The Minneapolis journal., 1906-10-28
SCANDAL OF CAPITOL
MAY CRUSH PENR0sE
Pennsylvania Machine in Grave
Danger as Result of
Graft Exposure.
BY w. w. Jermane. Colorado BulIdIns,
WaShinqton, .. C.,

Washington, Oct. 27.-Two years ago
the state of Pennsylvania went republic
can by 495,O0O majority; today it is
fran frankly Shows a%fd s aa by eWXsr psP6fSaa Sa
the state is in doubt, with at least an
even chance that it will go democratic
on Nov. 6.
The republican party of Pennsyl-
vania has been sowing the wind for, 10,
these many years, by supinely allowing
that old plum tree shaker, the late
Matthew Stanley Quay, and his under
study, Senator Penrose, to have their
unobstructed viii with the party, and
now the party is apparently in grave
danger of reaping the whirlwind.
For years and years the repub
ican party of Pennsylvania has
lived and moved and had its
being in machine the like Of
which for downright iniquity and
barefaced graft has never had an equal,
a machine which by comparison made
the Boss Coxes, and even the Dick
Crokers look like amateurs. 1t is doubt
full if Tammany Hall in its rottenest
moments ever even dreamed of any
public building for $4,000,0O0 and the
expenditure Of $9,OOO,O0O in furnishing
the same, yet that is what has oc-
Cured in connection with the new
Pennsylvania state capitol.
Designer Got 5 Per Cent.
Indeed, it is this state capitol matter
which has brought the present culmina-
tive appropriation, and the expendi-
lures were therefore necessarily open
and in plain sight, with the result that
the state acquired building which is
conceded to be the finest of it's kind
in the country. But the furnishing of
the capitol was not done in that way.
That part of it was done by some sort
of a committee or commission, under a
general act Of the legislature instruct
building, and, say, they did it.
Never before was there such a case
of furnishing. The "gent'' who de-
signed the furnishings received 5 per
cent of the $9,000,000 for doing it, and,
as anyone can see, will never have to
work any more.
Forest of Chandeliers. ..
The building is forest of chande-
liers. Chandeliers in front of you, to
the left of you, to the right; of you,
chandeliers everywhere. Chandeliers 50
numerous as to be pronounced vulgar
by the most unsophisticated visitor, and
a cussed steal' by the sophisticated.
The state was made to pay So a pound
for the bronze in the chandeliers,
whereas it is asserted that it could
have been bought for 40 cents, and that
al finished $1.20 a pound would have
been extravagant. The chandeliers cost
a total Of $2,0O0,00O.
Plenty of other citations off the
same piece could be, made, but with
this chandelier. deal as sample,
coupled with the fact that the furnish
ings cost million more than, twice as
much as the building, it will perhaps
suffice to show why at last the people
are out to do things to the republican
party of Pennsylvania. - .-
The furnishing deal was carried thru
by stealth, so that the general public
4 did not know anything about it or the
cost until THE job was finished OF
practically so. But some three months
ago the people began to "get wise''
and then the fur began to fly, and the
row grew so great that even the graft.
ers, who ID come to think Pennsyl
vania people would stand for any.
thing, became afraid and apologetic.