The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-06-04

consuming passion for righteousness and
a concurrent appetite for the square deal,
the President delivered himself through
the newspapers Of an utterance which,
emanating from so august a source, had
the effect OF surrendering JAMES n.
TYNER to popular execration and brand
ing him throughout the land not only
as a sordid criminal but as a traitor to
his official obligations and his solemn
oath.
It woult be difficult TO recall in the
whole tumultuous and tragic history Of
later ayreform a more pathetic chapter.
TYNER was an old man, past seventy,
in 1904. He had been in the public SER
vice nearly half century, occupying at
different times such places of trust and
honor as Assistant Attorney-General for
the Post Office Department, Assistant
Postmaster-G General and full Postmaster
General. Up to the moment at which
the President tried, sentenced and con-
demned him through the medium OF a
pronunciamento in the newspapers he
had enjoyed the implicit respect and
confidence OF several successive admin
istrations. His acquaintance and neigh
bors considered him RS a model public
officer. From no quarter had there
blown a breath of so much al suspicion
or disparagement. And If anything were.
needed TO deepen the color of the IN
happy picture, there was the additional
affection of a paralytic stroke and the
grievous spectacle of this poor old
man condemned for the rest OF his
broken life to a wheeled chair and
all the circumstances Of an incurable
helplessness.
Washington still remembers. how
ever, that while other alleged offenders
resorted TO every e~xpedient Of delay or
obstacle, JAMES n. TYNER demanded the
earliest possible trial and did every
thing he could to hasten it. Moreover,
the episode terminated in the formal
acquittal, and morally speaking the tri-
umphant generation, of TYNEB, though
all of his fellow defendants were sent
to hard labor at the ~penitentiary! And
Washington, along with the country at
large, remembers also that after his
acquittal-which, by the way, presented
many of the features Of an ovation
TYNER issued from his deathbed that
h~eartrending appeal to THEODORE RoosE-
WELT to recant the impetuous denuncia-
ton OF some months before and thereby
cleanse his memory OF an undeserved
and cruel stain. IL had been made
abundantly evident that he was inno-
cent. Not only that, his innocence was
recognized and hailed on every hand.
What he craved at the hands OF the
President was authority to bequeath to
his descendants the legacy of q white
name and a reputation undefled. 1t was
all he had to leave after forty years OF
faithful public service-th fees Of the
attorney who defended him were paid
by his relatives. But even that scant
solace was denied him. So far as THEo-
DoRE ROOSEVELT could contrive the
contamination, JAMES N. TYNER died
dishonored and impugned. Neither
apology nor amendment was vouch-
safed by the White House, and TYNER's
coffin bore no flower Of confession or
regret from the author of his sorrow
and humiliation.
or course there can be no real parallel.
The question Of especial interest is
whether President ROOSEVELT will treat
Professor LONGS hostile challenge as
contemptuously as he treated JAMES N.
TYNER's dying supplication.