The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1888-03-10

from connecting roads, but every individual
connected with or employed by the corpora
tion who is responsible in any degree for this
refusal. 1t confers therefore ample power
upon the courts to punish engineers who UNI
dertake to discriminate against connecting
railroads, so that, if the court DEGREES that
roads must take the freight offered them, the
engineers must submit or subject themselves
to fine and Imprisonment
Harper's Weekly is much troubled these
days at the bad company that President
Cleveland is getting around him. This trou-
Bile is considerably increased by very ag-
gravating case of improperly lately perpe-
trated by some distinguished members of
that company. Not long ago, Public Printer
Benedict and Assistant Secretary of the
Treasury Maynard allowed their names to
be used at the foot of circular addressed to
postmasters. The circular requested list
of all the voters receiving mail at each office,
with description of the politics of zach,
the object of getting the names being the
distribution Of public documents and papers
of political nature, and such as would help
the Democratic party. Another circular,
signed by the same gentlemen, but addressed
to Democratic committees and politicians,was
prepared asking those addressed to "call
upon" the postmasters in their town and help
in making up the lists. Mr.. Benedict said that
one of the documents which the Democrats
were planning to distribute right and left
through the aid Of the postmasters, is Sena-
tor Hale's speech, in which was shown how
many Republican ofice-molders have been
turned out by Cleveland to make room for
Democrats. "The object of this" said Mr.
Benedict, lis to let the people know that
this is not the kind of an administration
that many persons think il is" In other
words, Public Printer Benedict thought
some Democrats yet believed Mr.. Cleveland
to be laundering in what seems TO them the
slough of civil service reform, and he
thought that the perusal of Senator Hale's
exposure of the Presidents hypocrisy would
be just the thing to stiffen up these wayerers
by showing that Cleveland is after all, a
spokesman, after the Democrats own heart.
Mr. Benedict is undoubtedly right in his
opinion that the speech will have powerful
effect in uniting the Democracy dy diminish
ing the discomfort with Cleveland, and his
plan of using the post offices is very easy
and available. But Harper's Weekly points
out this week, more in sorrow than il anger,
that this effort to show that earlier profess
sions of reform have been forgotten is di-
rect insult to President Cleaveland. And
the worst part of it is that Mr.. Cleveland
does not resent the insult, although Mr.. Cur
It's calls upon him to in these plain words:
1t seems TO us impossible that high officers Of
the government, who are engaged In such fragrant
prostitution of official patronage TO party pur-
poses, shoold continue in the service of an admin
istratiOn which retains any practical interest In
civil service reform. The President would hardly
tolerate subordinate who publicly and offensive
iy questioned his good faith In the views expressed
in his annual message to Congress. But the con
fessed conduct of these gentlemen assumes his
bad faith upon one of the most important OF pub
lie questions. That the circular, upon being
made public, may have been abandoned, does not
change, in any degree, the action OF the officers IN
question, nor what seems TO us the plain dutyof
the Executive since the facts are made known.
Mr.. Curtis has evidently not yet learned
what hypocrisy this administration is capa-
BILE of. His eyes seem to be opening gradu-
ally, however.