The Blackfoot optimist., 1916-06-29
HEARD AT THE NATIONAL CAP.
ITAL,

Washington. June Is. Especial Core
spendmce. )NThe dictatOrial bureaus
cracy Of the present Democratic admin
istratiOn received two severe checks
in Washington in recent weeks. The
first, and it was indeed severe jolt,
was the verdict Of a jury acquitting the
officers of the Riggs National Bank.
against whom the treasury department
has been conducting Investigations and
prosecutions for several months. The
manner in which the bank had been
pursued by the comptroller of the cur
rency gave color to the claim that they
were being prosecuted. The verdict of
the jury against the department has
left no doubt i'll the minds of business
men that the whole case is an iihstra-
tion of the danger of entrusting larg.
discretionary power to politicians who
happen to be placed in temporary
places of authority for optical reasons.
The treasury department will undoubt-
edly not be so ready to attack another
business institution that meets it's dis
pleasure. 1t took a jury of twelve men
only minute to agree upon a verdict
against the department in this case.
The other instance in which the adj
ministration received rebuke was in
connection with postal legislation. The
Senate committee on postofiices and
post roads had agreed upon certain
recommendations regarding rural lie
livery service and railway mail pay.
Members of Congress had been flooded
with protests against the policies the
department has been trying to put in
practice in the rural service, and in an
effort to meet the demands of the pat
rOns of the rural delivery service, the
committee proposed certain restrictive
regulations which would prevent the de-
partInent from further demOralizing the
service. Fourth Assistant Postmaster
General Blakeslee, who has supervision
of the rural delivery service, immedi-
ately sent out a number OF kilograms
and letters to postmastcrs directing
them to start "a propaganda against the
proposed legislation. The language he
suggested to them was not at all COM
plimentary to the members of the Sen
ate committee. In fact, it reflected
upon their fitness for seats i'll the Sen
ate. Postmaster General Burleson de.
MED having anything to do with the
propaganda work, so the committee
called Blakeslee on the carpet and rep.
rimanded him i'll no uncertain terms.
The most serious disclosure of the whole
affair is that the kilograms sent by
Blakeslee were paid for by the govern
ment. While the cost of the kilograms
was probably not great, the principle
is the same. If it is lawful for an ad.
ministrative officer to eNpend a hund.
red dollars directing an administrative
machine in campaign against legisla.
tion pending in Congress, it is lawful
for him to spend hundred thousand
dollars. With a practice such as this
once established, bureaucracy would
have no limits. Recognition of this had
much to do with the determination of
the Senate committee to rebuke the de-
partment in Il most emphatic way.
President Wilson has taken the one
step necessary to drive away from the
Democratic party the support of every
cOlOred voter. He has appointed "a
white man to the position of recorder
of deeds of the District Of Columbia.
Cleveland established the custom Of
placing colored man in this position.
Every President since has observed this
custom. During his 1912 campaign
Woodrow Wilson assured representa-
tives of the colored race that he would
not discriminate against the colored
people in the matter of appointments.
After his election he promised to ap-
point colored man to this particular
office. His recent appointment of John
+. Costello, Democratic committeeman
from the District Of Columbia, is not
only violation of his promise but a
violation of TcustOm so well estab-
lishcd that his act cannot be construed
otherwise than as direct slap at the
colored people. One-third of the popu-
latiOn of the District of Columbia is
cOlored. There is no question that
plenty of qualified men could be found
among the members Of that race. The
position is purely clerical and has been
satisfactorily filed by colored men for
many years.