The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-07-19

| from Kansas, any frst-clasS man Xxx
Bristow. for instance, submit his name tc
me and 1 will give him careful considera-
ton"
When Burton came te he was walking
airnlessiy down Pennsylvania avenue
and when Bristow heard Of it he smiled
Just smiled. Also he retained has Joo
Bristow has charge OF the fourth-c ass
| postmasters. He has the appointment OF
some 1900 of these minor officials. Ihey
; furnish the bulk of the outside patronage
in the post office department. The poltl-
cans began to come to him as soon as
he was warm in his chair. They wanted
removals and all that sort of things.
Hold on said Bristow, lets see why
/ this man should be removed.
/ Inside of six months it was generally
! known that Bristow was honest, with
! kind of hard and steely honesty that
was impervious to assaults. He WASH
averse to turning out democratic post
master and putting in a republican out
there was a lot of things he would not 40
is he honest?' asked one statesman OF
another.
..Honest?'' said the second statesman
Il should think he was He is the most
extensively honest man l ever buckeo
up against
President Mckinley gloried in Bristow'
In him he had a man who wasn't afraid
There is no yellow streak in Bristow.
He will go into a battle at the crop Vi
the hat. and it is immaterial TO MN
whether the weapons are battle axes oi
gatling guns
Rristow's department also has charge Oh
the post office inspectors All stories VI
denredation and dishonesty are sent TO
hin, for Investigation. He seems 10 nave
2 good deal of the detective in his MAKE
up. 1t wasn't long before they began
calling him The Fox
When the president picked him out 10
go TO Cuba and get in under the SKIN OIL
the Nicely frauds, Bristow went without
saving a word and he put a lot OF people
in i,iI. He was remorseless They
changed his designation then. Instead OF
calling him The Fox they called him
The Wolf
Bristow was none too popular WIN
Perry Heath, first assistant postmaster
general and charged him with paying
through the post office department MI
Hanna's political depths contracted IN the
first Mckinley campaign. he WASH
Heath's kind of man. He dldh see
why the government should be made 10
paw the depths of the republican national
committee He did not stand Wen Win
Charles Emory Smith, either, Tor MI.
Smith. although an admirable postmaster
general was not insensible to the poll
ticaI game that was being played In
his denarhuent. Nor was he disposed to
interfere.
The consequence was that while Bristow
found out q lot Of things during inns
first four years in Office, his hands were
tied in a measure He enjoyed TIE lux
urv of having Mark Hanna bitter against
him. but Hanna EeVer could get Brlsto"
removed. There were a dozen attempts
II was explained to President Mckinney
how this long-legged Kansan was DOCK
ing the whole patronage game OF the
republican party. The president didn't
take the complaints seriously. He SAID
he guessed he would try Bristow while
longer.
When Roosevelt came in the politicians
tried again TO dislodge Bristow. Presi-
dent Roosevelt asked a snappish Why
Their wasn't any very good reason ex-
cent that Bristow was too Internally
honest to dabble in the great game or
republican politics That didn't appeal
TO the president and Bristow stayed
where he was accommodating information
as a sponge takes up water
Then the present scandals came to
light. Wynne dug in and found there
was crookedness The president wanted
an investigation and he sent for Bristow-
There was nothing else for him to do, even
if he had desired to do anything else
Bristow was there. he knew things and
he was honest So was Wynne honest.
but he couldn't very well investigate
himself for all the abuses complained OF
originally We're in the division OF the
first assistant postmaster general.
Il want YOU to get to the bottom OF
these stories of corruption and fraud"
said the president.
IAN right" said Bristow.
That is all there was to it. Bristow
started. He had free hand at last. for
he had stipulated that he should be under
the direction of no one save the presi-
dent. He caned in his inspectors and put
them on the trail. He had enough in
formation 10 convict a dozen persons
and he simply told the inspectors TO get
the proof.
When Tulloch made his charges Bris-
tow sat back and waited. Payne said
those charges were hot air" and gilt
tering generalities. Bristow smiled one
of his Bristow smiles. Payne called on
everybody for reports to show that Tul-
loch was liar and a horse thief.
Bristow walked in the next day after he
got Paynes letter with a little report
of his own. not saying very much. APP
pended to that report, however. there
were transcripts Of two reports, made by
inspectors in 1900 and those reports up
held Tulloch on every charge.
Bristow had had them lying on his
desk all that time. He had been re-
buffed when he tried to get action under
them two years before and he sat still.
waited and said nothing Payne was
dumfounded. He didn't want to pub
lish the reports. The public demanded to
have them Then Payne gave them out
and Bristow smiled again.
Everything comes. said Bristow to
him who waits
He Is chef sleuth in the present in
vestigsuon. He has charge OF every
inquiry. All reports. charges and proof
are in his hand. He is remo-eless. He
hates tnief. II doesn't make any differ
enoe TO bristow who has erred. He isn't
investigating to find out whether one
mans temptation was greater than
anothr's or whether Their is an excuse
or Justification Of any transaction.
He doesn't care a rap about those