The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-01-21
WHITE HOUSE GRAFT.

WHITE HOUSE GRAFT.
 This Is a national administration oi high moral ideals" don't you know 1 It is an administration that rants over much about private and public moral ity, civic rightecusness and other things that good people admire. And all the time there Is a series of Pitts burglanisms in progress there all She while. It has just been "discnvered, so we are told, that the Presidents 1 barber is carried on the government | payroll as an accountant" and draws a salary of s1.soO year. Then some one else has discovered that Mrs. Rooseveit,s messenger" is carried on the rolls of the printing and engrav- ing department and gets ss2e per an- mum from Uncle sam's coffers. These facts lead The Columbia state to re- mark:
 Our Washington correspondent says these revelations have caused con | siderable stir here." Yes, the "reyela- . tions" cause the stir, not the facts: thing-@anS Sn worse. , There should be more revelations" Revelations In the doings of the men in high places would be decidedly beneficial to the public service. We believe there is ten favoritism and graft in WashingtSn every year as was misappropriatec py all the insurance companies wnsse questionable practices produced na-
 Two servants in the White House together y2.5oe year. How many others are so paidi Continue the fsv, so the departments. Reach the Senators, the. Representatives, the cabinet om- cers and the chiefs of bureaus. Ascer- | tain how many attractive young Wo- pay.rolls without pretending to give | the government any sort or return Find the number of nephews. nleces cousins, aunts and otber Kin fnat are CTS" and messengers" and all kinds ot | things that they are not. They are all present and acccupted for on pay-oay
 All this is interesting to outsiders It may be that . barber who has to shave and look at Rooseyelts face every day should be we'll paid for 1t even if the pay comes in the naturs of misappropriation of public funds It may also be true that the White House messenger-paid the same way -is worth all he gets. but are the tax payers of the country legally under obligation to foot these bills? Gen. gress occasionally has something tc say about graft. and appoints commit tees to investigate things. but we sus' pect that they could dig up larg' quantities of malodorous graft in con- nection with the administration if thes would go at 1t in earnest. Take. fol one notable example, the secret ser | vice system, which has degeneratet from its original object and become little more than 6 vast swarm of pait spies and informers who are used bS Roosevelt to subserve his own purposes and in some cases to assist him iT carrying out his own designs against men who have displeased him or ir any manner incurred his enmity. Th' cost of this system has increased 1T a few years from less than two mil lion dollars a year until now 1t Il costing the country nine millions o more Of this system and it's abus' our Republican contemporary. Th' Kansas City Journal says:
 facts be known but all refiecting citi zens who care for the permanence o free American institutions and th' peace and happiness of the American people will agree that prompt and e1' ish every vestige of this spy system and to restore the secret service bu' resu to it's legitimate place in the ad' ministration of the government. No doubt, with the right kind ci man in the executive office the sscre service system is useful and sefvei a good purpose. but of late it has be come little else than a place fer thous ands of Presidential favorites an' as a weapon in Roosevelt's hands t' be used for most unworthy purposes kThere should be a great letting in O. light and if it is properly done goo' citizens will be ready to ask. in tb' words of Macbeth:
 Can such things be-
 And overcome us like a Summer
 Cloud
 Without eur special wonder?
 An, no doubt people will wonder | all the truth comes out. They will wonder, not cnly that such things car he in our government but that no at tempt has been made to check thu evil and put stop to Presidential misconduct. And we have mentioned but a small part of what Is going or under the present administration Roosevelt seems to think that he ma! not only use the army and navy. am the police as he likes. but that he ma! use the public funds as he please
 without warrant of law. It is goinl to be a foul development if all tn truth can be brought cut