The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1901-07-26
WASHINGTON LETTER.

hOAh hlA"1AOh' AtNO fNt~'0ACH - ~
ing asked in Washington since a
prominent New York Democrat
dropped a quiet hint that Col. Dan
Lamont, who was Mr.. Cleyeland's
private secretary during his first
Administration and Secretary of
War during his second, and who
has since been associated with ex-
Secretary Whitney in various big
business enterprises, might be-
come Democratic candidate for
Governor of New York, and if
elected would become a candidate
for the Presidential nomination.
OF course there are some sub
stantial Ifs" to be. consider
ed in connection with this mat
ter, but the whole Presidential
question is one of ''ifs" at this
time. There are several reasons
why Dan Lamont would make q
strong candidate for any position
he might aspire to. First and
foremost is his popularity man
who could spend eight years in
Washington as prominently asso-
ciated with administrations as he
was with those of Cleveland's with
out making an enemy as Dan La
mont did must necessarily be a
remarkable sort of man. The
next reason of importance is that
he will have the advice and active
assistance of William G. Whitney,
who has shown himself to be one
of the shrewdest political mana
gers the country has or has ever
had. This thing may be no more
than the idle talk of asummer day,
but if Dan Lamont becomes a can
didate for the nomination for gov
ernor of New York, he will get it,
and he would probably be elected,
and that would naturally make him
Presidential possibility.
There is little that is new in the
exposure of the methods followed
in the distribution of the patron
age of the House, made this week
by the National Civil Service Re-
form League, but it is none the
less disgraceful to the Republican
majority of that body which al
lows the stealing, for that is the
proper name for receiving money
and giving no pretense of it in re-
turn for it. Men are carried on
the House pay roll who never even
come to Washington, but have
checks for their salaries mailed to
them, and others draw salaries for
work which they have others to
do, paying them only small frac-
tion of what they receive. The
patronage of the House Is not un-
der the OWL service law. 1t is
controlled absolutely by the will
of the majority, and that majority
should be held responsible for the
wlllful waste of the peoples mon
ey, and especially those members
who have held up the officers of
the House and demanded that sal
aries be provided for their favor
ties should be held up to the pub
lie contempt they SO richly de-
serve. The weak spot in the long
and detailed exposure is the care
ful avoidance of putting in the
names of looting Congressman.
This avoidance is SO palable that it
is clearly intentional. Names are
given in plenty, but they are those
of the little rascals. A proper
exposure would have given the
names of those who made the ras.
cality possible, but perhaps the
gentlemen who made the investi-
CATION for the Civil Service Re-
form League were a little bit
afraid to attack the Congressman
by name,
Probably if Commissioner Evans
had made rulings that would have
involved the paying out of the
S., ,46s, 505.S9 unexpended balance
of the S144, ,00o,0Q0 appropriated
by Congress for pensions, which
he has turned back into the Treas
ury, the ring of pension sharks
would have been less persistent in
their demands for new Commits
sioner Of Patents.
The Administration has ct last
found a place for Col. John S.