The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-04-07
AS WOOLSEY OF OLD
PAYNE,s FAULT Is sUBsERv.
 IENCY TO HIS CHIEF.
Postmaster General Prostrated by Nervous Collapse Owing to the Selfshness of President
 Roosevelt.
Advertiser Bureau, Colorado Building.

Payne, Postmaster General, by the strain of the investigation of the Post office Department, and the terrible stress of criticism the chief burden of which he has had to bear. He is sadly i'll at his apartments in this city at the Ar lington Hotel He is somewhat to blame for his condition, but the chief fault for the mans deplorable plight Is President Roosevelt.
 Nobody holds Postmaster General Payne responsible for any personal par ticipation in the wrong doings of the de- pertinent. He made mistakes at the out set of the investigation, but they were errors of honest judgment. however, un- wisely shaped. That he should have known better than to ridicule the num- eious serious charges mado against his department by reputable men has been more than anything else the provocation for the avalanche of criticisms to which he has been subjected.
 MT Payne, the truth is, from the time he entered upon the discharge of his du- ties as Postmaster General in January, 1902, was allowed no time properly to be- come acquainted with the details of the administration he was expected to con- duct.
 Employed as Politician.
 From the hour he entered the cabinet, President Roosevelt employed Mir. Payne in the purely selfish political business of furthering the Roosevelt ambition to cap- ture votes for the next Republican na- tional convention. Mir. Payne had long been member of the Republican na-ll tional committee and had much reputa tion as a successful politician. Presi- dent Roosevelt kept him busy at politics and allowed him little time to attend to the duties of his ofice at the head of great business department"
 Almost up, to the very day that the storm of public criticism began to blow upon the department, Postmaster Gen. 1 eral Payne had been kept busy, along | with General J. s. Ciarkson, working to fix the Southern and other States for | the Roosevelt show at the next national convention. There was then fear of Sen | ator Hanna or somebody whom he might | designate to oppose Roosevelt for the | nomination for President. For the better | part of a year MT. Payne loyally devot- | ed himself to the Presidents cause.
 Wished to Retire.
 But little more than twelve months | had passed Aince he assumed office, when | he indicated his desire to retire from the | cabinet. It happened to be about the | time the Tulloch charges were publish | ed, which Mir. Payne had derided as 'hot | air" As the charges were repeated and | in far more serious shape, President | Roosevelt, seeing how grave a reflection | fell upon his administration, insisted that | MT. Payne stay in office. He remained | at his post sick man. The whole course | of the investigation has showed that he | never appreciated the extent of the ras- cality that had gone on in the depart | ment long before he had anything to do | with it.
 When the investigation was well un- der way. and it seemed. with the Presi- | dents personal activity in the matter, as | shown by his employment of Messrs. | Conrad and Bonaparte as special counsel, | to say nothing of the large force of post | office inspectors employed under the di- | rection of Fourth Assistant Postmaster | General Bristow. all appeared to be go- | ing along properly Mir. Payne sought | again to be allowed to retire. Again he | was persuaded to stay by President | Roosevelt. Recently he has a third time begged to be relieved. His resignation | has been written and handed to the President.
 Roosevelt selAshness.
 The sick cabinet officer has indeed been | relieved of active duty, but the selfish ness of Mir. Roosevelt still holds the | unfortunate man as the head of the de- partment. He was a delicate man at best before he had to encounter the | strain of the Bristow investigation and the bitter attacks from Congressmen of both parties which were provoked by the | Rristow response to the Hay resolution | respecting Charges against Congress- men" have we'll nigh mortally prostrated him.
 Lying almost helpless In bed, notwith- standing the advice of his physicians MT. Payne insisted upon reading the Congressional Record in which he could not fail to see the heavy animadversions upon his name. Newspaper criticisms had already worried him enough, but they were endurabie compared to the passionate resentment visited upon him by members of Congress The result is he is described as in a critical condition from nervous collapse. His physicians had sought to get him strong erough for a trip somewhere South for possible recuperation, but even that is said to have been abandoned. Certainly 1t is not expected that he will ever again be able to resume his post at the head of the department.
 President Roosevelt has put upon him the additional burden of acting as chair man of the Republican committee since the death of Senator Hanna, in that has only succeeded in aggravating the dis tress of the man who had loyalty served him. Had Payne serven his own interest with half the zeal and fidelity he served . .oosevelt at the latter's insistent be~ hest, that he would now be a we'll man is opinion of all who are familiar with the history of his connection with the Roosevelt administration.
 Pity Rather Than Censure.
 Postmaster General Payne rather de- serves pity and some degree of kindly commiseration than to be made the tar get of criticisms that justly apply else where. The true history of his part in the Roosevelt administration must hurt him less than it will his master for whom he has sacrificed his vitality.
 It is possible that Mir. Paynes last work in connection with his duties as postmaster general has been his effort to clear himself of responsibility for sending the House Committee on Post offices and Post Roads the names of Congressman, saying indeed that he had protested that the names should not go there. and that they did go there upon an order from the committee, the respon- sibility therefor lying upon the chair man of the committee, Representative Jesse Overtstreet.
 The official record of MT. Payne may show that he was imprudent and incom- petent, but it cannot fail to show that he has suffered too much. and far out of all reason for the ruthless ambition of Theodore Roosevelt to stay President of the United States another four years.
 The signs are abundant among the Re- publican members of Congress themselves