The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1910-10-27
DEMOCRATIC
GRAFTERS
HaTmOR'S Explanation Only Puts
Him In Deeper Water.
HIS CONSCIENCE IS WARPED

Wrong-Ooing Is Abominable In Re-
pubIicans but Excusable In DEM
oerats, According to Rarron--crea-
mer's Grating Will Defeat corpo-
ration Candidate.
Governor Harmon at Findlay gave
out carefully prepared explanation
of the graft charges as they refer to
Factory Inspector Kearns, Labor
Commissioner Wirmel and Fire Mar
shall zuber, all Democratic employees
of the state. He claimed that these
men, following an established custom
approved by a former attorney gen.
eral, had simply drawn money from
the state to pay travelling expenses
to and from their homes, and he ac-
quilted them of all moral wrong in
the transaction.
But Governor Harmon was neither
fair-minded nor manly enough to tell
the people that the graft charges he
nightly prefers against Former Fire
Marshals Davis and Rogers Republi-
cans, are of exactly the same nature
as those of which he acquits Zuber,
WirmeI and Kearns. TO DO so
WOULD BE TO ADMIT THAT
MUCH OF HIS CAMPAIGN MA
TERIAL is MERE BoMeAsT-and
that would not suit his purpose.
In the same connection, Governor
Harmon defined grating as ~willful
wongdoing with evil intent" which
is a pretty good definition. 1t ap-
pile to the acts of Mark Slater Re-
publican, who is rightfully serving a
term in prison. with equal force it
applies tC David S Creamer, Demo
crat, who is a candidate for state
treasurer on the same ticket with
Governor Harmon, and to Ham De-
weese, who, though under indictment
for defrauding the state, is holding a
state job by appointment from Gov
ernor Harmon. Mark Slater is held
up to public scorn in all of Harmons
speeches; Creamer and DeWeese are
carefully shielded from the Conse-
quences of their wrongdoing. Slater
the Republican goes to prison;
Creamer and Deweese are rewarded
with fat political jobs.
Consider the case of Creamer, as
proven by his own admissions before
the legislative probe committee-ad-
missions, by the way, which secured
him Immunity from criminal pI osecu-
ton.
During his term as fire marshal,
Creamer at various times attended
political conventions at St. CIars.
willie and East Liverpool. BY no pos.
sibIe construction could these private
political trips come under the ruling
of Attorney General Sheets. But Crea.
mer wanted the state of Ohio to pay
for his political activities as we'll as
for the work he was hired to do sc
he deliberately drew a voucher or
the state treasury, IN WHICH HE
ALLEGED HE HAD EEEN IN BEL,
LAIRE TO OFFICIALLY INVESTk
GATE A FIRE, WHEN AS A MAT
TER OF FACT THERE HAD BEEN
NO FIRE AND HE HAD NOT BEEN
10 BELLAlRE AT ALL
The money obtained on this false
voucher reimbursed Creamer for his
expenses while attending to his own
private affairs in another city.
This was "willful wrongdoing" Of
the kind which Governor Harmon de-
fines as grating; it is the same kind
OF grating that sent Mark Slater to
the penitentiary. That Creamer re-
funded the money after he had been
caught in no way excuses the act,
but is an additional confession OF
guilt
Evidently Governor Harmon's ideas
Of right and wrong are strangely
warped. To him, apparently, graft
ing is crime only when the CRATER
is a Republican; if the CRATER Is a
Democrat who may, perchance, help
Harmon on his road to the presi-
dency, his crime becomes virtue to
be rewarded with further opportun.
ties to graft on the state.
No man engaged in private bust
ness would for moment tolerate in
an employe such misconduct as
Creamer confessed. Governor Har.
mon himself a manager of p. Nor
gan & Company's c., H. & d. rail
road, in all pobability would instant
ly discharge any subordinate who OBJ
tanned his employers money by false
pretenses; and he wouldn't stop to
consider the faithless ones politics,
either. When he fails to protect the
state as carefully as he would pro-
tect Morgan's railroad, he convicts
himself of unfaithfulness to his pub
lict trust.