Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1905-06-30

blunder of his administration by hi
a.. refusal to permit his Secretary of II
- Navy, Paul Morton, to be prosecute
re for his share in the responsibility 70
10 the granting of rebates by the SAINT
q. Fe road. (of which Morton was vice
n president in charge of freight traffic
a in violation not only of the law Blu
q also of an express injunction of th
!, court. AS result of the President
p refusal Judson Harmon, who sat IL
if Mr.. Cleveland's cabinet at the sam,
|. table as Paul Morton's father, an(
q Frederick JudsOn, who together were
h retained as special counsel to prosecute
|. the case of the government against tbt
? Sante Fe, have resigned, and the
! President has been compelled to make
! public the correspondence connected
, with the case, which be does with great
gusto and with the apparent conviction
that he is entirely in the right, but
with what competent judges declare
to be an aggregation of the most spec
ious arguments which were ever pres
ented by high official of the govern
ment.
In the estimation of prominent Demo-
Gratis. and too of many leading Repub.
licans, the President has seriously
weakened, if not destroyed his power
for good. He has established the dan
gerOus precedent that where corpora
lions are caught in fragrant violations
OF the law the officers responsible for
such violations are not to be prosecuted
but merely the corporations themselves.
Of course this is absolutely farcial as
it means merely the inflctiOn of fine
on the corporations, when they are
found ont, and a fine of such small pro-
portions as to act in no way as deter
| rent from a repetition of the crime.
With no digrace following the perpe-
tratiOn Of such illegal practices the of
ficials will naturally regard it as their
duty to their stockholders to disregard
the law whenever they believe they
are safe from detention.
Although Mr.. Morton virtually con-
fesses that be knew that his road was
guilty of illegal practices and declared
that his subordinates, who granted the
rebates, did perfectly right" and that
in no other way could the road con-
tinue in business, Mr.. Roosevelt grants
him entire absOlution and assures him
he need pay no further attention to
the accusations which have been made
against him. The President also as
sures Mr.. Morton that he will make a |
splendid head of the Equitable and
then proceeds to give him some mex
pert advise as to how to conduct the
affairs of that institution.
Speaking of the Equitable, the Presi-
dent expresses the view that all insur.
ance ought to be conducted under fed
eral supervision, despite the fact that |
the Supreme Court of the United
States has repeatedly ruled that the
federal government cannot, under the
constitution, exercise such supervi-
sion.
The President is also bound to be
severely sensured for the extent which
he had attempted to shield his friend
Assistant Secretary LOOMS of the
StatedDepartment, whose conduct in
Venezuela, as exposed by Minister
Bowen, while not proven to be dishOn
est, is shown to have been permeated
with that cardinal sin of diplomacy in
1t IS also noteworthy that
while Bowen erred in attempting to rid
the government of an official whom he
regarded as dishonest and disgrace
to the United States, Bowen is igno-
dismissed. LOOMS, on the
other hand, whose sins were all those
OF seeking for personal gain, is let off
with mild reprimand.
Insurance Superintendent Hendricks
report on the affairs of the Equitable
insurance company, just made public,
reveals the fact that Senator Depew of
New York, has been drawing a "re-
fee" of $40, 900 a year as special
counsel for the Equitable and has been
accepting this amount of the policy I'
holders money for twelve years, maxi
ing total of $12O,0OO Moreover, as
and member of the executive
Mr.. Depew has also been
accepting additional fees of $4,000 a
year. 1t has been sarcastically remark
ID that in so far as can be ascertained,
'he only survice which Mr.. Depew re- :
in consideration of his $4,000
year fees, was to see that the high Of h
icers were not underpaid and in sub. I
tantiatiOn of this assertion it is point t
ID out that Mr.. Alexander drew SAL a
ry of $75, 900 year and that Mr.. HI yde, T
our years graduated from college, t,
rev salary of equal amount. AS o
10 one has suggested that the Depew
alary was meant to insure DO undue !,
with the affairs of the b
Equitable by the State Insurance Com +
Missioner, it would be highly improper /
Or your correspondent to do so, but n
here seems to be good reason for be. ly
ewing that the honorable junior Sena- IN
Or from New York will be subjected IL
certain amount of innocent chaff-
1g when he returns to Congress next
inter.
The Navy Department is looking for >
aymasters for that branch of the SER r
ice and to that end is now holding ex.
nlnatlons in Washington and San
but so difficult are these
SITS, both mental and physical, that x
any applicants have already failed
I'D it is feared that further examina-