Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1914-08-19

! the inspector was not without bias
or had been deceived in the matter
| mad another inspector detailed to
make an investigation. This inspector
had never been to Anderson before.
and knew nobody there. He spent
| several weeks in Anderson, mingling
with the people and trying to get at
the facts, and his report was alto
gether different from that of the first
| inspector. Still another inspector
made a report, and his report corrob-
ortaated that of the second inspector.
| These reports, made wholly iudepend-
ent OF each other, Tailed in almost ev-
cry detail. The department officials
were thoroughly convinced that the
charges against Mf.Cochran were made
through spite, and it was clearly es-
tablished that most of the charges
were without foundation while 9th
efs were grossly exaggerated. The de-
partment officials informed me that
not sufficient grounds for the post
masters removal had been shown,
| and that there was nothing for me
to do.
1t is true that when the difficulty
between the postmaster and the as
sistant postmaster first occurred
some good people at Anderson wrote
that they thought the postmaster
should be removed. Most of them
| have since written that they were
mistaken, that they did not fully un-
| derStand the circumstances, and that
they thought it would be only justice
for him to serve out his term, which
expires in December. There are a
number of applicants for the office, all
OF whom are my friends, and every
one of them has informed me that he
is willing for Mr.. Cochran to serve
| out his term. 1t is worthy or mention
in this connection that there are some
20 or 80 clerks and carriers in the An
| CerSon postoilice. They are as fine and
clean body of men as | have ever
| known. Every single one of them has
| sided unreservedly with the postmas-
| ter iii this affair Surely, if there had
been anything very badly wrong, they
| would not have stood for it--certan-
| ly not all of them.
1t is true that three ministers of
the city Of Anderson did sign Il peti-
ton to the President, asking that
the postmaster be removed.
Two of these, | understand,
have but recently come to Anderson
and they had not had time to get ac-
quainted with conditions. The other
| minister who signed the petition is
pastor of small church, and, | am
| told, spends comparatively little of
| his time in the city. None of the 9TH
er 70 or more white ministers in the
city signed the petition, although
most, If not all were asked to do so.
Some OF them even went so far as to
write letters to Washington express
| ing their disgust with the methods
being used against the postmaster,
and letting it be known that they
were more than willing for him to re-
main in office until the expiration of
his term. These letters are all on file
| in Washington, and it would have
been so easy for Baker to have quot
ed them if he had been trying
to be decent
Baker charactcrizes Mr.. Cochran as
"a drunken sot." Mr.. Cochran is able
to take care of himself, and Baker
will probably be called to account for
such language. 1t is probably true
that he has been drinking too much
Any man who drinks at all drinks too
| much. | can say this, because in my
own young manhood | used to drink,
but | quit drinking when | was elect
ed to Congress and | have not taken
a drink since. 1t is extremely dis
tasteful to make these personal re-
| Gerences, but SO many ISLANDERS have
| been circulated on me that | would
not be at all surprised to learn that
the character assassins are saying
that |, too, have been a drunken sot"
here in Washington.
SO much for the Anderson postof-
lice. There has been no vacancy, al
though desperate effort has been
made to create one. l have not tried
to keep Mr.. Cochran in office, and |
have not tried to get him out, for
knew that would be useless unless
there was cause. The postofIice depart
ment officials say there was not suffi-
cient cause
But | have been keeping close I'D
with the situation as regards the SER
vice, and there has not been one
| single complaint as to the service
given by the postolIice in Anderson.
The department officials say the Of
lice ranks second to none in the
country in point of efficiency. Only
recently it has been my pleasure to
cooperate in securing better mail
service in and out of the city of An
dersOn, and right now we are working
on plan to improve the delivery SER
vice in the city and on the rural
routes.
AS | have stated. if | had had my
way Mr.. Cochran and every other Re.
publican postmaster in the country
would have been removed long ago.
There is a Republican postmaster at
Greenville, and there are Republican
postmasters still in Office at other
places in South Carolina and all over
the country. AS fast as their commits
sions expire they are being removed