Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-05-22
DISTRIBUTION OF FEDERAL OFFICES
BaItimoreans Said to Be Prescribed
by Those in Power.
AN ANTI-GORMAN ALLIANCE
of The Evening Star.

and no end of trouble to the newly APP
pointed heads of the departments in the
custom house
DR.. Frank T.Shaw, collector; ex-Congress-
man Barnes Compton, naval officer, and
Mr.. c. Ridgely Goodwin, surveyor, are not
finding their new positions seats of down
since they turned their republican prede-
cessors out early last week. In fact, Sur
veyor Goodwin, who is not in good health,
has been SO overcome by the persistence of
the crowds of office seekers who daily
throng the custom house that he is obliged
to remain at home and turn the duties of
his position over to his deputy, Col Wash
ington Bowie of Montgomery county. Col
lector Shaw and Naval officer Compton,
| however, who are more robust physically,
are standing the strain manfully and
| spending several hours every day listening
to the claims of the large numbers who are
granted audience to ask for places for them
selves or their friends.
| Never before in the history of the state
has there been such a rush for Office at
! the present time The applicants are liter
| ally hundreds in number. Thursday over
$50 men were given audience by the collec-
/ tor, and on Friday the number was even
come, and the disappointment engendered
| by the blighted hopes of those who fail to
gain what they want threatens to manifest
| itself at the elections this fall.
baitimOreans DiscOntented.
Baltimore politicians express discomfort
| because it is said that the city people are to
| get nothing in the custom house. Mr.. Ra-
Fsin. the head of the local machine. is quoted
as telling his adherents that there is no use
| for them to apply for places at the custom
house, for he can do nothing there He saws
he has no influence with Collector Shaw
and Naval officer Compton, and the result
VIII De that the entire customs service will
| be In the hands of country politicians
similar state of affairs exists in the
internal revenue office now, for Collector
| Nandiver has filled nearly all the places In
MS department with men from rural dis
tricts, where. 1t is claimed by the disap-
pointed ones, no internal revenue is collect
| ed, the business of the office being confined
TO a large degree, to the cities of Baltimore
Washington and Wilmington. Del. That
there is decided and empha tic kick among
| city people at this state OF affairs but
| mildly states the actual condition of the
case. And now, II is said, that the custom
| house and all its places will be given out
country districts.
The Growth of the City Machine.
For several years past the city machine
| has been growing, it is claimed, at the ex-
! pense of the state machine. In the hands
! OF Mr.. Rasn the city organization has been
gradually absorbing all the influence, and
| instead of being merely an auxiliary to the
| state machine, as it had been when Sena-
| tor German was chairman of the state CEN
| trail committee, the state organization, it Is
said, has been becoming in reality nothing
| more than an auxiliary to the city organi-
cation.
Accoi ding to the view taken here 1t was
the need for doing something to curb the
power of the city organization that has led
to the policy of combining the distribution
| of the federal patronage in the internal
revenue customs service to countrymen
nnnl6 ha To nv hos
who had secured their appointment in case
there should ever be occasion for their
services in a contest-which contest seems
sure to come sooner or later unless a de-
cided change takes place In the condition of
affairs.
An Anti-GOrman Combination.
| 1t is commonly reported here and gener-
ally believed that Gov. Brown, Mr.. I. Free
| man Rasin and Mr.. John X. Cowen, the
general counsel of the Baltimore and Ohio
Railway Company, have formed an alliance
and are arranging to set up a machine of
| their own in the state to offset the organ
iZation of which Senator German is the
head. This combination will start out with
the city machine a foundation on which
| 10 build. and will add to it what strength
in the counties they possibly can.
The powerful influence of Mr.. Cowen and
| the great corpora ton at his back, aided by
| the strength the governor has in the coun-
| ties, may bring several counties in line, and
ronage is causing and will continue to cause
will add to the forces of the new combina-
| ton. In addition to the above. the new
combination is said to count upon the old
time independent element in the city and
state. which has always been against Sena-
| tor German, and under the leadership of
Mr. Cover will still be against him.
Under the circumstances politicians credit
| Senator German and his friends with po-
| ltical wisdom in strengthening their hands
and refusing to strengthen those of the men
who have already combined with their foes
| in their preparations to overwhelm and de-
| stroy their influence.
| Mr.. Rasin's Attitude.
Why has Mr.. Rasin turned for alliances
to those who have always been the enc
mics of Senator German, with whom for
nearly a generation he has been on the
| closest terms of political and personal
| friendship? There are various answers
given to this question, but the real truth
| probably is that Mr.. Rasin in turning
against German is only doing so because
| the situation of affairs compels him to do
| so. The men in business and in politics
who have made Mr.. Rasin the powerful
! factor he is in city affairs are said to be
almost to a man anti-Gorman. These peo-
| pie were all opposed to the passage of an
assessment bill last winter. Senator Cor
| man favored such bill. They are all in
favor of the prompt passage of low tariff
bill, and they believe Senator German to
be the other way. There are other causes
of their hostility to German, but the main
! fact remains that they are hostile and
| they have almost literally compelled Mr.
| Rasin to take strong ground against the
| senior Senator or else lose his city follow
| ing to very great degree. Indeed, all the
| old Rasin crowd here are shouting against
| German, and Mr.. Rasin himself, while he
| does not join the cutlery, certainly never
says a word against their course
The anti-Gorman meeting at the Lyceum
! recently was conspicuous chiefly for the
! fact that among those present and taking
active part were such stanch and pro-ni-
nent adherent5 of Mr.. Rasin as Mr.. James
Bond, clerk of the superior court; Mr.. John
L. Gray clerk of the court of common
| pleas, and Mr.. Rasin's son, and Governor
Brown himself was conspicuously seated on
! the stage. One of the strongest speeches
made was that of Mr.. Bond. who has for
! years been known one of Mr.. Rasin's
| advisers and Mr.. John r. Gray is also an
| adviser and close friend of the city leader
In fact, open denunciation of German is
| heard even among the officials in the city
| hall, who would not speak as they do IL
| they imagined for an instant that the boss
disapproved of such course.
| Mr.. ComptOn's Successor.
The latest candidate mentioned for the
| democratic nomination to succeed Mr..
| Compton in the fifth district is ex-Gov.
Oden Bowie, president of the City Passenger
Railway Company, who is a citizen of Prince
| C,aorCeS county