The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-09-23

The president is demonstrating the
accuracy of President Cleveland's re-
mark to Seth Millikin, made IL few
days before his retirement, bringing
his fist down On the table by way OF
emphasis, that "this is no place for
a 1nortgaged man." 1t is one Of the
scandals of this administration to
which day after day adds increment,
that, whatever other mortgages Mr..
Mckinley entered the presidency un-
der, Mr. Hanna had mortg;lEed him up
to the neck to persons with characters
and regulations, that appear to the
best advantage when kept IN the dark.
For the most part these mortgages
were executed by Hanna in the ante
convention campaign when he was con-
testing with the triune Of bosses in the
East, the favorite sons in the West
and with Mr.. Reed in the South for
delegates to the national convention.
1t may not have occurred TO Mr.. Han
ma that the character of the person to
whom he mortgaged his candidate vas
a matter of any Importance in o pub
lie officer. 1t probably did not, as he
was fresh from business where he did
not question the morals Of the man
from whom he bought his ore, il only
the ore were good.
AS a result, we have all this cloud
of scandal; the GoodnoW case. the
Wimberly and Demas cases in Louis
lana, the McCord case in Arizona, the
Pow Clayton case. the coming ap-
attorney for Minnesota, and. latest, the
appointment of one Bittinger, from
Missouri, as consul general at Montre-
al, whom the governor general has at
last been induced to recognize. This
fellow was a federal gauger in Mis-
souri, during the days of the whisky
ring that so scandaliZed Grants adj
ministration He was indicted for con-
spiracy with several distillers 10 &c
fraud the government out of the rev.
enue on 100000 gallons of distilled spir-
its. He finally withdrew his plea Of
not guilty and entered one of guilty
and was sentenced to two years in the
penitentiary and to fine of $1,000 and
costs. To appoint, even after twenty
years, to the responsible post of con-
sui general, a post dealing largely with
the revenues. a man who, as a sworn
officer of the government, had conspir-
ed to defraud it of it's revenue, is an
act of faithlessness to public trust that
can find no excuse, even in the redemo-
ton of a pledge made by Mr.. Hanna.
IF it be urged that one slip should
not condemn man, it is sufficient to
show that Bittinger is instinctively
dishonest by the record of the supreme
court of his own state, which affirms
a lower court judgment convicting Bit
finger of embezzling $4,000 appropri-
ated by Buchanan county and entrust-
ed to him as the agent and commits
sioner of the county to secure the To-
cation Of a state asylum at st. Jo-
seph where he was editing the Her.
aid John McDonald's narrative of
the formation of the ring says he found
Bittinger plastic to essential over
lures" to be appointed gauger at st.
Joseph and run the distilleries crook
ed" In consideration Of which Bittin-
ger was to have a share of the rake
off, and Mcdonald also agreed to Sc
cure him an appointment as consul to
one of the important offices in Eng
land" The exposure Of the ring fol-
lowed too quickly for the redemption of
that mortgage, but even Bittinger's
record of malfeasance was not sufi-
cient to prevent Mckinley from re-
deeming Hanna's subsequent mortgage
Of the consul generalship to Montreal.