The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-07-16
RIVER AT S A. NJ.
Fall. @RiS G.
PERRY HEATH,S LESSON.

Perry Heath is a wiser man than he
was before he was rewarded for his
campaign services with the position Of
assistant postmaster general He
knows now that there are such things
as civil service rules and laws; that
there is such a thing as a conscientious
civil service commission; that he is
subordinate to the law and the rules,
and that Minneapolis Republicans who
hunt office are rather an Ornery set,
one of whose peculiarities is that the
greater the rogue the stronger his
claims for preferment. 1t may be
worth while to go through as much as
Mr.. Heath has undergone to learn even
that much. Anyway he has learned it.
The circumstances are instructive,
and, as the president learns of them,
if he happily should learn, he may
well wish that there had been consular
rules and laws that would have saved
his fair name from the indelible stain
of paying a personal debt with the ap-
pointment of the malodorous Goodnow.
A couple Of years ago one of the en-
ployes of the Minneapolis postoffice was
taken red-handed by one of the inspec-
tors, stealing letters from the mail. One
of the stolen letters was found in his
pocket when arrested. For some
reason good or bad, presumably bad,
he was simply dismissed from the SER
vice, instead of being sent over the
road to bother the president with pc
titions for pardon. Presumably he
Joined the hue and cry against the
Cleveland administration and its con-
tempt for Republicans in office. hatred
OF the old soldier, hostility to silver"
and its many other acts offensive to
such delicate and sensitive Republi-
cans. Undoubtedly he was one of the
fdpturous crowd who hailed the advent
OF the Advance Agent of Prosperity and
proclaimed the gospel of the Great
Apostle of Protection. We do not state
these as facts, of course, but as fair
Prescriptions from what followed We
cannot conceive that he becomingly re-
tired and sought obscurity repentine of
his stealing.
But suggestions aside, the facts are
that, as soon as the polls entbroned
the Great Apostle, this fellow began to
hustle for his slice of the protection
he had been basely used, made the vic
tim of a job, plotted against driven
from his place at the crib. The first
sentence contains the fact; the second q
conjecture, it is but fair to saw ANY,
way when Perry was fairly installed
In authority down to Washington most
ed the thief and poured into Perrys
sympathetic ear some tale of woe and
maltreatment at the hands of B. tba
6eastly Democrats. 1t is fair to SIM
pose that Perry made no more inquiry
into the fellows antecedents than Nc
kinley did when he made Goodnow
consul general at Shanghai, or will be-
fore he appoints Tim Byrnes district
attorney
Whether or no inquiry was made the
result Of the trip of the thief was q.
peremptory order to Postmaster Hol-
brook to reinstate the pilferer. Hol-
brook or some one reported the matter
to the civil service commission in
Washington. Then trouble began for
Perry, out of which came to him ac-
cession of knowledge and wisdom. He
was asked by what authority he de-
creed the reinstatement, and Informed
the commission that it was by virtue Of
the authority with which he, as as
sistant postmaster general, was invest
ed by law and custom. Diplomatically
the commission asked him if he were
aware of the existence of sundry laws
and rules relating to such cases, and
to his surprise, he found, on investiga-
ton, there were such thingsin existence
curtailing very greatly the powers with
which he supposed himself armed. But
he dallied, seeking some Ioophole or
evasion that the thief and his own dig
nifty might be sustained. Whereupon
the commission WIS obliged to call his