Capt. Allen Speaks

The foüowing letter was written to the Registor by Hon. E. P. Allen, and publislied l.-ist week. It Is such an honest, sincere and olear answer to all acensations made agalnst hl in by his enemics th.it we take reat pleasure in glvlng it to our readers: Yrsn-ANTi, Micii., Dec. 30, 18S0. Editora Regider : - The extraordinary communicAtioB relativo to the Ann Arbor post oflice publlslied in the Detroit Free Press I should'not have noticed had it not been largely copied by the Register, ilius, together with your comments, giving it a quasi endorsement. So long as it was publiahed In a democratie paper fur (It'inocratic purposes, it was uselessfor me to denj' ts statements or point out its utter falsity, both in word and spirit. No one knew better than yourself jast the position I have occupied, communicile.l to jou by letter, nnless, indeed, it be scores of citi.ens of Ann Arbor who have written me, favoring or disapprovinjr of ciindldates. The writers were told, in Communications which they are at liberty to publish, exactly wliat f was doing and proposed to do. The publication of these letters and the one written to yourself, compared with the result rcached, will show whether I have kept mj' word. Havinr gone so fïir as to give semi-endorsement to the arlicle in the Free Press I ask for a hearing, tbat tlie pcople of Ann Arbor may know whether my conduct has been that of a stralghtforwvrd man or not. When I returned home last spring I was visited by the two prominent candidato lor the post oflice and their frienjo. I liad received two letters lrom one of tbem before I left Washington, as 1 now remember. When asked by these gentle men as to my inethod of proceduie I told them that ns there were two or tiirue candidutes at Ann Arbor, all of wlinin were reputablR citizens, as far as I knew, I should appoint the man, otlicr things being equal, who had the greater number of supporters among republican voters who ot their mail at that ofH'.'e. It was a vciy .imple platform to occupy, and one fiom which I havu not varied bv a halr. Wben a--keil as to whether it was nccessary to circuíate petitlonsor get letters, I invariablj' said that the miinner of geting the expression of the people to me was one that I shou'd not advise them npon. All I wanted to kuow was what the republicins wanted, at the same tune saylng tbat the uual course was by petiüon or letters. I never at any time or relative to any office saiü to any one that I would be bound by the actioa of the "representativo, '' or '"leadlng'' republicans of Ann Arbor or anywhere else. I have alwnys said, and everywhere, tliat other things being cqual between the candidates, I should iu every instaure appoint the man that the majority, or, if tliere were more than two candidates, a pin rali ty of the rppublicnn voters receiving muil at a given office deslre. In fact leading republicana are divided in their support of candidates quite as much as tliose whoare not "leadiupr."' I have always held the right, and do now, to ri'fuse to recotnmend a candid.ite if tliere are good and sullicicnt, reasons therefor; henee, the tirst statement In tlie artiele quotcd by you that I stated otherwlw ÍS faloe. I quite well know the effect of Jiossism on the parties. The Uay fot it has gone by forever, and no man in thU district, whether he bea deinocral or republican, can everagain name postólasters "at bis own swet;t wili" and succeed in holding the pcople wlth him. They will have their say in these appointments liereafter, as they have had in tliie. The next statement, that Messrs Dean and Boel paid me a vlsit asking for the appointment of Eugene E. Beal for postmaster, whereupon I changpd front, is also false. Mr. Jnnius E. Beal calied upon me witlilu a few days after Mr. Sumner and his frlends had done so, and stated that bewould be pleased to see Mr. E. E. Beal appoinfcd postmaster. I at once and promptly said to biin that there was another candidate in the Held, and that althougb he (Beul) had been a warm personal and politica! friend for yea--?, 1 could not give alvay any oílkeí and that I had fully made Up ray mind not to appoint anyoue posttnaster at Ann Arbor wlio had not the support ot the repnbllcan patrons of that office. Hiriply was tliat uu!es3 Mr. Beal could get sucli support lie did not want him to liave the office. We did not spend ten minutes in talking over the matter, and the above was all that was said upon the subject tt' uitv - - -- ■■■ ■ ■ These t'o gentlemen saw me tosretlier weeks after the above stated talk wlth J. E. Beal, and they were but two of a dozen who visited me In behalf of bolh c imlidate?, and all of whom were welcome and bad a hearing. As to the third statement, that I vacated my first position and did not wisli any meeting or conference, it, too, is false. I had never proposed any ' meeting or conference," but had, on the contrary, refused to iet one, two or three, or even half a dozen persons name the postmaster at Ann Arbor. I feit, and said, and now feel, that the republicans who elect supervisors, mayors, governors and COngressmuD, are abundantly qualilied to say whom tbey want for P. AI., an office that coinés more closely to them than any other; and in allowing them to expresa their wishes I have not stooped to ask whether tbey were blacksmitus, carpenters, lawyers or preachert, or in the language of the Argu?, "Toms, Dick?, and Harrys." In soliciting votes during eimpaigns we do not say to an audiencp, "One, two or three men in this town are bettercapable of saying wbat bad better be done than you." On the contrary we ask for their suffrages, cali them the "people," and desire the votes and lnfluence of all of them. Wliy there should be one rule as to the treatment of voters before election and another one after, is beyond my comprehension, always bas been, and i hope always will be. I never stated that I wanted letters in preference to petitions, and it is iqnally untrue that the principal men of Ann Arbor wrote letters in favor of one man exclusively. On the contrary, I recoived nearly two letters in favor of Air. Beal to one in favor of any one else. These letters are on file, and subject to the insppction of anyone who has a right to examine them. save only tliose that are markcd "Personal.1' If the above is true, it follows that the next statement, "few or none wuuld write letters endorsing Mr. E. E. Beal," is likewise false. Why I fhould announce that letters would not sufilcP, If, as the artiele charges, I were conimitted to Mr. Beul, when there were nearly two to one in ble favor, is h conundrum that I leave for the writt r who hatched the falsebood for politlcal effect to answer. The next statement that I "deinanded petitions" is false. I have said before and repeat tliat I never detnanded either petitions or letters, but simpljr said to the parties that they must get the expression of the people to me as they saw fit, and Ihat the usual way was by petition or letter. The furtber statement that I gave anybody any start as to the time for circulatlng petitions is equ illy false. I said nothing about time except what I incldentally mentioued in your office, as to when a chance would likely occur, wliich tfM published at the time, and upon which it would seem both candidates proceeded to act. I saw'neither candidate that day at Ann Arbor. I was not there on P. O. business, but for the pui pose of meeting some old soldiers, which I did, wbose pension claims they desired me to basten. The statement that the republicans who were surprised into signing one petition when they deslred to sign another, and thereby were guilty of "folly," I lenvc for you to settle with tliose republicans who signed the papers. I will not charge these with not knowing tluirown mlnds. In your editorial of Nov. 28th, you stated that one of the candidates claimed that I told him that the question must "bedecided in three days by petition." This candidate had eight petitions. The tirst bears date May lOtb, the last May 17th, the others May 14th and 18th. On May 28th, eleven days after the lust pelltlon bears date, I sent to him and the other candidates a letter, as follows: Dkau Sib:- You have been and are now a candidato for the offlco of P. M. at Anti Arbor. For several weeks tbeoommiiully lius been oanvosBed by parlles Interestod in be half of yourself or other candidate, and I conclude that all persons who o deslre huvo expressed an opinión one way or the olher. As thls way of selecting a P. M., to-wlt, by the expressed wlsh of the ropubllcan patrons of the office, Ís soinewhat akln to an electlon, I mustbrlng the contest to a close wlthin a reasonable time Just as "tve close the polls, and all partles ablde the result. I belleve that this reasonable time hun now elapsed, and the people sufflciently stlrred up on the question.and therofore notity you in common -wlth the otlier candidatcs, that all lettersand petltlons must be wrltten or in my hands by the evening of the Sist, as after that I shall proceed to autlientlcate the politlcal status of the slgners and wrlters, as far as I am uotaequainted wlth them myself, to the end that the expression of a cholee inay ba oonfined to the republicana who are votera and patrons of the office. Very llespectfully, E. P. A i.i.EN-. Rotli candidato sent the letters and petitions required promptly within the time named without a hint that they wanted more time, and as a matter ol fact, the petitions were, at the date of my letter of May 28th, for the most part signed. From the above it will be seen that not only is the statement that I confined the parties to three days In getting petitions, false, but it a!so appears that the other statements made in the Free Press article that I had receded from one position to another are equally false, for the letter expressly states that "petitions and letters" hearing upon the questioii must be in my hands at a giveu time that the community mijrht have rest. That the time was abundant s shown by the fact that over 1100 persons wrote letters or signed petliions tor one or another of the candidatos. I nndertook to-verlfy these petitions and letten by r ttinir the c. indidates and Messrs. Pond and Sc'Kt, tlieir respective frlends, togethor as soon as It was possible to do so and not inconvenienee any of tlie parties. We met and went tbrough the lists until 11 o'clock at nighl, when we adjourncd, and the next mom Ing on meeting aguin, one of the parties iutimated that It was a great ta-k to go tbroayh wlth these name, and severa] enggestlona were made, all in a friendly spirit, when it was finally decided that Messrs. Pond and Scott should take the names and go over them earefully together and deelde their politics, and where they thenuelvea conld not agree, leave the matter to tlie signers, the person who should bo appointed P. M. to pay all legitímate expenses for their time and trouble. At the same time it was suggesied by one of the parties that they sigu a paper statlng that they believed that I had been strictly fair in the matter, whereupon I at once said that I wlshed no certifícate of character from anybody. Ttiis was tortured loto the statement that I asked the partles to give me such a paper. I wonder that anyone present allowd such a falsehood to run uncliallcnged. I had the uame3 carefully ilrawn off on memorandum books, alpbubetlcally nrranged, aud forwarded the saine to Mr. Pond by my son, wlth a note requesting that he at once notify Mr. Scott, and h ive the work done. Mr. Scott soon after sent me a note declililng to have anytbins further to do with the matter, when 1 wrote him the followlng letter: Ypsir.ANTi, Mlcli., Nov. 14, 1889. My DEAiiS:it:- lamin recelptof your favor of yesterday, and while I do uot blame you for not wishing to give ao mucb time to what Is an unpleasant matter at the best, wil) only sliitc that ] will uot be balked or thwarted In in v cml-'Mvor to obtain the uolltlcal status of the signen of the two petitions for the Ann Arbor I". ü., and shall do wliat I have always Siiid I would. give the ojflee Co the man who hts tie mout boeking. When I get tbrongb no une cttn s i' I have done wrong ïu the matter witöoul saying that whleh Is not true. I am sorry that you did not go along wilh the matter and give Mr. Pond all the aid you couli!, and yet l have no right to judge you and do not. . Very truly yours, a. F. Allen. At the same time I wrote Mr. Sumner as follows: YPSiLANTt, Micli., Nov. 14. 1889. DBAB SlR:- Mr. Evart H. Scott wrltes me that he declines lo do anything further lo ascertaln ihe polllical status ol the nlgners of the two pt'tlLioiis i'or the P. O. at your pla:e. I (ic.sfre you lo ask Mr. Nowland. who is familiar witli Uie voters, to take Mr. Scott's place Iti helping Mr. Pond to ero over the books. Tlioy are In simpe so tliat it wlll be a oomp&ratl voly easy matter. Please atïvlse me whettier you so request Ulm. I name uiin because lie was active in circulattng petittons as I understand. and is aciiualnled wlih the roten at large so that ue can be of material asaistauce. Yours truly, E. P. Alles. Th is letter was never answered. If elther oindldate or bis fiiends did not go over the names to ascertain tlieir politica] status it is their fautt, not mine. They cert:iinly had notice and time. In conclusión, the letters aud petitl ns in this ca-e will be preservad, reidy for the inspection of uil fair-minded men who have any wish or right to know the faCU. I bare nnmed for P. M. the man whoui $&Miïïi{3lMt!"dMvwÜ'ge! ikaü at tht office asked me to name. If any one disputes this, tlie proofá are open for his inspection. I have not held that because a man was a mechan c or laboring man he was not therefore cnpable of jndghig what he wanted, and should not be heard. I have not Ignored any republic in who deslred to express his opinión. If this is undemocraV.otbeo I am guilty, but I am willing 10 take the sober second thought of the people Upotl tlie question. The statement In your editorial comments that the Free Press article was supposed to be written by a '' leadlng re publican," I have the best of rer.sons for thinking is a mistak. Certalnly, no " leadiDg republicsn " would lire trono ambush llke the bushwhacker, or st:ib in the dark like mi ass;Siin. The nrtiele was a senes of inisst:ttements of my act In as t:ür a contest, as far as I am concerned, as could possibly huTfl b en carried on. It was put in simpe by a democrat wliom I well know. It was a determined attempt upon the part of the Argoa and Free Press to cause a qaárrel in the republican ranks. lts subject was so m inifist that no one should have been deceived by it. It will fall of its purpose. People in Waslitenaw county have known me from cliildhood. I have done no secret work, and huve nota scrap of paper, letter or petitiou that I am uot willing to submit to any three reput aïile citizensof Ann Arbor.who may desire to examine them and report whether what I have stated be the trutll or not. Tlie only condition that I shall Impose upon any sucli committee is that the writeis of letters wherein they ask that their ñames be withhekl, sliall be respected. People who write letters regardinjr 60 important a matter have the same right to ask for secrecy as they have when tliey cast their bülotat the polls, but I am willing to go so far as to put their requests In the keeping of three reputadle Cltlzena as ahove stated, for the iurpose of baving them sny to my fellow-citizens of Aun Arbor whether I have been corrupt or taken a Btralght-forward course sucti as every man ought to take both in business and politics. Very respectfully, E. P. Allen, The cyclone did some very disastious work last Suuday, destroying property and killing people thioughout eeveral western states. Now it will be proper for the Argus to bring forth an labórate article toshow that President Harrison was the solé and only cause of the disturbancr. The next democratie U. S. Sti at ir fr.im the yreat state of Ohio vviil be Calvin S. Brice, tlie ralubow chaser. Here is an opinón of this man from iliat ieadins; democratie Journal, the New York World. Piense read it my democrati ; frlend : "A rich man possessed of brains and character - one who does not use his wealth impioperly - should not be dlscriminateil againsf. It is not honest wealth propeiiy employed that the people ure jealous of, but the exaltation of wealth without brains, as emphasized in the cae of Calvin íJ. Brick. Ilear also this gem of good sense from the same sourc;: If the democrat party in Ohio shall conMimmate this shamcless bargain to senil Brice to the senate it will not deserve nor obtain another opportoolty to eltct a senator for the next dozen years. And ytt the democats of Ohio will place NíW York's rainbow in the senate. He lives in New York for revenue, you know, and In Ohio for office.