The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1889-02-28
Washington special telegram


JUDGE EDGERTON.
almost seem as If you were willing to play false
with the mugwumps to enable you to win with
the Democrats. And here permit me to define
the term mugwump as referring to class OF
political reformers who have the spirit of ref
ormatiOn without the common sense AID good
Judgment to reform, as reforms not effected
by unjust personal denunciation, but by reason
"The result of the election placed you in O.
dilemma from which few people would have
known now to extricate themselves. You found
q man on Your hands whom the mugwumps had
+ declared war upon, an enemy to their civil
service reform theories, and your plan of becom-
ing their representative in the future would be
weakened or defeated if an assurance of your
hdel1ty to their could not be secured. Ac-
:cordlngly, it appears that you decided upon the
removal of the head of the commission, and,
oeem1ng Mr. Thompson a. good enough mug
Wump for them, you therefore demanded nv
resignation that you might appoint him, ap-
parenSly as an atonement for your previous in
action.
Mr.. President, with due courtesy to the high
office you hold, allow me to say that you are O.
very peculiar man, positive man positively
wrong or positively right and therefore an ul-
safe man to trust; and that element in your
character l believe led to your defeat. Pope
says: The most positive men are the most
credulous, since they most believe themselves
and advise most with their fellow fatterers and
worst enemies Being one of that kind of posi-
tive men yourself, you have KEEP, men of
like character around you who positive only
in their malace and conceit. They flatter YOU
and have the conceit that would magnify
themselves and the malignity that would
detract from others. Juvenal says: There
is nothing man will not believe
in his own favor You were credulous enough
TO believe that you were 9 ected President by the
mugWumps and, therefore, you permitted them
to malign your real friends and to latter you
into policy which led to your defeat You are
man who would not permit your real friends
to admonish you with freedom and confidence,
and as a result you have suffered for the want
or friends, and your wrecked and Wretched
greatness has discovered that there is no true
success in life without the power and blessing
OF friendship. You believe that your will and
power to enforce it was above all powers, but
the will OF the people expressed in a constitu-
tlonal way has taught you that there was
wiser and better way than that chosen by you.
Having sworn to support the civil-service
law 1T has been my constant effort to do so but
L never did swear to support mugwump inter-
probation of it, based monstrOus assum-
ton THAT the commission was independent of
law Now many peOr unfOrtunates have been
denied the advantages and benefits of the
law by questions ntver contemplated by it, and
how many expenses have been incurred through
unnecessary and devious requirements and
practices, it is not my purpose at this time to
state.
"You will be censured and condemned because
you put no trust in your own party, but believed
yourself to be better than your own and greater
than all parties. You have ascertained that the
MANY are not made for the one. You can find
as many reasons for removing me as the Demo-
cratic party, through Indifference which was
simply retaiato1y, had for removing you. L
shallbe quite willing to remain with you in the
gloom of defeat"
The Judge then gives his understanding of the
civil-service law, and alluding to his removal
says:
Il do not ask you to give any reason for this
act. know, and SO do you, that the only
you could give would be that it your will
for if you attempted to give any other your own
previous words would prove it to be untrue n
my interviews with you before the reno al you
expressly disclaimed having any reason for it
except my refusal to resign to enable. you to
make Mr.. Thompson's nomination.
1.-THE people have the right to know the truth
in all matters of this kind and for this reason
only do l address you. l cannot, like you,
make prayer for relief to the public, such as
the article seemed to be in the Baltimore San of
the 14th inst. This is the first time in the his
tory of the Government that an outgoing Presi-
dent has found it necessary to advertise through
the newspapers his particular work during his
term of office and his claims upon his party and
the country for approval. Between the lines
can be lead the special plea for reelection.
Il can point to another removal than mine,
beyond q parallel, to go down through history
when shall be forgotten. Before do SO, let
me REFER as proof of your ignorance of public
opinion and not of your Indifference to it, to
what you say in the Sun article of Mr.. Burnes,
Of Missouri, as one not guilty of the annoyance
(; to- which you were subjec ed by the country
members of Congress introducing to you their
constituents, because he always presented his
constituents at public receptions. If Mr.. Burnes
were living he could tell you another reason,
which he oft n told to others, that he had been
rudely treated by you, and mad no respect for
you personally and ascribed the defeat of the
Democratic party to your ignorance of it. 1t
was nece ssary that you should make some such
explanation for your attack upon the way
back members, but you were unfortunate in
the selection of your witness-one OF the ablcst
and noblest legislators in Congress-
But to the case Of removal, which must be-
come an important part OF the history of the
country. l was on the floor of the House of
Representatives. during the time the votes Of
the Electoral College were counted and heard the
announcement of the result-that Ben amn
Harrison was duly elected President of the
United States but the words that burned deep
through the empty boxes of the administration
could not be officially added, though known to
By whom, and for what cause removed? The
answer is now being made in every home, in
every business in the land, and history will in
scribe it upon all it's records"
Judge Edgerton criticises the conduct of
of the other Commissioners, without mention
ing his name, and concludes as follows:
Il am justified in stating one single fact of
mischievous distrust and wrong doing on the
part of q commissioner in charge Collector
Magone of New York, addressed to me per
sonaI letter thus marked on the envelope, the
postage paid, no Indication that it could be Of
sficiaI on the inside also marked personal, and
this letter was opened and read by the commits
sioner in charge and forwarded to the other
commissioner then in Boston, and by him
swered before the letter was sent to me, then at
home in the West. From such sources this
have come nearly all of the attacks upon me,
and, sdoubt not, most of the misrepresenta-
tions, of my opinions made to you. Whether
they had any influence is questionable"
Fires at Columbus, Ohio.
Onlen's saw factory at Columbus. Ohio.