The evening times., 1900-06-25

mad or carrying Maryland
The Republican machine in the Old Line
State can never be induced 10 put any en-
thusiasm into its support Of Mr. Roose-
velt. The practical political workers
there viii never forgive Mr.. Roosevelt for
his reference to them as office monger-
ing ward-workers,' who CO.'S, ,de-ed ch1at-
ing legitimate and commendable.
Mr.. Roosevelt, on May l, 1891. while
Civil Service Commissioner. presented a
report to the President on an investiga-
tion made by him into charges concerning
politiCG- assessments ard the use OF official
influence to control elections in the Fed
er2I Offices at Baltimore. Mr.. Roos sveIt
recommended the dismissal from public
Office Of a number Of prominent politicians.
Mr.. Roosevelt wrote:
On March 2S, last, l received a oommu-
nication from John c. Rose formerly
member OF the Civil Service Postal Board
at Baltimore, Nd, tending to show that
the Civil Service law was being violated
i. the Federal Offices al Baltimore Mr..
Roses information was that the lew
against political assessments was being
grossly violated in the pOstofice and Gus
ton house at Baltimore. and also that
the three Federal Offices were being used
APPARENTLY by the postmaster. marshal,
anC collector of the port to influence the
primary election 10 be held in Baltimore
on March 80. in seeming violation Of Cen
eral Rule l. which provides the pe-alty 4
dismissal for any Federal offceholder wEo
thus uses his official influence TO control
any election
4 Investigated the matter going down 10
Baltimore for thst purpose on March IS.
March so, and April 8, 13. and IS. and in
accordance with my direction the chief ex-
ans.aer at the same time made an ex-
haUstive investigation Of the records Of
tue C~-tom house and UOstoffce was
assisted throughout my examination by
Nessrs. BOnaparte and Rose. OF the Mary
land Civil Service Reform Association.
J. order 20 decide whether the Offices were
used 10 influence the primaries il was OF
course. necessary 20 know what part the
o!iceholders took in running them. and
accordingly, on the day when the prima-
r.es were held, l went round in person 10
several OF the wards 20 0bser6v what was
done. prvFerring 10 see for myself what the
1aCfs really were. rather than 10 seek 10
silt them out afterwards from the conflict
iEg testimony OF scores Of interested and
possibly Enthusiastically witnesses.
How the Factions worked.
The primaries held On March 30 were
marked by n very bitter contest between
two factions Of the Republican party. one
c. these factions was generally known in
be newspapers, as well as among its own
Supporters, and opponents. who took part
il the primary election, as the johnson
crowd Or Johnson -AiTey faction Nr.
johnson being the postmaster and Nr
Airey the marshal in Baltimore The
other faction was known similarly. as the
Henderson faction or Henderson, Stone
faction Messrs. Henderson and Stone hav-
lLg 1een. respectively. candidates for ar-
poiltnent % the positions Of postmaster
and -aarshaL The 'Jchusou-Airey' peoDle
C., med 10 represent the Administration
IT'S TIC 'Heuderson-Store people stoutly
cC-Ied. asserting that Trey were as luval
70 the Administration as their opponents.
II was evident however. that many Of the
witnesses on both sides used the term
Administration merely as SYNONYMOUS
with 'oficehOlders.' There were side is
sues that complicated the ctrugzle some
what, but in its essence il was. without
doubt. mainly a fight between the Office
holders on one side and the disappointed
othceseekers on the other; the johnson
Airey' men representing the former and
the 'Heuderson-Stoue' the latter.
As far as I could find ont there seemed
% be no question Of principle at stake at
all, but one of Offices only. Apparently
they t5oth sides) cared primarily COR the
oihces, party success being a purely sec
Cldary consideration, important OaIy be-
cause IL facilitated getting them. Il seems
TO me that this fact alone furnishes a
toleIably accurate measure OF the much
Vauntei usefulness to any party Of the
Oihce-mOnEeTing. o1fCeseeking. and Office
holding variety Of ward worker"
After administering this rebuke 10 The
Republican party leaders in Maryland. Mr
Roosevelt continued:
AS whole, the contest was marked by
great fraud and no little violence MANY
Of the witnesses of each faction testified
that the leaders Of the opposite faction in
their ward had voted Democrats. repeat
eTs, and men living outside the ward IN
great numbers, and | am inclined 10 be
lieve that In this respect there is much
reason 10 regard the teEtimony on each
side as correct in its outline Of the con-
Duet OF the ether Accusations OF ballot
box stufing were freely made with much
APPEARANCE of justification
Cheating n Matter of Coursc.
'S'ost OF The witnesses spoke of the
,heating in = matter-of-courss way. as he
tag too universal and too common in pri-
naries generally to be worthy Of notice
acd a great number of them did not seem
% bear any special malice against their
opponents fUT having cheated successfully
II anything. rather admired them for
their shrew6ness-and frankly testified
that Il was only lack OF opportunity that
had hindeTed hem from doing as much
themselves. Two of the witnesses. both
Henderson adherents. employees Of the
custom house. testified with refreshing and
cheering franknoss to this effect one of
then-Mr Horner-remarkad, anent fixing
Up pudding tickets / would have done
the same thing myself ! believe in doing
anything to win. 14is Individuals son
was one Of the judges of the election. The
tes sdmony Of the OtheF-Mr. Reed-ran as
follows:
% I don't say I wouldn't cheat in the
primaries. Whoever has two Judges wins
'Q-Each side cheats as much as II can
A-Cer,ainly. That's the way. do il
just the same as they do. They had two
judges. Q-HOw do you do your cheat
ing? A-Well, we do our cheating honor
ably. II they catch us al it it's all right.
it's fair. ! even carried the box home
with me on one occasion. have broken
mp more than one election
Both o5 these persons testified very
frankly and showed that they possessed a
fine sense Of humor, besides being seem
ingly innocent Of any idea that they had
done wrong. Both of them expressed. with
Somewhat cynical absence OF reserve. views
which were evidently held by the major
portion Of the other oficeholder or Office
seeking ward workers whom ! examined
aad which are undoubtedly held by the
great bulk Of spoIls politicians everywhere
All Of the officeseeking and oficeholdine
ward workers who came before me evil
acntly believed that the businss OF man
aging primaries and IN fact the business