Show ex 6 X xa would have no go between S thomas L james story about grant that throws light on the tory removal of marshall jewel jewell from the cabinet twice in my experience as an OM cei under the administration of dent grant I 1 found him to be of the most unflinching integrity and most loyal in his support of administrative officers under him who were trying to do their duty one of these occa was when after an interview with him occasioned by his summons to me to call upon him at washing ton he said to ma me mr postmaster you are absolutely right in your at tempt to establish a civil service in the new york Post postoffice offIce don t pay any attention to the politicians always remember that you have a firm supporter in me the second occasion was one which threw light upon president grants re lations with postmaster general mar shall jewell continued thomas L 1 james postmaster of new york under grant and hayes and postmaster gen aral under garfield there have been many ses as to the reason tor for the peremptory demand made by president brant grant upon marshall jewell for his res ignation as the head of the post postoffice office department jewell himself professed never to know the reason of his dis missal I 1 think I 1 can throw some light upon it incidentally while showing you what sort of man I 1 found president grant to be it was in the winter of 1874 5 that there appeared at the new york post office an inspector whose home town was oshkosh WIs he had never been in new york until that time he began to make a most drastic incesti gallon gation of the post postoffice office and I 1 aided him all that I 1 could it happened while this inspection was under way that gen la rue har rison anu was chairman of the committee of the postoffice post office department whose authority wasl was over inspect eions of this kind called upon me I 1 asked him what the mean ing of this peculiar inspection was and I 1 told him frankly that I 1 was sure some political purpose was behind it general harrison smiled queerly for a moment and then said half confided con fiden bially that postmaster general jewell wanted to cut down the appropriation tor for the new york postoffice post office 3 30 0 he clearly intimated that there was poll tics behind this purpose tn reply I 1 said that I 1 would do everything in my power to reduce the surplus of the post office that an inspection was not necessary to how abbott lawrence of massachi Mass achu was nearly norn nom bated for running mate to taylor I 1 in 1848 svery every president of the united states at the time ot of his election was either a lawyer or else had gained great military renown yet there was a time when but tor for the narrowest chance and the queerest sort of cal sentiment a manufacturer and merchant would have been nominated for vice president upon a ticket with a candidate for president who two years after his inauguration died it was in 1848 the great whig leaders of that time had pitched upon general zachary taylor of louisiana as the man tor for presidential nomina tion who would be more likely to ap peal to the voters of the united states than any other whig general tay lor had gained renown in the mexican war and after its termination had re rv tired to his cotton plantation in lou illana he ile himself was reported to hae said that he didn dian t know exactly where he stood politically be he sure whether he could properly call himself a whig or not but he was a protectionist and that was enough tor for the party leaders one of the most prominent among their number being thurlow weed indeed it was mr weed who first suggested general taylor for the presidential nomina tion and he it was who convinced his fellow leaders that they could make no wiser choice after we had decided upon general taylor mr air weed was as fond of tell ng in the closing years 0 V his life we of one accord falt that it would be well to select for the vice presidential honor a man from new england we also felt that the candidate should be a strong advocate of the principles of protection so strongly advocated and supported by henry clay and so finally we decided upon abbott law rence of massachusetts as jast the man we were after mr lawrence was a manufacturer of cotton goods he had utilized the water power of the merrimac Merrl mac river built great mills upon the banks of the river and thus founded the city which bears his surname he ile was a splendid man a public spirited aitt zen a man of much cultivation and oae one of the leaders of the development in manufacturing interests in the I 1 n te ter intes W were sure that the that end I 1 summoned two of my sub ordinate officers and told them that the postmaster general wanted to cut our appropriation by 30 they replied that it could be done but that it would involve some severe hardships among the employees but the cut was made and marshall jewell had the to use elsewhere within a month or six weeks I 1 dis covered what the politics was back of 0 the cut at that time connecticut held its elections in the spring jew ell used the 30 in connecticut he ile increased the postal service and the number of clerks and in other ways which were lawful utilized the whole of that money his eal purpose being to strengthen his party in connecticut but it dian diun t avail for the republicans were beaten at the election general generl grant must have heard of the use made of the 1 30 for he sent for me some weeks later and I 1 had hardly entered his office in the white house before he asked mr postmaster gasn wasn t it the un standing der between ua us when I 1 appointed you postmaster of new york that there t be any gobe go be tm beens I 1 will not have go bet interfering with ith myself and the elkins helped 1 Ped revl reveal 1 l At ri fraud iral bild he it was who first supplied the information that resulted in uncovering the huge star route postal swindles sometimes when I 1 have heard of the great service rendered by the late senator stephen B elkins af 9 west virginia through the drafting ot of what Is now known as the elkins law the most effective instrument lor for the prevention of railroad rebating I 1 have thought of another great service ren dered by senator elkins of which the public never had any knowledge the time has now come when I 1 can tell the incident i I 1 think it was on the second day of march 1881 continued thomas L jmes postmaster general during the garfield administration that mr air el kins whom I 1 had learned to know well when he was a delegate to con gress from the territory of new dext co called upon me at my office in the new york postoffice post office after the greetings of cordial friendship were over mr elkins explained that he wanted anted to send a telegram to james G blame blaine and he presumed pies umed he would merchant almost president presidential ticket of taylor and law rence would appeal to a majority of the voters of the united states and when prior to the as assembling embling of our convention the split came in the dem socratic party which resulted in martin van buren being nominated for prest dent upon d a free soil platform we were more than ever sure that our ticket as agreed upon in conference would be elected but we had overlooked one little thing shortly before the convention met a louisiana whig wrote to us saying that it would never do to have abbott lawrence on the ticket and for one reason general taylor he said was a cotton planter abbott lawrence was a manufacturer of cot ton goods it would never do to have cotton at both ends of the ticket it had never occurred to us but ve V e saw instantly the force of the ar aument therefore we reluctant antl abandoned mr air lawrence and at the last minute millard fillmore of new york aas mas selected as the whig can didace for vice president and that is why he and not a manufacturer and merchant through the constitutional succession became president of the united states in july of 1850 Copy rigl t 1911 by E J edwards all rights reserved dennial appointments why did you tail fail to come to me at the time this jew I 1 el ell matter was as in progress at the new york post office I 1 would have stopped it instantly well mr air president I 1 explained I 1 did not want to annoy you about a matter of that kind but it was a matter of principle and that would not have annoyed me the president replied however I 1 will overlook it this time As he said this president grant took a box of cigars from the drawer and affred me one A mere cursory inspection of the cigars told me that their strength vins was beyond my capacity he laughed and then took up again the subject of my call dont don t let this happen again he cautioned grave ly always remember that you re next to me and I 1 will tell you frankly that you are not going to be bothered very long with the present postmaster gen eral it was only a few weeks after that that I 1 learned that president grant had peremptorily demanded marshall jew ell 11 a ret resignation Agnation that was an almost unprecedented occurrence the only similar case I 1 having arisen when president johnson demanded the ion ton of secretary of war edwin al stanton copyright 1911 by E J edwards AH all rights reserved receive an answer within an hour he added that the telegram refe refereed ried to something that concerned me when we returned to the po boffice after luncheon we found a telegram there awaiting mr elkins return hastily reading the message he said that he had telegraphed mr air blaine who ho was to be secretary ol 01 state in the new administration to know it if there were any change in general garfield s cabinet plans and mr blaine had replied that there had been none then elkins said to me you are to have a great opportunity and a very difficult and perhaps dangerous task before you as soon as ou enter the postoffice post office department you doubtless have seen in the newspapers lately a good many vague intimations that the government Is be ing wronged by the star route con tractors I 1 tell you mr james that these reports are true I 1 know from personal observation in new mexico that the government Is being robbed by star route contractors and gov eminent officers are being bribed uy these contractors I 1 can furnish you ome come details the first thing you do after you have got fairly well ac quain quainter ted with the postoffice post office depart ment hould be to make an In tion of the contract department tear it up the contract department Is ex I 1 blotting star route service to the amount of millions a year when no service Is given and men the condrac tors are khael ing up with some of the postoffice post office authorities you hlll w III run counter to ome very influential po itic ians I 1 am here to tell you however that you jou will have absolute support from the president from mr blame blaine as secretary of state and from mr I 1 macveagh who is to be attorney gener geneall ll mr elkins thereupon gave me some information regarding the frauds upon that information I 1 was able to bae babe the investigation of the contract deportment of the postoffice post office depart department m ent we speedily uncovered huge swindles I 1 have estimated that the government was robbed of somewhere between six million and eight million dollars by these frauds we prosecuted criminally the lead ing conspirators but we e found it lm possible to obtain a lury jury at washing ton which would convict but we broke up for good and all the star route swindle a service that was due in the first instance to the information given to us by stephen B elkins it was one of the greatest services ren dered to the government of which I 1 have any personal recollection but until now president garfield and his cabinet were the only ones excepting ng mr elkins himself who knew that it was through the initiative of mr air elkins that this work of reformation was begun Copy rigi t 1911 by E J adia i ds all rigl ts re reserved sered |