The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1892-10-28

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Charlton Heights is a village of twenty
eight houses near Washington. Raum
got possession of a tract of land there
and proceeded to organize company"
for its exploitation. He represented the
place as one of peculiar picturesqueness,
salubrity and convenience, sure TO be-
come at once one of the most prosperous
suburbs of the capital.
AS usual, he does not seem to have
paid anything of consequence for the
land. He merely secured an option
upon it, at price reported to be thirty
dollars an acre, and laid his plans to
work it off on his pension Office subordi-
mates and others ut 81 ,440 an acre, max
ing for himself and his associates n neat
little profit of l,4l0 on every thirty dol
lars thereafter to be paid.
The prospectus of the company repre-
sented that streets were to be laid out
and graded, a $40, 900 hotel to be built
and everything possible done to hasten
the already rapid growth of the suburb.
All this was false. No evidence has
ever been discovered that any of the
money received in subscriptions was
spent in improvements ut Charlton
Heights. The suburb was not growing
and really had no capacity for growth,
as all the lots that were not in n marsh,
and therefore unfit for residence, had
been sold already. The scheme was q
mere trap for the savings Of pension Of
flee and other government clerks.
They were asked to subscribe to the
stock of their chiefs company and to
pay their subscriptions in monthly in
stallments Of five dollars each. As they
were dependent upon their chief for
sheir bread and butter they naturally
subscribed in considerable numbers.
1t pays poor clerk to give up five dol
lars month rather than risk the loss Of
his place and pay.
The receipts from subscriptions to this
enterprise are reported to have amount
ed at one time to about $1,000 month.
What became of the money nobody
seems to know. 1t is certain that the
few fellows who bought the stock could
not now sell it for the price of a single
months subscription.
They We're promised that if at any time
they wished to withdraw from the COM
pany they should receive their money
back with interest. Several Of them
asked for this return, but only two or
three who had influential friends got it.
The rest did not deem it prudent to
make any kind of disturbance.
A Apoor clerk cannot afford to press his
official chief for money wrongfully got
out of him.
1t is a noteworthy fact that of all the
people who have been coaxed, cajoled,
deceived or driven into investing in the
speculative schemes fathered by Com
missioner Raum not one has ever got
profit upon his investment, and scarcely
one has ever got his money back or any
part Of it.
The man who has engineered these
schemes; the man who has in this way
levied tribute upon his subordinates;
the man who has used his official term,
his official influence and his official con-
troll over government Office to make
market of worthless shares is so es-
pecially the confidential agent and
ilItilu VI Illc DltSlNtllJ lLItl tNtAl lllc tA-
posure of his misdeeds has not induced
Mr.. Harrison to remove him or to with
draw from him his official confidence
and personal support.
Raum has publicly proclaimed that
he is IAN issue in this campaign" He
is so. He represents that old issue
which has always existed since the
sense of right and wrong was born in
the human mind-the issue between
honor and shame.
But the speculations recorded here
or should the word be spelled without
the initial "s?'-are insignificant as
scandals in comparison with the univer-
sal refrigerator affair, and Raum's
shifts, evasions and plain falsehoods
concerning it.-New York World.