The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1903-10-22

Inc machine, IN duuiIlOh W thus
providing that appeals from advocates
OF good government shall fall upon
deaf ears, exacts financial tribute from
repositories unable TO supply much
active work to maintain the power
which purchases with the peoples tax
money the open or passive support Of
bank directorates. Among proofs Of
this Is the case OF an officer OF bank
in city on the Susduehanna river,
who not long ago showed that he con-
sidered his institution highly favored
in having a state deposit OF $4,000
upon which he had to pay only per
cent. interest to the commonwealth.
He contributed $3.50 to the Republican
campaign and covered Il as an "ex-
pense" item OF the bank. Men who
know this fact observe that the CON
tribution" was exactly per cent. of the
deposit. They infer that the Quay ma
chine. Of which the state treasury and
auditor generals Office are the main
stay considered per cent a fair
offering from the class OF repositories
to which that bank belonged.
Banks Political Connections.
Collapses in recent years OF institu-
tions which the state treasury had spe-
cially favored uncovered proofs of
cash returns to the Republican ma
chine for deposits. Those disasters
exposed also the details of Republican
part leaders methods Of profiting per-
sonally from the influence that had
shaken "the plum tree" Yet no
change has been made in the corrupt
system except to find means Of SWELL
Ing the surplus in order to satisfy de-
mands from partisan henchmen for the
favoring Of additional repositories or
the increasing Of deposits in the old
favorites.
In distributing the surplus there has
been remarkable discrimination In
favor Of Pittsburg banks. No doubt
this resulted from the Quay machines
anxiety to adjust factional troubles
which had left Allegheny politics in
ferment ever since the enactment Of
the second class city ripper" Last
month Pittsburg alone had 80 banks,
trust companies and savings institu-
tions, more than one-fourth of all the
repositories, holding more than FIVE
and half million dollars of the COM
monwealth's money. That exceeds
two-fifths OF the entire surplus and
shows one of the greatest obstacles in
the way OF Democratic efforts to i'm
prove governmental conditions in
Allegheny and to ameliorate state
affairs through the agency Of that
county.
Machine Leaders As Directors.
Strikingly demonstrating how the
machines OF the principal cities are
helped by the state treasury to thwart
the count. rs" move for honest gov
ernment is the fact that all but little
less than two millions of the surplus
was deposited in Philadelphia, Pitts
burg Allegheny City and Harrisburg,
in SO institutions. The two western
cities had nearly 0ne-half OF the four
teen millions. There was 100000 in
the COLONEL Trust Company an "ac-
tive" depository, Of which ex-senator
William Finn. the rippedout. but re-
Gently reinstated machine leader of
| Pittsburg, is the most influential direc-
tor. Other directors of the Colonial
Trust include Films son, George H.
Finn, and the Flinn-Magee confden-
tial agent in big transactions, M. X.
McMullin.
Robert McAfee, who, last spring, sue
ceeded General Reeder as commissioner
of banking, was a director last year OF
the active" Allegheny National, which
holds s7S5, ,3e9.S2. The cashier of the
bank, William Montgomery, is Senator
Quay's fiscal agent and handler of
stocks. The president Of the active
Commonwealth Trust Company, OF Har-
risburg, in which the state has $437,-
75714, is Major Lane S. Hart, formerly
state printer, brother OF the late VIM
B. Hart. who was the next state treas
urer elected after Quay resigned from
that Office and left William Livsey to
serve during the remainder of the
term. The vice president OF Major
Harts company is Judge John H
Weiss, OF the Dauphin county court, a
close personal friend of Quay, and the
directors include Congressman M. E
Olmsted and another influential Quay
worker, Charles H. Mullin, of Cumber.
land county. The law excludes judges
from the directorates of banks, but not
OF trust companies.
eenefciaries Of Durham Rule.
The largest Of all the deposits in the
state except that in the active" Far.
mers' and Mechanics, of Philadelphia
is that in another active" concern, the
Quaker City National, of that city. II
has sS64.50o It's president, Jacob E
Ridgeway, is in close personal and po
litical relations with the principa
managers of the Republican party
city and state. The chief leaders o.
the Philadelphia machine do theil
banking in the"Quaker City" Its direc
tors included the late Alexander Bal
four, whose conduct as an inspector O
the Eastern Penitentiary brought hin
under FIRE. and also the late Congress
man Foerderer. whose wealth financed