The Saint Paul globe., 1900-01-15

having to read or to listen to such a
communication. But not 80 the imperial
ist editors. Its very bulk was apparently
sufficient to convince them to man Of
the completeness of the secretary's de-
fense. They never could have reached
any such conclusion from the abstract of
the address published in the daily papers
news dispatches, for that abstract, pre-
pared as 1t apparently was to help the
secretary out, was neither ample enough
nor convincing enough to satisfy any
body who might have ever entertained
doubt of the secretary's unimpeachable
purity.
There are two brief letters among those
700 quoted documents upon which the I'M
perialist editors set no store at all. One
Is from the first vice president OF the
National City bank. the great chosen
distributing agency of the secretary, into
which he had proposed to pour the In
ternal revenue receipts Of the govern
ment, and which did receive tri1e Of
s14,OOOOOO. The other is from that dis
tinguished imperialist financier and
statesman, Senator Thomas C. Platt
They are sufficiently interesting and brief
to be entitled to a place here, just as
they were written:
Mr.. Stillman writes:
City bank. of this city, Of which recent
ly became vice president through the con-
solidat1on of the business of the. Third
National with It, Is one Of the banks des-
and I write to request that in any
changes which may be made under the
administration we may not be disturbed
in this respect. We should like to remain
OF course, the bank is. very strong. and
if you will take the pains to look at our
list Of directors you will see that we also
have very great political claims in view
Of what was done during the canvass
last year"
''Ion Lyman ]. Gage. United States
Mr.. Gage: Kindly read attached letter
from Mr.. James Stillman. the president
of the National City bank. which is self
me if his wishes could be respected. You
| know without my mentioning. 1t how re-
! liable and important q banking lnstltu-
ton the National City bank Is. l will be
| pleased to hear from you at your con-
| venience regarding the matter.
1t is safe to say that If Secretary Gage
did not look at that list Of directors.
as suggested by Mr.. Stillman, it was be-
cause he knew all about them before, and
about their great political claims in
view of what was done during the can
vass last year" 1t is pleasant to reflect
that, while a mere political tyro such as
Mr.. Stillman may have thus thrust
his political views and interest on the
secretary Of the treasury, Mr. Platt
showed himself altogether too modest to
do anything of the kind Mr.. Stillman
must be regarded as a financial man; but
his thoughts run wholly to politics when
addressing Mr.. Gage. Mr.. Platt, it is
painful to say, is but politician; yet
his thoughts when addressing Secretary
Gage run exclusively to financial con-
siderations. He knew, of course, chow
reliable and important a banking insti-
tuition" the favored bank Is, and simply
sought to urge that consideration on the
head Of the treasury department. No
politics for him.
Thus We have an important contribu-
ton made to a principal question at is
sue, which does not appear to present It
self either to Mr.. Gage or the imperialist
editors at all. That question is, had
political considerations or political inf1u-
ences entered into the transactions Of the
secretary Of the treasury with the Rookie
feller bank? There are other questions
which will, Of course. receive considera-
ton from congress in connection with
| this able-bodied official scandal But on
this particular question the disinterested
citizen will hardly need. anything more
convincing. .a.-.,e. -.t~ a-as