Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1889-09-13
THE CORPORAL QUITS
Letters Between President and
Pension Commissioner.
ALeERIs ADVICE 70 sTAND FIRM.

1
presidents request and resigned his Office.
The following Is the letter Of resignation:
wAsHIS0roN. d. c., Sept. Il, 1889.
To the President:
The differences which exist between the
secretary OF the interior and myself rs TO the
| policy to be pursued in the administration Of
she pension bureau have reached stage
which threatens 20 embarrass you to an ex-
tent which feel should not call upon you
70 suffer, and, as the investigation into the
| affairs of the bureau have been completed,
and, am assured, both by yourself and BY the
secretary Of the interior, contains J . fe-
/ Election on my integrity rs an individual or as
On officer. herewith place my resignation In
| your hands, to take effect at your pleasure, TO
/ the end that YOU may be relieved OF any
| further embarrassment In the matter.
Very respectfully yours,
JAMES TANNER Commissioner.
The Presidents Reply.
WAsHTNGroN. Sept I2. 1885,
The Hon. James Tanner, commissioner Of
pensions:
DEAR sIR-Your letter rendering your resig-
nation Of the Office of commissioner of PEN
sions has been received and your resignation
Is accepted, to take effect on the appointment
and qualifications OF your successor.
| lido not think 1t necessary, in this cores
| pOndence. to discuss the causes which have
| led to the present attitude OF affairs In the
fully advised Of my views upon most of these
matters.
| 1t gives me pleasure to add that 60 far as
/ am advised, your honesty has not at any
time been called In question, and beg to re-
| new the expression OF my personal good will.
/ Very truly yours, BENJAMIN HARRISON.
History or the Case.
The following statement of the be-
| ginning and end of the Tanner difficulty
20 Sal IL 81 -.
every respect; Before his departure
from Washington for his vacation trip
Secretary Noble on several occasions
| spoke to the president about the course
of Commissioner Tanner and his clerks
in the matter of rerating pensions and
| also in relation to unguarded remarks
which the commission er had made from
time to time.
The president was inclined to defend
| Mr.. Tanner and he did so several times.
Recently Mr.. Tanner made speeches at
Elmira, Chatauqua and Milwaukee,
which called forth strong protests from
promin Republicans.
Noble Requests His Removal.
Directly after the Milwaukee incident
| Secretary Noble returned to the city de-
| termined to bring the Tanner matter to
climax. He put his views before the
president In very positive manner and
intimated that he would retire from the
interior department if Mr.. Tanner was
| continued IN Office much longer.
On Tuesday Senator Hiscock, of New.
York, who had been talking with the
president about the matter, and who
had learned from him that it was likely
to come to climax, went to Commits
sioner Tanner, without authority from
| the president, however, and said that
| the commissioner would better resign
his Office, as, If he did not, he would be
removed.
Advised to Resign.
From this interview grew the story,
which was confirmed by the commits
sioner that he had been asked for his res
| ignation. When Mr.. Tanner visited the
White House later he learned that the
president had not asked for his resigna-
ton, and that Senator Hiscock had been
acting on his own responsibility.
Wednesday evening about 8 o'clock
Daniel hansdell, marshal of the District
of Columbia and a particular friend of
the president, went to Mr.. Tanners
house and in his private capacity, as he
explained to the commissioner, sug-
gested that Mr.. Tanner would better re-
lieve the president of the difficulty In
which he found himself placed by re-
signing. He told the commissioner that
the president had been his constant
| friend, and that he had shown it when
| he gave him the Office. to which he was
appointed, and afterward when he de-
Tended his course.
The Commissioners surrenders.
The commissioner said that he appre-
ciated this fact, but for a time he was
quite firm in his determination to force
| the president to choose between rem0v-
ing him and leaving him in Office.
Shortly before midnight, however, he
gave in AMI agreed to write his resigna-
| ton, and placed 1t then and there in the
hands OF Mr.. Ransdell
| The tone 0f the presidents letter of
acceptance - generally considered not
at al C0rdials andsit IS commonly inter-
| preted as unfavorable to Mr.. Tanners
chances Of being appointed to another
Office.
Secretary Halford interviewed.
Private Secretary Halford, iIr an inter-
view, speaking about the published re-
ports Of the conferences herAs over the
Tanner case and Of newspaper state
ments bearing on the attitude of Secre-
tary Noble il the matter that have ap-
peared from time to time, said
You know the president Is not be-
lever II much talk and don't Like to
| say anything about the pension Office
matter, but there are one or two mis-
| statements which ought I'd be corrected.
No issue was ever made BY Secretary
| Noble % the president as to whether he
or Ar. Tanner should 60 Next, there
was never any formal cabinet consulta
| ton about tie matter and there was no
q agreement whatever among the mem