The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-07-23

did not interfere with the proper
cruising arrangements of the vessels ;
With the power of making all .'cruis-
ing arrangements the hands OF Secre-
taTy McAdo9 and hts assistants, when,
pray. VIII the desire OF William q.
McAdoo for an oce3n voyage in Il
revenue cutter at government expense
be prevented because OF cruising ar
Engagements II vessels made by Score
tary McAdo0? Such an interpreta-
zion renders this provision Of the
law not only nugatory, but IL is silly.
Cruising orders for the revenue
cutter Apache were given by Secre-
tary McAdoo or his assistants She
was scheduled for those unlawful
summer junkets down the Potomac
by the secretary of the treasury BY
"A study Of her schedule you viii OBJ
serve that she is able to perform prac-
ticslly no other service, Tor she leaves
Baltimore on Friday and returns the
following Tuesday leaving only ANed-
nesdays and Thursdays to take on
supplies for the next junket. and to
perform the public business am
told that because Of this unlawful
use of the Apache the members of
the crew have had no gun practice
all summer"
And the onondaga, Too,
Speaking Of Secretary McAdoo's ex-
PLANTATION of his presence on the Dnon-
dHga with his wife, Representative
GOode said.
Secretary and Mrs, McAdoo have
their summer home at Mattapoisette,
Mass. which can be reached from
Washington by water They were
here and desired to go to their sum-
mer home. AN ocean trip on "A steam
yacht unquestionabiy looked inviting
By strange coincidence, Just as the
secretary and Mrs. McAdoo were
&; ready to start for Nattapoisette. the
revenue cutter Ohondaga. pursuant to
cruising orders. Was also ready to
leave Washington fer Mattapoisette, a
village Of 1900 on the Massachusetts
coast. Of course, the Onondaga was
on government business. But the
statement of the secretary that he
paid for his meals on the trip causes
little confusion. II Secretary Nc
Adoo was on official business. as
claimed, why should he have been
compelled to pay for his meals? II
called from Washington on official
business why should not the govern
ment pay fer his meals?
ION the contrary. he was using
ffa4t-f+-t-t7ft'te aka "a yacht
for private purposes This being true,
he should at least have paid all ex-
penses of the voyage. He should have
paid not only the trifiing expenses of
his meals. out also the heavy expenses
which were paid by the government
The fact that he paid for his meals is
in Itself an Acknowledgement that he
was not on the Onondaga on Official
business, and that he knew he was
violating the law.
At Government Expense.
There was one reason why this
was done, and only one. Mr.. Me
Adoo wanted TO go. He wanted to
/ have an ocean voyage at government
expense. He had charge OF the
proper cruising arrangements, and
was willing to violate the law and
! violated 1t.
This f. a sample Of real Demo
cratic economy. These Cruising ar
rangements' at this season of the year
are apparently very popular with al
least ii great part of the Democratic
administration. These voyages in
luxurious steam yachts at government
expense have not been denounced BY
Ii single Democrat connected with the
administration. / am led to inquire
whether the unlawful and private use
of these yachts Ia intended as q per-
Torrance of the Democratic platform
pledge we demand FL return to that
fits "a Democratic government The
example set by Secretary McAdco en-
courages minor officials to violate the
law. / have here a newspaper article
describing the details of a pleasure
trip given by the collector OF Nor
folk, Va. describing how he enter
tanned a party Of friends aboard one
Of the vessels of the customs house
feet"
Replying to Mr.. Good Representa-
tive Fitzgerald who had previously
defended Secretary McAdoo, said:
II think the statement Is purely
Pickwickian that IA revenue cutter
leaves this town every Saturday load
ed down with Democratic officeholders
and politicians, There Is not boat
load Of Democratic offlcehoiders in
Washington. The politicians have
been as scarce as huckleberries In
winter"