AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A PENNSYLVANIAN
expended in any way in connection with the capitol. This gave the people the exact and whole truth. We then invited Charles Emory Smith, editor of the Press; George W. Ochs, editor of the Ledger, and Charles H. Heustis, editor of the Inquirer, to come to Harrisburg and examine the building and the books. This was going into the camp of the enemy and showed courage and self-confidence. They declined, which displayed weakness and made an impression favorable to us. Then I made arrangements with the railroads for unusually low excursion rates over the state and invited the people to come and see for themselves. The newspapers tried ridicule, calling them “penny-a-milers,” but without result. Sixty thousand of the people came. On one Saturday I shook hands with three thousand people, which left my arm very sore. The next Saturday I shook hands with ten thousand and, strange to say, that did not affect me. They went home filled with enthusiasm and told their neighbors. There must have been a hundred men who said to me: “I don't care a dn what it cost; it is worth the money,” and many of them were themselves mechanics who knew the difference between good and inferior work. Stuart was elected by a small majority and I have always believed it was our efforts which saved him. It gave me profound satisfaction to know that the main purpose of the scandal was thwarted. There are two substantial answers to the charges made, which can never be overcome—the one material and the other financial:
1. The capitol with its equipment, standing on the banks of the Susquehanna, where it may be seen of all men, expert and inexpert.
2. The reports of the state treasurer and Smull, which show that the moneys in the treasury during my administration were greater than ever before or since, and that while under my successor the investigation and trials were being pushed to an inconsequential conclusion, those moneys were being depleted at the rate of a million dollars a year.
