The news & observer., 1905-11-04
BARTERING PUBLIC OFFICE


and public shamelessness the State of
North Carolina has seen since except
when Milton S. Littlefield cracked his
whip and ordered 1.-The hands to issue
many million dollars of fraudulent
bonds when he dominated the State in
1862. There was nothing too shame
full for the ring-leaders who were in
power. The Agricultural Department
reeked so with foul odors of scandals
that it was universally known as 1.-The
State Manure Pile" and positions in
it were the result of intrigue. favor
and pull. Fitness never entered at all
into account. The management of the
penitentiary was worse. Not few of
the convicts they We're paid to guard
and keep, and vileness and incompe-
tency were SO common as to make the
publication of the differing sins a mo-
notonous tale. The Legislature was
like the shambles where men and laws
were bought and sold, and offices in
the Legislature were divided out be-
tween negroes and whites to the dis
gust of the State. The powers that be
actually discharged an official for no
reason than that he refused to ap
point negroes to positions where they
would work in the same rooms where
white ladies, forced to earn their bread
by copying. We're employed. The cul-
mination of the scandalous and dis
graceful administration of the Radi-
spiracy formd by Governor Russell
and Senator Butler to get rich by turn
ing moral traitors TO the State that
had elected them to high office, the
Governor of the State actually order
ing the State Treasurer to recall bonds
already offered for exchange al
twenty-five cents on the dollar, and
becoming shortly thereafter attorney
of the New York bondholdcrs in
suit seeking to make the State pay one
hundred cents on the dollar and in
terest on the very bonds voluntarily
offered the State in compromise at
twenty-five cents in the dollar. With
out violating his trust Governor Rus
sell could not have ordered those c;
celled bonds returned a'''F
he could not. after retiring from the
office of Governor, used the knowl-
edge obtained as Governor to conduct
the South Dakota and like litigation
Equally dishonOrable was it in the
man chosen to the Senate from North
Carolina to conspire with the Senator
from South Dakota to accept bonds
and sell it's jurisdiction to sue in the
Federal courts, thus practicing a fraud
upon the jurisdiction of that court.
Such was the Fusion rule in North
wrong and corruption are now at the
head of the Republican party in North
Carolina and every one OF its organs
defends the era Of scandal for which
the present Republican leaders were
responsible
The filling of Federal offices in
North Carolina by Radical leaders was
not much better than the filling of
State offices by the Radicals The
courts records show that not a few
postmasters landed in the penitentiary
for robbing the postoffice, some OF
them were forced to resign in-order
to escape prosecution, and more still
were appointed as the results of bar
gaining and trafficking that was of
most unsavory odor. Nine-tenths of
the Federal jobs were given out as the
result of deals. One man packed the
delegation from his county to the
State Convention and thereby got his
place: another man (and there were
not a few of these) was the political
management of which was hand-in-
glove with an element in the North
Carolina Radical party, and therefore
landed at the pie-counter; another
man had rendered this or that william
service, or successfully carried out
this or that deal and was rewarded
for it. OF course some were named
simply because of active party service,
but they were the exception, and
nearly every one appointed had either
voted for negroes or so conSOrted
with them as to make them able to
get negro endorsement. Every one of
them now holding Federal office voted
against the suffrage amendment that
excluded the bulk of negroes from the
polls, and would work as hard to re-
store the ballot to them if they had
a chance. The records of the courts
and the Investigations at Washington
show the most wholesale robbery and
corruption practiced by revenue Off
GERS and distillers by which the gov
ernment has been robbed of hundreds
of thousands of dollars. If they had
what they deserved, not few rev.e-
nue. officers would be in the Albany
penitentiary instead of on Uncle
Sans payroll. Such official degreda-
tion has not been known in this coun-
try as has been shown in Judge
Boyd's court and the sad part of it is
that the corrupt officials seem to be
backed up by men higher up" i'll
officialdom. The revenue corruption is