said Mr.. Ingalls,, sthe administration
4 RI 1ne pest 1T could; angels could do no more
lLauenter.J He suggested that Mr. Cockrell
curD MS impatience and impetuosity. The Post
tsnaster-generai would get there in time. One
Tor every fifteen minutes was not 40 had How
many do you expectG This number Mr.. Ingalls,
continued, did not include the many who had
assigned, or whose terms of Office expired And
tnis was In but one department. How manv in
1 U departments, including the illuminated
known; therefore the friends of the administra-
.,on should be consoled Mr.. ingalls, read from
the boston Herald interviews with the President
which represented the President as saying,
among other things, that the Senate had not
called on him for papers "That complaint"
Mr. ingalls, continued, mo longer exists [Up-
roarious laughter Mr.. ingalls, read and com
mented on list of names of persons appointed
ny the present administration who, according to
the published statements, were convicted felons,
having served various terms in the penitentiaries
OF the different States. The statements he read,
Mr. ingalls, said, were all from Democratic news
papers One OF the appointees, Mr.. Ingalls, said
nao been IN the penitentiries of three States;
ne was "variegated and diversified patriot no
pent-up Utica contracts his powers Another
was janitor of the Cincinnati postofice build
ing.
Mr.. Payne said the postmaster at Cincinnati
was Republican, and had not been removed
Laughter
Mr.. ingalls, said he was talking Of the ianitor
iRenewed laughter.l
Mr.. Voorhees, said that the janitor was under
control Of the postmaster
Mr.. Ingalls, said the Senator from Indiana was
wiser IN his own conceit than seven wiser men
who could render reason; because the ianitor
Of that building was not under the control of the
postmaster, but of the Treasury Department
MIR. Voorhees-Upon the recommendation Of
the postmaster, always.
Mr.. Ingalls-Of the collector of the port
AS to another person, whose name Mr. Ingalls,
read, charged with embezzlement willie deputy
sheriff, MIR. Payne said the charges were not
true
After referring to Mr. Wilson's application Of
the word 'protoplasmic" to the Democratic
Ingalls, said: biologists have found in the
rocks illustrations of being that occurred in
the transition from the fish to the bird There
Is an extinct creature called by biologists the
'pterodactyP or winged reptile, which is lizard
with feathers on its paws and feathers on its
tail. 1t appears to me that political system
that illustrates in its practical operations the
appointment, by the same administration, of
Eugene Higgins and DormaD B. Eaton, can
properly be regarded as in the transition epoch,
and characterized as the 'pterodacty! in politics.
lGreat laughter. Like that animal. it is
equally adapted to waddling and dabbiing in the
slime and mud of partisan politics, and soaring
alott with loud cries into the glitterine and
opalescent empyrean of civil-service reform.
lGreat laughter and applause on the floor and
in the galleries
Mr. Logan said Senators had travelled far in
debate. and discussed many topics disconnected
with the question before the Senate. The only
question was. whether the Attorney general
should furnish the papers relating to the con-
duct of the Office of district attorney. This
government, said Mr.. Logan, is based on the
will of the people, and the people should have
ali the information that they, through their rep
resentatives in Congress, should call for. The
President calls these papers private" but the
moment he places paper on the files of the de-
partmeEt it becomes, by his own act, public
paper Could the President mean that to-mor
row he could box those papers mp and send them
to Buffalo, or that he could AT any tine here
after take them awayf Could he leave them
there for ten or fifteen years, and then make q
demand on the government for them as his pri-
vate papersa Ii that was the argument it was
one that it was impossible to support by any
sort of logic or fair dealing Suppose Congress
should call for papers that were necessary to
show the action of government of6cers-papers
showing that officers of the government were
guilty Of crimes, or malfeasance In office, was
Congress to be told that, because the papers
were addressed to the name of tho individual at
the head of the department, or to the President
by his name, the papers were not public papers,
but the private papers OF the individual ad-
dressedi The position was untenable.
sA4A H. >G 1sAw
who had been imprisoned at Andersonville
prison, who had been removed, as was pretended,
sfor cause" the only cause known or supposed
being political opinion. That was not what
people understood by cause" A man removed
for ''cause" was presumed to have been removed
because of some offense committed by him which
affected his private character Ii removed on q
charge, he was entitled to know what the charge
was, and was entitled to present testimony to
show that the charge was false Mr. Logan read
copy of o letter from postmaster to the Pres
ident Offering to resign whenever the President
wished 1t. The letter was referred by the Pres-'
ident to the Postmaster general, who replied to
it. The reply went in due time, and stated there
was no charge against him, and stated as rea-
son for making that admission, that the post
master had been crank" AS to appointments,
Mr. Logan mentioned the case of man who had
been dismissed from the army for having made
false vouchers, was charged and tried on that
charge, and was acquitted only because OF plead
had himself gone to the President and explained
the facts. and yet the man was nominated.
Mr.. Edmunds-Has he been confrmeds
Mr.. Logan-Oh, no; and it will be cold day
when he ia. Mr.. Logan declared himself in
favor of open sessions and in concluding said
he respected the President as pleasant gentle
man. but that gentleman was mistaken in the
idea that he was anything more than an Ameri-
can citizen placed in his Office to execute the will
of the people. A Senator had said that in pass
&c Ia 1saId tYCh
nothing; it could not get the papers. Well that
might be, as things were, but we could at least
bring to the notice of officials and everybody else
that no man could be q Cesar in this country.
We would 60 before the country and let the
country decide. "a.
Mr.. Logan's speech was listened to with
marked attention, and excited much favorable
comment
Mr.. Harrison followed in support OF the ma
iority The policy of tho present administra-
"a. re ue;d had baen without precedent, and