Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1893-10-21
A ScandaIous Administration.

trat1on VIII go down into history with
the faint of two especially malodorous
scandals attached to it. The Garland
scandal of the first Cleveland Admin
istration was bad enough. The reten-
ton of Attorney General Garland iii
Mr.. Cleveland's Cabinet after his &C
ceptance of huge block of Pan-Elec-
tric stock became known was a gross
offense against public morality and
Justice. But even this is dwarfed BY
the open sale Of the Ainbassadorship
to Italy for $50, COZ and the spectacle OF
Attorney General Olpey acting in the
capacity of director and counsel for
important railroad corporations.
The Olney scandal, which had been
temporarily obscured by the publica
ion of the fact that Mr.. Cleveland had
ratifed the sale of an Ambassador
ship to Newport plutocrat, has beer
brought into prominence again by the
lctive part taken byOlney in the regu-
ar meeting of the stockholders Of the
Boston and Maine Railroad At this
meeting the Attorney General of the
United States, one of whose most i'm
oortant functions is the execution oil
he federal laws dealing with corpora
ions, was present as corporation
;tockholder, director. and legal coun-
sci The Boston and Maine Railroad
IS an interstate line, whose operations
,onie under the regulations of the In
.erstate Commerce act. At any time
t may become the imperative duty OF
Attorney General Olney to prosecute
,or violation of the law the corpora
ion in which he has direct personal
interest, and of which lie is the legal
hampton,
No man can serve two masters. Mr.
Olney is either the servant Of the peo-
pie Of the United States, who pay him
his salary as Attorney General, or he
IS the servant Of the interstate railway
that pays him to defend its interests
He cannot be counsel for the prosecu-
ton and the defense at the same time.
His position vo IL be in;olerable
to man with even an ordinarily keen
sense of personal honor. No Presi-
lent who was true to the honor and
interests of the nation would retain an
Attorney General of this sort. 1t is nc
wonder that even the Mugwumps, Mr..
Cleveland's purblind worshipers, are
becoming disguised with the absolute
indifference Of their idol to common
principles of political morality. We
ind the Providence Journal saving:
The Olney affair, added to the Van
Allen matter the looting of the post
offices and the consular service and |
other things of that sort, must make |
plain t. the dullest observer what
some time ago became apparent to the
keener students of politics, that Mr.
Cleveland had given up all pretense
of conforming to exceptionally high |
standards i'll public life orof esq ecially |
consulting the ideas Of the more decent
AMI honorable people of the cou ltry.
The Press has repeatedly pointed |
out that Mr. Cleveland's claim to a
lofty standard of political virtue was
but 'pretense. 1t las ex
posed his hypocrisy, his atjcct will
ingness to make deals" with Tam
many politicians when he thought his
own interests were to be promoted |
thereby, and his subserviency to the
worst elements of the Democratic par
ty. st length the men who have been
Mr.. Cleveland s most enthusiastic ad-
mirers are forced to confess that they
have been humbugged and that the
they have set upon ped
estal for the alteration Of the Ameri-
can people has disgraced the Presiden-
tial office by his stoiid defiance of pub
lie decency and justice.-N. Y. Press.
Sheriff Leroy Shaw, of Preston