The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1907-08-01
HARRISBURG LETTER.
Harrisburg, Pa, July 29, 1907.

Harrisburg, Pa, july 29, 1907.
Justly or otherwise there is sus-
picion developing i'll the thoughtful
public mind that the Legislative
Commission charged with the in
vestigation OF the capitol building
scandal is preparing for a miscar-
riage of justice, The surprising
tardiness in the work during the
closing sessions Of the commission,
the concealment of the salient
points in the report of the expert
Auditors and the apparent disincli
nation to bring the work to an end,
are at least suggestive. Possibly
there are no foundatins for the
doubts which are becoming increas-
ingly frequent, and those wto en-.
tertain them hope for the best. But
people are talking, just the same,
and the gossip is not reassuring.
This capitol investigation has
taken some curious forms since it
began early i'll the year. When the
Legislature met everybody knew
that an investigation of the charges
of graft was inevitable. The ma
chine Republicans as we'll as people
of other political faiths understood
that an iniquity could not be avoid
ed. But the machine Republicans
had no intention of making the in.
vestigation either searching or ear
nest. Just trihe of scratching on
the surface was all that public SELL
timent demanded, they imagined,
and it was all they intended to give.
They at once set about to pick a
committee that would be easy and
indulgent. The Insurance investi-
CATION of a year previous hadn't
done much harm.
Then strange thing happened.
The friends of Justice Elkin began
to secretly Use the scandal as a
weapon against Penrose and in the
interest of their leader who though
wearing the judicialermine cherish
es an ambition to don the Senatorial
toga. State Senator Fisher, Mr..
Elkin's friend and neighbor, was
induced in that way to pull all his
energy into the work and before
much time had elapsed the matter
had become so serious that it could
not be checked. Meantime the
friends of Penrose had been busy in
another direction and discovered
hat nearly all of those who had
participated in the iniquities and
absorbed the loot were followers or
It least supporters of Elkin.
BOTH ENDS AGAINST THE MIDDLE.
The Elkin plan was to nominate
Senator Fisher, Chairman of the
Commission, for State Treasurer
and in the event of his election use
The power and patronage of the Of
flee in his interest. 1t would have
been a greet lever and the scheme
very nearly succeeded. But Pen
rose "got on to the curves" in time
and openly and emphatically pro-
nounced against Fisher. At the
same time the Senator's friends dis
cerned that there was vast amount
of political capital to be drawn
from a thorough exposure of the
connection of Elkins friends with
the grating operations and they
threw additional energy into the
work.
Congressman Cassell, of Marietta,
who mulcted the State for nearly
two millions of dollars for steel fur
niture and filing cases is simply
puppet under the control of former
Secretary of the Commonwealth
Griest of Lancaster. Huston, the
architect, was an insurgent as late
as 1899 and Sanderson the favored
contractor was in the zenith of Of
icial favor during the administra-
ton of Governor William A. Stone.
Inculpating all these "anti-ma-
chine" or at least anti Penrose Re-
publicans, and giving the personal
friends of the Senator clear bills
Of health" would easily be the 6n-
est kind OF good politics for him.
Thus both ends working against