Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1903-06-11
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Mr. Morgans Household %%
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he was dead when it suited their pur-
poses thus to deceive the people. The
Platt machinists evidently have been
playing similar game. 1.-THE old man
Z has passed away. The scepter long since
fell from palsied hand. but the super
| sutlon Of the easy boss" has been kent
alive in the minds of his followers, and it
Is only when an indiscreet disciple blurts
out the truth that the public gains an
mixing of the real condition of affairs.
Politically, the "old man. is dead, but the
monks still strive to work their miracles
in his name,
Consummate Skill.
That the high protective tariff both
ers others besides cranky Democratic
tariff reformers and free traders is
demonstrated by the fact that that
great Republican light, j. Pierpont
Morgan, has been lying awake of
nights inducing insomnia by pesterina
his head to devise a plan to get his art
treasures into this country duty free.
Mr.. Morgan has succeeded, if the press
dispatch quoted below is true. Evi-
IDENTIFY this great and illustrious cap
tain Of industry appreciated the wis
dom contained in the vulgar saw,
There are ways of killing pup other
than choking him to death with hot
butter" Usually the only way to
evade tariff duties on imports has been
to smuggle, which is a criminal Of
fense, but by sbeating the devil about
the bush," to borrow another ancient
saw, Mr.. Morgan gets his art treasures
In free, thereby saving the comfortable
fortune of 100000, without resorting
to the dire necessity of ranging him
self with the criminal classes He has
simply ''circumwented" the law, as the
elder Weller would say if he We're
speaking of the Inorganic caper. A
great head has Mr.. Morgan! Having
got his art treasures in free he will
most probably bitterly oppose the re
duction of duties on steel products
Here is the dispatch;
Under the designation Household eff
fects" J. p. Morgan will be able to bring
into this country most of his art treas
ures that are now scattered through the
museums of Europe or are in his London
house.
Mr. Morgan has ordered his agents to
gather together all his paintings, bric-a-
brac and antiques, and it is believed
Americans will have an opportunity of
seeing one of the finest private collections
in the world.
These objects of art are appraised at
not less than S200O,0O0. and had Mr.. Nor
gan imported them a year ago he would
baVa bapn oh1iped 10 nav aIraoct com oOO
as duty.
Many of the paintings and smaller an
tiques have been in Mr.. Morgan's Park
lane house for more than a year and
therefore come under the head of ''house-
hold effects" which are not dutiable
1t is said Mr.. Morgan's lease of a fine
home in Park lane was made more with
view to obtaining a legal residence for
his art treasures than to have a dwelling
house in London's famous avenue
unamiahle.
The washington Post Gndependent,
with a penehant for upholding Repub-
lfcan administrations and Republican
policies) makes the following f1ippant
and cruel remarks touching the post
office scandals and the civil service
commission:
we cOulQ understand IQeSe DOSC ONCE
scandals at least little more clearly
were it not that they have occurred in a
department which has always been re-
garded as the very flower of civil service
reform. Under the old spoilsmen's sys-
TEN, when office was the reward of party
| service and unscrupulous politicians con-
trolIed the public patronage, corruption
ran riot and turpitude was unconfined,
or we have heard it said Then the
heads of departments and in turn the
chiefs of bureaus and divisions were free
to appoint their own fayorites and select
their own subordinates. Then, also, the
public service was a hotbed of inefficiency
and vice, though we do not now recall
the narrowing instances and their alb
horrent details. But the idea of dishon-
esty, extravaganza, Generalization in the
post office or any other department now,
after years of the purifying and uplifting
dispensation of the civil service commis-
sion-that is an idea from which we
shrink with incredulity and horror
1t appears. however, that there is a
good deal doing in this line at the present
moment. Despite the jealous and en-
lightened vigilance of the three wise
men, Notwithstanding their profound and
ingenious precautions and their almost
superhuman insight into human charac-
ter, incompetent, if not unworthy persons
seem to have crept into important offices
and to have found ready to their hand
RccompliceS and conductors in any needed
number. The irregularities-to give them
no harsher name-are of long standing.
They are not the noxiouS growth of a
single night nor could they have attained
their present luxuriance without compile
sty or at least complaisance on the part
of great many products of the system.
1t is difficult-a year or so ago it would
have seemed impossible-to believe that
officials who had passed under the in
spired eyes of such men as John r. Proc
tor and Wi am Dudley Foulke can have
connived at the abuses charged against
the department. 1t seems Incredible that
persons who have borne without tiinching
the fierce light of the civil service exam
ination can even have looked on at any
imperfection without screaming aloud in
horror and resentment. And yet we have
the spectacle before us, such as it is.
Can it be- by any possibility, that civil
service reform is a humbug?
Mark Twain as a Statesman.
The Saturday Evening Post of Phila-
delphia says:
Senator Stewart of Nevada tells a new
story of Mark Twains apprenticeship.
The humorist who was to make the world
laugh was then employed as reporter
in Carson City and was on duty one even
was presided over by a municipal states
man of exceedingly pompous manner
who cherished no great fondness for the
young Clemens. This councilman ordi-
narily of no intellectual resources, be-
came hopeIessly confused in a parlia-
mentary tangle. Finally motion was
made to expunge from the records GER
tain matter which the presiding officer
was extremely anxious should not become
part of local history. The motion, having
been seconded, was eagerly passed.
'"rhe matter has been ordered expung-
ed,'' declared the presiding councilman
gravely, "and the clerk will proceed-to
expunge. 1t should be effectively wiped
out, obliterated and totally destroyed
He paused to notice the effect of his sem
tence of annihilation. Where, gentle
men, he asked, will you have the ex-
plunged matter deposited and placed?"
Mark Twain caught the attention of the
councilman nearest him. Let the ex-
plunged matter be worn under the chair
mans hat" he suggested. mo one would
ever think of looking there for any
thing"
May His Tribe increased
Marse Henry Watterson has dug up
a peculiar sort of man down at Crab
Orchard, KY, a sort with which candi-
dates for Office are not much acquaint-
ed, though they would like to be. He
is most certainly a rara avis May his
tribe increase and multiply! The Cou-
rier-Journal says: