Milford chronicle., 1948-11-05

OF justice has grown
E.>zs..%:=#.@.4ls3s.,s more and more
PEcTEp reminiscent Of the
Harding regime,
ana we sniff nostalgia redolence
OF the ethics of that stout crew of
patriots, the Ohio gang. The New
Deal must have been hoaxing us in
the blackguard pamphlets and ora.
tlons which held Harry M. Daueh-
erty up to scorn.
The same department has
been used for similar purposes
as often as not since 1888, and
negotiated justice has been styl-
ish under the rule of the Har.
ward gang ever since the Sec
Ond Louisiana purchase.
Important cases have been se-
lected for prosecution or adjust
ment' according to sensitive fac
tors underlined by any law, after
earnest consultations by and among
the trustees Of justice. The exact
meaning of policy is still a fugi-
tive from our political scientists.
but the best speculative try that
one may hear from frequenters Of
this mysterious memorial to forgot
ten standards Of government is that
policy and politics have much
in common.
ELL Even when a deci-
sion is made to put
Ut up a show of prose-
Justice cution against some
felonous ally of the
party in power, the job may be
messed up by some reliable mud
dler to guarantee that the accused
accomplice will get away. The
Louisiana cases were mere dry runs
in preparation for the Kansas CITY
jobs. The mauling of the Brown.
Bioff-Holywood atrocities, in which
all the preferred rascals got mag
nificent discounts in return for many
personal and political generosities,
confirmed the new concept. And the
Joe Fay and Ben Pross cases in
Newark, both involving thieving
unioneers and proteges of the party
Of humanity, have been lagniappe.
The Fay case is the most no
tOriOus failure of justice In the
record of the department since
the Grant administration. Fav
was brutal, defiant thug Of
the Roosevelt adherency. He
stole not only from thousands Of
ROOSeVelt's faceless COnstitu.
ents, but from the treasury as
well. He robbed the treasury
both by taxing public cOnstruc-
ton for his own lushing and
Wenching and by chiseling on
his income tax on this loot.
Tom Clark, the last of the New
Deal parade of attorneys general.
was personally well familiar with
Fay's nefarious doings, having car
rled on some prosecutions of Fay's
subordinates in years gone.
In December, 1916, observed
that Fay was about to go to trial
in Newark on the tax evasion
charge and that his Judge was to
be Thomas F. Meaney. Meaney is
a member Of the Hague political
mob who did well for himself as
counsel in the sorting of the wreck
age of the banks of Jersey City.
brought to collapse by ruinous and
predatory local home taxation. I
challenged this assignment because
of the common political associations
of the judge and the defendant and
of the United States attorney as
well-one Edgar Rossbach.
Till I was absolutely
IU"O'S right. Fay and
With Meaney had been in.
ROssbach volved for years in
the councils and for
tunes Of a political gang which
preyed on the people, the industry.
the banks and the moral stamina
Of the community.
Nevertheless, Mr.. Clark said he
wasn't worried about Meaney but
said 1--WE" had "a lot of trouble
with Rossbach.
And still, nevertheless, Clark let
Rossbach handle the case, an open.
and-shut job which already had
been won by Frank S. Hogan and
Vincent O'COnnor in New York coun.
ty on an extortion charge involving
the same evidence. Rossbach
kicked it around so badly that even
a frst-class jury would have had
to acquit. When it was all over and
Fay, of course, had been acquitted.
as it was foregone conclusion
that he would be when talked to
Clark, Mr.. Clark Indignantly cried
that he thought the acquittaI had
been a damned outraged" That
was a conservative estimate.
3Nh%C WIFI EOOI ENsch