Los Angeles herald., 1910-08-06
THE CHARGES AGAINST
THE VICE PRESIDENT

public is left TO balance the word of
Senator Gore and Congressman Creager
against that of Harmon and Sherman.
Those who try to arrive at a just
opinion will look into the motives that
may lend probability to the allegations
and denials, the eorroborative circum-
stances seeming to support or refute
them, and the records of the men in
volved. Since the syndicate stood to
buy land with coal and asphalt deposits
worth 5000, 10000 from the Indians for
a seventh Of its value, the motive may
appear clear as to all parties from this
excerpt from the testimony of Senator
Gore:
"As a New York syndicate stood
ready to pay S30,000 600 for the
lands, the 10 per cent to the Nc
Murray interests for attorneys
fees would realize $3,0O0,OOO," said
the senator.
when Harmon named the per
son higher up I threw up my hands
in astonishment and said: Is it pos
sible that a person so high in the
United States government could lay
himself open to such an imputa-
tion?'
Well replied Harmon, this is
lots of money, you see
It is not denied that a movement was
on foot for the purchase by a New
York syndicate of the Indian lands. 1t
is patent that the lands are immensely
valuable. 1t is obvious that legislative
help was needed to ratify any purchase
from the Indians, and when a senator
and a congressman from the state in
volved say they were approached there
is a circumstantial probability that 1t
was worth somebody's while to spend
money literally for what was most
needed
The reputation of Gore and Creager
is good. There is no apparent motive
for their concocting a story of bribery
Therefore one looks next at the repu-
tations of the accused men. Harmon
is only minor incident in the scandal
He admits he was in the scheme for a
big rake-off in the form of pay for
legal services" His word is not
worth anything, since he would have
the strongest motive-no less than a
vision of the penitentiary-to deny all
guilt.
Almost everybody would prefer to be-
lieve that an exalted officer of the
United States is wholly innocent of the
moral blackness, if not the actual legal
corruption that this involves, but un-
fortunately what they know of Mr.
Sherman is not the most favorable. He
is a man of large fortune which was
largely made at his home in Utica, N
Y, by the formation of the local ice
trust that stifled competition and raised
prices to the poor, for in a manufacture
ing community like Utica the great
majority of the people are wage earners
who have all they can do to live com
fortably.
In congress Mr.. Sherman's record is
not one to be proud of So subservient
has he been to the speaker that he has
been dubbed Joe Cannon's errand
boy" and for years he stood with Can
non and the others of the packed rules
committee on guard for the privileged
interests that built up swollen fortunes
for private individuals by the score
through favorable legislation. In 1908,
when Congressman Lilley sought to
lay bare the secrets of the submarine
boat scandal Sherman was one of those
who helped to suppress the truth and
whitewash the boat company.
It was due to Cannon that he was
nominated for his present office. 1t
was done to placate the regular" wing,
and Cannon paid for Shermans years
of usefulness by selecting him. Sher-
man has long been a politician Of the
type that has made the term politics
a reproach in the minds of thousands.
In his extended career in the house he
never conceived a worthy measure, but
was the glad-hand artist of the Cannon
cotere, and an active assistant in the
framing of tariff schedules that plum
dered the masses as truly as if it had
been done by short-weight scales or
gold bricks. 1t was legal, but it was
morally indefensible and affords a
measure of his ethical standards.
sherman \ IttblAl - sum Allc'I ilN " IL
have to establish his innocence. This
is not the spirit of our laws but in the
equity Of the situation it is no more
than he has earned. The history of the
senate in recent years also makes that
imperative in the cases of Long and
Curtis Of Kansas and Mcclure of Okla
homa. 1t is reported that Chairman
Burke has said that Mr.. Sherman will
not be called in the investigation. That
affords a chance to say the popular
opinion of congressional inquiries is
below par.
The Ballinger case, the Lllley case,
the Smoot case farther back and the
absence of any inquiry into the Lorimer
case have not caused any growth of
respect for the national body But
they have given much pertinence and
force to the question asked by Repre-
sentative Lilley Of Representative Mur-
dock as they walked together on the
street in Washington two years ago;
Il wonder if the people will ever get
on to this crowd"
SIMPLY AWFUL