Sunday morning globe., 1901-12-08

The action of President Roosevelt iu re.
moving The governor of Oklahoma. because
of his havinga zen thousand dollar bond IN
a sanitarium contract set aside for the bene-
iit Of those 20 whom he owed political debts
win be approved by every good citizen. A
man who viii thus deal with the helpless
of his territory and be guilty of such malfeas-
ance as is alleged is deserving Of no con-
sideratiou He was justly retired. That is
no way to pay for political deals. Still we
do not wonder that he availed himself of a
privilege he believed he possessed, be-
cause he had for years seen evidences of
political obligations being satisfied or paid
by just such means and by legislation
IL rs notorious that many of the pampered
mOuopoles besicgea the door of the conf
mittee of ways and means when the Ding
ley bin was enacted and many of them
secured what legislation they wanted in re-
turn for the funds they had contributed
Therefore the governor of oklahoma doubt.
less believed that such a small thing as a
ten thousand dollar transaction would not
be noticed of If noticed would be uu-
needed
But the governor of Oklahoma had stl
another transaction that he may have be-
lieved was a safe precedent He doubtless
had read the Hepburn letterto the Secretary
of Treasury when the attention of that
worthy was called 70 the fact that the writer
Of the letter or the corporation for which
he was acting had been liberal in the way
of contributing campaign funds for the
benefit of the republican party, therefore
either he or the corporation was entitled to
especial consideration i'm the placing of
government deposits. The late governor
also doubtless had been advised that IN re.
sponse 70 that letter certain favors had been
conferred which created at the time quite a
scandal. The governor perhaps was also
made aware that the National City Bank
had purchased the old custom house in New
York and that in payment it gave a certified
check for the purchase money less fifty
thousand dollars and that the money was
allowed TO remain in the bank on deposit
to be loaned out to its customers by the
bank at a profit and that the title was still
allowed TO remain in the government to
avoid taxation; and that until the new Gus.
tom house is built the United States was to
pay to the bank an annual rental for its use
The governor Of Oklahoma also In an
probability had read the proceedings in Con.
gress wherein the whole iniquitou5 trans.
action was hooted out. and declared burnt
powder by Republican statesmen and that
no punishment was visited upon the guilty
parties TO the uusayory transaction II is
also probable that the governor of Okla
homa had seen notices 100 the public press
of the appointment of Frank A. Vanderlip
formerly Assistant Secretary Of the Treasury
a- Seventh Vice President of the National
City Bank. and DE had most likely seen 10
charged that said appointment was made So
ae TO make the doughty Naudcrlip go-
between between the Treasury Department
and the bank and me had never seen any
denial of such charge either on the part of
the Secretary of the Treasury Naudcrlip or
the bank
with such knowledge and such shining
example made conspicuous. and when
statesmen either ignored it or laughed at IT,
Is IL amy wonder that the governor of the
southwest territory should feel at perfect
liberty to indulge in little ten thousand
dollar transaction and follow the precedent
laid down by his distinguished fellow
odicer-albeit the latter being a cabinet
oficer-and pay his campaign expenses the
same way
Nevertheless we repeat that the President
has done a good thing. It viii be well with
him If he follows it up. The Oklahoma
affair was comparatively small when the
millions loaned to the National City Bank
are considered We were taught TO read iu
our younger days
'lt is a sin 10 steal a pin
Much more 10 steal a greater thing"
The President therefore, can with pro.
prety, although the scandal is somewhat
old-call the attention of Secretary Gage
again TO It and ask him to explain. We
know it will require some moral courage,
but we know the President does not lack
moral courage. We also know that he will
be confronted by the men who have re-
ceived favors and who have seen fit to
bolster up the claims of the Secretary for
retention Still he-the President-can
well afford TO ignore all that The financial
member of the Cabinet is the only one of
that body who has thus been bolstered up.
We don't know who has been guilty of the
indelcacy-perhaps Gage himself-but we
do know that il he will call for review Of
the Custom House scandal and give the
Secretary an opportunity to cool his brow
with the breezes of Lake Michigan he viii
do equally as good a work as he has done In
retiring the offending executive of the far
away territory