Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 March 1884 — Garfield Knew. [ARTICLE]

Garfield Knew.

One very interesting fact appeared in the testimony heard by the Springer Committee. When the tabulated summary of th§ expedited Star Routes, showing just where the plunder went, was exhibited to Gen. Garfield at the White House, he expressed surprise. It was in April or May, 1881, that Gen. Garfield was astonished by the revelation of Dorsey’s wickedness. Yet that same tabulated statement had been seen and examined by Gen. Garfield a year earlier, while he was still a member of the House of Representatives and before his election as President. It seems, then, that Gen. Garfield knew all about Dorsey’s wickedness when he was leaning on Dorsey for support during the canvass of 1880, when he was looking to Dorsey for help in closing the breach between the two wings of the party, and when he was turning tb Dorsey for advice as to the mako-up of his Cabinet. The late President wa3 already in the possession of the facts about the Star Route plunder when he telegraphed from Mentor to Dorsey, at Cleveland, in 1880: "Call on me whenever you can without interfering with your campaign work.” He had already seen and studied the table of the ninety-three expedited routes when he wrote, later in the same month: ■ "J ioly greatly on your ca’m equipoise, whlvta haß shown iteolf so often aud so well hitherto." Garfield already know the exact extent of the operations of tho Dorsey combination when he wrote to the Senator in October, 18U0, just after the Indiana election: .“I eipoMaily congratulate you upon your master ul management of the campaign, and the thoroughness with * hlca you have watched all the details and inc.dents of the light. Lot me counsel you to t ike some much needod rest, adm o yourself for tbo final 3‘rugi e soon to c mio on. Wo shall need all our powers du lug t o last two weoks of the contest: but Ju t now ,o to bed and sleep two tr th’-oo days and when you are sufficient y retted come here and make me a visit, or belter still, come here and sleep. Swaim joins me In kindest re jerds." Garfield already had road in cold figures the story of the star route plunder I when he wrote to Senator Dorsey: ”1 want vou to know bow absolutely I rely

on your earnest desire to do the beet for Hie cause, and how eager lam to aid your efforts.” He knew all about the expedited routes when he wrote, in Jannaiy, 1881, regretting that he could not attend the Dorsey banquet at Delmonioo’s: “Deak Senator: lam glad you arte to be complimented by such gentlemen. 1 wish It were possible for me to be present, but 1 cannot.” Finally, when Garfield and Dorsey parted oompany on March 5, 1881, with expressions of mutual esteem, the President was not less well-informed on the subject of Dorsey’s connection with the Star Ronte business than he was a few weeks later when he announced his hefoic resolve to probe the ulcer to the bottom. The parting was on the morning of the day when the names of the new Cabinet were sent to the Senate. The incident has been described by Dorsey himself. He had been advising Garfield not to nominate James and MacVeagh: “General,” I said to him, “Is there no way to prevent this mistake—a mistake that I know will wreck your” “Steve,” he said, and the honest, kindly heart beat, I know, with emotion—“Btove, my mind is mhdeup. I’ve got to do it. I wouldn’t hurt your feelings for the world, but 1 must. I cannot help myself.” There was something in his wearied face that touched me. and 1 said, patting him on the back: “Go ahead, old man. 1 know you believe you ute Hght. God bloss you and your work.” There is one man giving who, in all probability, could go upon the stand and give to the Springer Committee the secret of the Star Route prosecutions. He was a member of Garfield’s Cabinet, but he was not Postmaster General nor Attorney General. Nor is he likely to present himself before the committee in order to communicate the information which he possesses. —New York Sun.