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Show B flfl FEATURE OF THE POST OFFICE SCANDAL. B i 'I j When the Post Office scandals first came out, H J charges of maladministration appeared against B !i ' tn0 management of ex-Postmarter General Smith. Bi ' I ' This was denounced by a letter from Smith and H p supplemented by an editorial m Smith's paper, H ?: the Philadelphia Press, directly reflecting upon H I I ' i President Proctor of the Civil Service Commis- B 3 ! I . sion. Now, Proctor comes back, reiterates his 1 3 I' , charges, in a manly way deals with all Smith's t u charges and Insinuations and makes what on its 1 1 fit 1 18& ace seems a conclusive case. One sentence 'If if i makes clear the whole busmen. He says: "It is B l' a foct that nearly all the persons appointed or employed in evasion or In contravention of the civil service laws and rules, who were examined during the Investigation, were appointed through the Influence of Senators and Representatives or high officials of the Post Office Department." That looks absolutely reliable. There were men high in office In the department who simply could not refuse a request from a Senator or Representative, Representa-tive, no matter if it was directly in the face of the law and the rules governing appointments, and this, notwithstanding the probable certainty that it would lead to nasty scandals on the party par-ty and heart-burnings to the men directly concerned. con-cerned. The desire to be called good fellows and to be in close accord with those who were in exalted ex-alted positions was a passion stronger than principle, prin-ciple, so much greater that even the oath of office of-fice was not enough to restrain them. Some of those high officers in the department were there as a reward for party services rendered ren-dered and what was more natural than that they in turn should desire to reward other party workers, work-ers, not thinking of the party disgrace that would follow. |