The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1907-04-04
THE COLUMBIAN, BLOOMSBURY. PA

standing overtime If the fraud
could have been revealed the out.
ragged public conscience would have
scourged the conspirators and OBJ.
liberated their party. But it wasn't
and couldn't be and Pennypacker's
genius for deception carried the Re-
publican party to victory in the
face Of the most colossal frauds OF
modern history.
AMAZING EvIDENcE OF GRAFT
AS the investigation of the capi
tol graft proceeds the evidence be.
comes more amazing. Last week
several new sensations were
brought out. The brother-in la "
OF the favored contractor, Sander
son, testified that Architect Huston
knew that Beaver county glass had
besn substituted for bacarat glass.
The specifications required bacarat
glass and the bills rendered were
for bacarat glass But the ma
terial furnished was Beaver county
glass and the fraud was perpetrated
with the knowle lge and assent Of
Huston. The State was robbed of
vast sum by the transaction and
the contractor proportionately en-
riched. Yet Pennypacker protests
that there was no fraud and Huston
declared that there was no collision.
They must Imagine that the people
are all fools.
That there was collusion between
the contractors and the architect is
made clear, moreover, by the rela-
tions shown between Sanderson and
Payne. Payne didn't get as large
a percentage of profits as Sander
son, but his rakeoff was very great.
For example he got fifteen cents
foot for the cement floors while the
evidence shows that he paid only
five cents a loot for them. In his
case, however, the culpability is
not so much in the overcharges. 1t
is in the fact that he was cognizant
OF and participant in the vast
overcharges of Sanderson. AS
matter OF fact in some particulars
at least, Payne was the agent for
Sanderson and in all cases he exer
cised a supervisory power over the
employees of Sanderson. That re-
lo:ionship could hardly have been
i'll the absence of partnership.
GRAFT IN SMALL MATTERS.
The testimony taken at the last
session of the commission was more
amusing than serious. That it is
treated of the trihes about the build
ing. But it proved that the spirit
of graft run through the operation
from beginning to end. The boot
blacks stand in the Senate cloak
room, for instance, cost Sanderson
SI25 90 and the State was charged
81 ,6Io. 20. the profit being at the
rate of 1895 per cent. On the bar
ber's case the poor fellow was only
able to make oo2 per cent, which
indicates a hard-hearted sub-con-
tractor. The clothes trees and um.
brella stands yielded profits of a
fraction less than 500 per cent,
which could be regarded in no 9th.
er light than downright cruelty if
it were not for the fact that Sander
son had no money invested at all
and the profit was on air. The
same is true of the vast profits on
the chandeliers. Brother-in law
Salon testified that not a cent of
money had been paid by anybody
for the stock OF the Pennsylvania
Bronze Co., which supplied the
chandeliers by the pound and the
share holders got dividends amoun-
ting in the aggregate to 1870 per
cent. on an investment of abso.
lutely nothing.
But the startling feature of all
this is that If William H. Berry had
not been elected State Treasurer in
1905 the public would never have
known of this colossal fraud. It
was the intention of the conspira-
tors to claim that the capitol build
ing had been completed for less
than the amount appropriated by
law. In fact literature had been
prepared for distribution asserting
this claim and extolling the Re.
publican party in general and the
Pennypacker administration in par.
ticular for this splendid achieve
ment. In this matter the culpabil-
ity Of Mr.. Pennypacker is empha-
sized for he was the active leader