Evening journal., 1911-03-28
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
The Garland VindiCatiOn
That Never Was
Published
BY "HoIIand..

The greatest embarrassment and the
chief annoyance to which Mr.. Cleve-
land was compelled to submit after ne
became President in 1885 were due TO
the very vigorous and apparently
plausible attempt to involve his Attor-
ney General, Augustus H. Garland of
Arkansas, i'm some kind of pecuniary
scandal in connection with an at
tempt TO organize an Independent tele-
phone company based upon devices
said to have been invented by another
than Professor Alexander Graham
Bell
There was no man in the cabinet
for whose integrity and ability Mr..
Cleveland had higher regard There
were three men whom Cleveland took
from the United States Senate to serve
in his first cabinet-Thomas r. Bay
ard, as Secretary of State; L. O. G.
Lamar as Secretary of the Interior,
and Senator Garland. as Attorney-Gen
eral. Like Senator Vest of Missouri
Senator Garland had served i'm the
Confederate Upper House before he
was elected to the United States Sem
ate. Mr.. Cleveland was very fond Of
listening TO certain of Mr.. Garland's s
recollections of the days when he was
member of the Confederate Senate.
He did not know Mr.. Garland socially
at the time he asked him to enter his
cabinet, yet, within few weeks after
they first met at the cabinet table. the
President gave to his Attorney Cen
eral as large measure of his conf
dence as he ever gave TO any man, with
perhaps one or two exceptions.
Then of sudden was exploded the
scandal--so called-of the telephone
company, involving, apparently the
Attorney General. Mr.. Cleveland was
greatly distressed. His confidence in
Senator Garland was not shaken, but
he felt as If there ought to be a COM
plete denial and one which could not
be questioned since It was essential
that his administration should begin
without a taint of any scandal.
The matter was discussed at sew
eral cabinet meetings. Mr.. Garland in
sisting that his connection with the
company. such as it was, was absolute
ly defensible. that there was no taint
attached to IT,
But" said the president, there
should be some statement coming
from you which may put an end to
these scandals viii you prepare a
statement of that kind?"
Il shall be very glad to do IT," Mr.
Garland replied
In some way il leaked out that the
Attorney General was TO prepare and
make public a statement completely
vindicating himself. The DAYS passed
and there appeared no statement from
Mr.. Garland. Splendid silence was
maintained. and many persons won-
dered If Mr. Garland was unable to
make a reply. The scandal was mat
ter of public discussion for some
months. but at last it died out
Nov / am able to tell you what the
climax, or the sequel. of that matter
was" Mr.. George F. Parker, Mr. Cleve-
lands intimate friend and biographer,
told me recently. After Mr.. Cleve-
lands first term was ended, he had all
of his documents and papers sent TO a
house he had taken i'm New York. The
rubbish. as he called It, was deposited
in an unused upper room. There it lay
for several years Then. as Mr. Cleve-
Ian was to move into another house.
Il seemed TO him best that this mass
Of documents should be sorted and
most of them burned or sold for waste
paper after having been torn up. We
shut ourselves up in that room for
nearly a week, only leaving IT to get
our meals and seek our beds. Mr..
Cleveland ruthlessly destroyed a lot
Of documents that was sure had his
toric value. but he thought not
AT last, he discovered in a large en-
velope some manuscript. Taking Il
therefrom. he told me that here was
the statement prepared by Attorney
General Garland in vindication of him