The Washington herald., 1912-03-23

L. J.
re-electing him. The governor spoke
from the same platform that night. and
the meeting between the old-tine poiit-
the Johnson organization has. come out
warmly indorsing Judson Harmon for
| the Presidential nomination. y
The Official graft at Ohio's State capi-
tol during the Republican regime. which
] had extended over a score of years. was
the issue in that first campaign. Judson
for all ii was worth. from one end Of the
State to the other. With him constantly
when he spoke was d., s. Creamer. the
Their joint q sppeai i fell diA'o on wiling Wiling
| ears. II Is matter of history now
| that in Presidential year. when the
Republican Presidential nominee hailed
from Ohio. William II. Taft carried his
native State by almost 70, 900. and Jud-
| son Harmon was elected governor on
the opposing ticket by upward Of 1900
majority. The Democratic candidate
for State treasurer barely got Through.
but this was provldential in view of
what followed. All the other places
/ the Republicans, who also elected a
majority in both branches of the gen
eral assembly.
| With a Republican general assembly
| on his hands. Gov. 'Harmon's work dur
| ing his first administration, was d.
rected. chiefly toward the reorganiZa-
tion OF such State departments and
Ieontroi. In his first message to the
general assembly he Recommended the
passage. OF many measures to promote
economy and efficiency In the state
service. A majority. of the bills INTRO
/ duced as result of the governors
Recommendations were either defeated
or emasculafed by the Republican ma
jorityl in the law-making body - !
Cow Harmon has always been pro-
| life in veto messages, but in his nrst
admiIstFasionf ne hsse SO 70 ses %ere s
ferse and to the point. too. Harmon
has a knack of speaking volumes In a
| few words when he is aroused.
provided him with powers to investigate
the conduct of all the State departments,
| including those held by elective State
ernor in such shape that he was COM
tpeIled to veto IT. In his veto message
Gov. Harmon told the lawmakers THAT
the bill as passed by them read as
though it had been enacted for the bene.
| fit Of crooked public officials instead of
| in the interest Of the State.
| In the meantime, the Republican news
Harmon maintained. kept repeating from
day to day on their editorial page the
assertion that the governor had failed
10 make good the charges of official graft
made by him and the Democratic candi-
date for State treasurer during the pre-
ceding campaign. Little did they know
| that the silence in the governors office
was merely the calm before a storm
Harmon had merely been biding his time.
Wages War on Graft.
1t will be remembered that d. S.
Creamer. the Democratic candidate for
State treasurer. had been the one lucky
Democrat besides the candidate for gov
ernor in the first Harmon campaign. II
was chiefly in the treasury department
that the official graft had obtained which
led to the charges made by Mr.. Harmon
on the stump
The income of the State OF Ohio from
all sources is about S1e. 100000 annually:
As rule, there is a cash balance of
about s5,0oo,00o always to the credit of
the Buckeye State. Prior TO 19of there
was no legal obligation on the State
treasurer to put this money out at nj
terest.
1t was used freely by incumbents Of
the office as a result. They put it out
at interest which was placed to their
credit StaS treasurers in Ohio We're
in the habit of waxing rich in a two
| years term. In 1904 a law was passed
making it compulsory to place all the
State moneys except what was needed
for current expenses. in certain desig-
mated banks at interest and to keep the
rest on checking accounts.
From this time on there began to ap-
pear in the reports Of Ohio's State treas
urers the mention OF large sums kept in
vaults. The sum averaged about A.0o9.-
600 for many years. In addition to this,
sums aggregating nearly 10000 was kept
on checking account in two Columbus
banks. -
sum as 81. .0O0,e00 was kept lying idle in
the States vaults had always been a big
puzzle to inquisitive 0hioans. The puz-
Zle was solved when Mr.. Creamer became
State treasurer and Mr.. Harmon gov
ernor. Mr.. Creamer found after a brief
experience in the State treasurer's Of
1 a. n NawA 1l1
for current expenses was something like
$50, co.,
Z When he began to inquire into the
matter of what former State treas
urers had done with the great cash
balances reported by them he found.
to his amazement, that books had
been mutilated and correspondence
which might shed light on the ques-
ton had been abstracted from the
State treasury files. He was compelled
to employ other means to trace the
held custody for the State. He was
aided by the State banking depart
ment, which, OF course. had the right
to examine the books of banks under
tional bank, over which the State au-
thorities had no control. failed and Its
books had to be opened there was q
veritable flood of light.
The puzzle was solved. The money
had not been in vault at all. It had
been out earning interest for some-
BODY. ana SOIIleDOug was thc
state. 1t was an easy graft" toe. All
the State treasurer had to do was 10
prepare to render an accounting to
the state auditors when they called
This happened once every quarter.
They were of the same political faith
as the treasurer.
The cohesive force of plunder got
in its work, too. Their coming WAS MAS
State treasurer had ample time for
window dressing. Some correspond
ence in the Office of the State treas
urer, apparently overlooked in the
lootins Of files when the Republicans
went out and Democrat entered the
treasury department as its chief, gave
ample evidence of this. All the State
treasurer did was to tip OF some of
his friends in the banking world who
were benehting with him from the
free and easy system OF husbanding
the States money, to send the 1unas
needed for the accounting temporarily
to the place of deposit where IL
should have remained all the time.
1t was not until he had been in ONCE
almost twelve months that Gov. Har-
mon thought his chain of evidence COM
plete enough to call upon the Republican
attorney general to bring suits to recov-
due the state from two former State
treasurers and one tax collector. So Sc
cretly had the investigation been car
I.ied on that when the letter was sent to
Attorney General u. G. Denman, in De-
cember, 1909, the blow struck at graft
bombshel in the Republican camp. 1t
created not only AZ sensation, but I'M
mense Indignation from one end Of the
State to the other.
: No Opposition to RenoDaination.