The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-12-09
THE PosToFFICE SITE.

The flaw which has been discovered in the
sale of the proposed lot for the POstoffice
Will naturally be fatal to the job. The lot
does not conform to the requirements of the
department. 1t is five feet short Of the size
required. Five feet is not much, but like
Mercutio's wound, twill suffice, and will get
the Government out of complication which
might have proved embarrassing.
1t is easy TO understand what has hap
pened all round. The commission at Wash
ington left the selection of the lot to the
local Com observation-disclosures. Masten Irish
and Bryant-merely instructing them that
the lot must be Of given size, must not
cost over the Congressional appropriation Of
S1,040, 600, and that the title must be sound.
Thsse local Commissioners experienced
much difficulty in finding a lot of tine re-
quired size. When they did find it, they
likewise found that its extreme value did
not exceed one-haf the sum OF money
which they were authorized to expend.
But the owners of the lot were willing to
overcome this obstacle by a very simple
device; they doubled their price. What
pressure was brought to bear on the local
Commissioners to induce them to regard
this as a smoothing of all difficulties, who
took part in the moral suaSion which was
employed, what arguments were used to
convince the local Commissioners that
piece of property which was assessed for
less than $500, 600 had suddenly become
worth over million. are all matters Of
common talk in the street; every particular
appears to be an open secret, which has
only been kept out of the newspapers by a
miracle.
The local Commissioners convinced, the
next thing to do was to satisfy the Washing
ton commission, insisting OF the Post
master General. the Secretary of the Treas
ury and the Attorney-General, and this
proved easier than was expected. The
Cabinet officials held that it was no part of
their duty to appraise the property. That
was the function of the local commission,
and they must be supposed to have dis
charged their duty honestly and faithfully.
SO the bargain was going to be ratified,
when the shortage in the area of the lot
was discovered. This will furnish the
Washington commission with reason for
throwing up the whole transaction; that
they will do so can hardly be doubted, for
they must by this time be convinced, as
every one else is, that somebody was going
to make half million dollars out OF the
Government by the operation.
Both the community Of San Francisco
on the event For though the profits of the
job would have gone into very few pockets
and the bulk OF the community would not
have shared in the speculation, it would
have gone abroad throughout the country
that san Francisco had wronged the United
States out of half million dollars and the
tran sacton would have been thrown in the
teeth Of our Representatives whenever they
rose in Congress to ask for ANYTHING for the
State or for this city.
AS to the Government, il is well out of
an ugly scrape. Whoever was to.divide the
proceeds OF the job, it is morally certain
that the Postmaster-G General, the Secretary
of the Treasury and the Attorney General
were not And yet it would have been said
and trumpeted throughout the land during
next years canvass that these officials had
at least connived if they had not partici-
pated in the job. The party would have
gone into the Presidential campaign loaded
with the odium Of the transaction. 1t would
not even have awaited to point out that the
local Commissioners are Democrats; for in
their present Office they are serving Re-
publican administration
The best thing for the Government for
the present seems to be to discharge the
commission; to pull down the present Post
Office Building, and to erect another on lis
site with height sufficient to Offset the de-
ficiency in its area. There is no natural
law that Government building should
cover SO many square feet; nor is it wise
policy to adhere to an arbitrary plan for
the building if it appears that site sufii-
GENTLY large cannot be had without the
scandal of a steal.