Sunday Washington globe., 1902-01-19
VIII MIR. Gage Answcr2

VIII Mr. Gage Answer
Our friend-ought we to say friend}-the
Hon. Lyman ]. Gage, Secretary of the
Treasury, is soon to be apuvate citizen. 1t
is not so very long ago that the Secretary
was indignant when it was announced in
the public press that he was about to resign
his portfolio. 1t is true bankers and
brokers--if public reports are to be relied
upon-hlled the files full with petitions for
his retention. He then said all was lovely
and he still intended to remain where he
was, to incidentally look after the interests
of the Government-really to look after his
own material welfare.
We have something to say to him ere he
turns his back upon Washington. We
would like to have him enlighten us about
some matters before he goes He owes it
to himself, to his people, TO the admins
tration of which he will soon no longer be
a part, to explain few little movements of
his own and Of one Vanderlip. We will
therefore PROFOUND few iuterrogatories.
Is it, or is il not true that Vsnderlip is
and has been since his appointment to the
position of seventh vice-president of the
City National Pauk of New York, a go be-
tween between said bank and the
Treasury Department. We do not
know that it is true we only know
that il has been charged by the mirror
Of this city, and that Mt Gage and Mr..
Vanderlip have never denied it. It IS GER
tainly a grave accusation, and if not true
the Secretary owes it to himself TO set the
matter right before the public. Can it be
possible that silence gives CONSENT
Another question we would like to pro
pouudl A telegram to the Times of this
city, announced that Vanderlip arranged
the deal whereby the Secretary, by virtue
of his position, sold the custom house in
New York to the Rockefeller Bank. We
have never seen a denial of that statement
If true we ask by what right did Frank A.
Vanderlip become a real estate broker and
make a sale of Government property Did
he act as such real estate broker with the
approval Of the Secretary The New York
World once aired that scandal, but not
until lately has it been said that Vanderlip
engineered the deal. If he did by what
right? Was there any commission to
to the Secretary and his assistant The
bank certainly made good bargain, If
stories are true it still has the purchase
money on deposit, and the title Of the Gus
tom house remains in the Government to
avoid taxation, and the Government is pay
ing rent to the bank for the same It GER
tainly would be of intense interest to the
people Of the United States to know whether
these ugly charges have any foundation in
fact. On the first day Of the coming Feb
ruary Mr. Gage will be no longer in office.
Will he have the manhood to explain all of
these malodorous things that have been said
about these unsavory transactions7
There are many other questions we could
ask, but we forbear for the present. Really
we would like to be enlightened and no one
can give us the information we desire so
we'll as the Secretary Of the Treasury.
There are other phases Of the Secretary's
doings to which we would like to call at
tenton. His abuses of the Civil Service,
and his acquiescence in the persecution of
certain men who never harmed him. The
promises he made to men he never i'm
tended to keep. His allowing conspiracies
to be hatched against men which had no
palliation, not even the element Of common
decency. He is said to have had more than
one man bounded out by his creatures If
he did, he did it from no other motive than
partisan malice. Men who would have
been friendly to him he chose to make enc
mics to crafty partisan malevOlence. In
his retirement If he has a conscience, he
can patch it up as best ne can by rejecting
upon the mean conduct of himself and his
pals. Ought we to say pals and drop into
vulgar epithets2 Yet what can Vanderlip
be called but pal If what is charged be
true7 We will not name the other creature
in his employ; the man who invented lies
and was not manly enough to withdraw
them when exposed and proven to be lies.
II must be pleasant memory to the Sec
reiary after four years and more at the head
of one Of the great departments of the Cow
erument to know that he has perpetrated
great wrongs and perpetrated them after he
had been enlightened and made to see the
right. He can lay the hattering JUNCTION to
his soul that there are men he deliberately
attempted to iuiure, and he can also reflect
and know that those men have the respect
of people who know them while he goes
forth with a scorched and tainted reputation
for honesty and fair dealing.