Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-03-07

| Six months later, January 81, 1916,
/ George l.. Flanders referred this case
to the Attorney General for prosecu-
ton. Six weeks later, March 16, 1916,
| the Attorney General designated Ar
thur Benson. a Syracuse lawyer. to
proceed against Andrews, Loomis &
Andrews. June 9. Senator Walters
appeared on the scene and the case
was closed.
I do not know what the Great At
lantic and Pacific Tea Company will
, think, say, or do when they behold
this simple record of facts. l can
imagine, however, that as taxpayers
| they will be deeply concerned. They
have felt the annoyance of the de-
partment in dozens of other cases,
many of which have been allowed %
perish in the Attorney Generals rec
ords. For instance, GLUCOSE Case
01S24S" was made against them by the
department March 10, 1916. and "Glu-
cose Case 0715S" was made against
them March Il. 1916-the first involv-
ing one of their stores at Niagara
Falls and the second a store at Ken
more. In both cases the Department
of Agriculture asked the Attorney
General, June 2, 1916, to prosecute.
Attorneys were designated and the
cases dragged on until July 3, when
the Department of Agriculture. like
the more or less famous chameleon,
ed the Attorney General not to prose-
cute. Both cases were forthwith sup
pressed and the Attorney General dis
tributed $3.50 as fees to the attorneys
involved.
That there is neither rhyme nor
reason to these silly procedures is
eloquently indicated by current cases
"02205," "07SS1," "06919," "N2259."
In the first of these cases w. G. Baner,
Lyons, n. Y, found himself in trou-
bic October 16, 1915. The red tape
soon began to unswivel itself and in
settlemen of the case, September 1,
Baner who seemingly did not know
the ropes and had no senatorial in
fiuence, coughed up 500, which was
duly deposited with the State Treasur-
er by the Attorney General.
In the second case, two weeks later,
November 4, 1915, the Great Atlantic
and Pacific Tea Company, of Roch-
ester, found itself again in the tolls.
Ten months later, August "a, the De-
partment of Agriculture awakened
from a deep sleep and asked the At
torney General to prosecute. Within a
of Rochester, was designated by the
Attorney General to get after the
Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Com
pany, since which time nothing has
been done, a fact which no doubt af-
fords great consolation to Baner, who
coughed up his $100.
The third case, involving the Man
er-Haags Company of Rochester, orig
mated December Z, 1915, one month
after the Great Atlantic and Pacific
Tea Company found itself again in
trouble with the peoples representa-
tive at Albany.
Nine months later, August "a 1915,
something disturbed the sleep of the
Department of Agriculture, and the
legal minded George l.. Flanders ask
the Attorney General to prosecute the
Maner-Haag Company, after which
the case was settled for $40. The State
Treasurer got the money.
The fourth case originated one
month later, January ., 1916, involving
W. d. Pitt, of Mount Morris. Eight
months later the Department of Agri-
culture again changed it's color and
asked the Attorney General to hold up
the case. This criss-cross procedure is
dated October 4, 1916. The case has
been held.
Taxpayers will doubtlessly find
these episodes, which are mere symp-
toms of invisible government at work,
Illuminating, If not edifying. 1t may
be that out of the confusion some in
fluential taxpayer will lift his voice
and demand an accounting of the
public moneys Squandered in these
fruitless procedures. Some other in
fluential taxpayer may ask the assem-
blymen and Senators who have system
atically killed all the proposed legis-
lation that Albany has ever seen COW
ering these issues and issues of much
graVer Importance, to explain the rea-
sons behind their etherizing activi-
ties.