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The Commoner.
VOLUME 3, NUMBER 8J,
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PUBLIC ATTENTION WAS RECENTLY AT
tracted toan imposing incident that took
place at Oyster Bay. The combined squadrons
of tho United States navy were assembled in or
der, as the Washington correspondent for tho
New York World puts it, "to make a holiday for
President Roosevelt, "his family,, and a few invited
friends." Tho World correspondent says that tho
bringing of tho ships to the president's summer
homo involved tho expenditure of a largo amount
of public money amounting almost to a quarter
of a million dollars and' all for tho purpose of pro
viding a holiday for tho president, tho members of
his family and his guests. Tho World correspon
dent says: "Naval ofiicers are especially critical
and point out that tho Oyster Bay meeting re
sulted not only in valuable loss of time to tho
squadron, which was interrupted for one whole
week in the summer maneuvers, but also in seri
ous damage to several of the ships and small craft.
During tho roview 2,604 shots were fired from tho
six-pounders. Tho cost of the saluting charge of
a six-pounder is 40 cents."
ON THE OCCASION OF THIS REMARKABLE
oxhibit at the president's summer home, an
accident occurred to the Massachusetts. It is said
that this great vessel was hurrying out of Bar
Harbor in a fog to catch up with the other ships,
and that it ran onto Egg Rock, and that had it not
been for tho captain's anxiety to reach Oyster Bay.
with the rest of the fleet, the Massachusetts would
have stayed at anchor until tho thick fog lifted.
Tho Barry and Decatur collided and this the
World's Washington correspondent attributes to
"the enthusiasm of the president to call for a
flying wedge." It is estimated that to repair tho
damage caused by this maneuver at least $20,000
will bo necessary. It is claimed that the cost of
coal in this utterly useless holiday affair will
amount to a .very largo sum and altogether it is
said that tho people of the United States expended
very nearly one quarter of a million dollars in
order to provide President Roosevelt and his
guests with a day's entertainment.
If jc
GENERAL DISSATISFACTION HAS BEEN
displayed -with respect to the methods emr
ployed by the administration in "investigating"
the alleged scandals in the postofllce department.
It is pointed out that while Mr. Bristow has mani
fested very clearly a disposition to go thoroughly
into these investigations he has been serious
ly handicapped and the results have been by no
means satisfactory, although sufficient has been
developed to show that in tho postofllce depart
ment corruption and dishonesty, prevail to an
alarming extent Many have insisted in the light
of the disclosures that have been made in the post
ofllce department without serious effort on tho
part of the administration's representatives, that
it is fair to presume that dishonesty and corrup
tion might by rigid investigation be exposed in
other federal departments, and yet it has not
seemed that the administration is at all anxious
to probe into other departments. On the, con
trary, in spite of the fact that many hints of a
serious character have been thrown out relating
to the Integrity of the service in several other
branches of the federal service, if the representa
tives of tho administration have taken any no
tice whatever of the situation, it has been for
the purpose of discrediting and discouraging in
vestigations in that direction.
IT
LONG AGO THE PEOPLE WERE TOLD
that there wore many instances of fraud
and corruption in the interior department, buc
these charges wro promptly confronted by de
nials on the uart of renublican ortmnq wim i
sisted that all was well with the interior depart
ment But after manv davs. it sooms Hnf t,
situation in the interior department is so serious
tbVt It will no longer tolerate delays and therefore
after republican newspapers have told us that
there was nothing to investigate in tho interior
deparent, the Washington correspondent for
the SU Louis Globe-Democrat, a republican paper
under flate of August 15, informs his publication
that "onP of tho most sweenln investigations the
government has ever undertaken will be starred
soon by Ntho interior department in tho Indian
territory."1! According to the Globe-Democrat cor
respondent, this investigation has be&i decided
upon by the secretary of the interior, Mr. Hitch
cock, as tho result of sensational charges of irreg
ularities involving the chairman and other mem
bers and employes of the Dawes commission and
other oiHcials of the government in the Indian
territory.
THE SUBSTANCE OF THESE CHARGES, Ac
cording to this republican correspondent, aro
tnat republican officeholders have systematically
robbed the Indians of their lands, and have in
other ways victimized them. The situation, ac
cording to this correspondent, has become so
serious that Secretary Hitchcock visited Oyster
Bay for the purpose of consulting with the presi
dent and it Is understood in Washington that the
official conduct Qf every government official in the
territory from the chairman of the Dawes com
mission down to the clerks' and employes of the
Indian agencies will be inquired into. The Globe
Democrat's correspondent explains: "For nearly
a year the interior department has been receiving
charges of official misconduct in the Indian terri
tory. Some time ago the secretary decided that
an investigation should be made, and he requested
a Washington man, who is not in the government
service, but who is interested in the welfare of
the Indians, to take charge of it Failing to enlist'
the services of this man, the secretary looked
elsewhere for some one who was competent and
not connected with the Indian service. Evidently
he did not find the right n.an, as the investiga
tion was not ordered. An immediate investigation
will be forced by the charges just filed at the
interior department by S. M. Brosus, special agent
of the Indian rights association, who returned to
Washington last Tuesday from a tour of the
country occupied by the five civilized tribes."
IN THIS SAME DISPATCH TO THE GLOBE
t.t.. Democrat, it is admitted that "Secretary
Hitchcock has known for months that officials in
the Indian territory were stockholders in the land
and trust companies and that he had notified at
least one of these officials that he must sever his
connection with the. trust company in which he
was a stockholder or resign his place. The official
who received this notice was J. George Wright in
spector, who is a stockholder in the Muscogee
title and trust company. Mr. Wright is still a
stockholder in that concern and he "has not re
signed." TT IS FURTHER EXPLAINED BY THIS SAME
L republican correspondent that for a long
time Secretary xxitchcock has had a knowledge of
the interests of Tarns Bixby and other members of
tho Dawes commission in Indian territory trust
companies. It is explained that Secretary Hitch
cock has received letter heads of trust companies
on which the officials named appeared as directors
and officers. One of these letter heads emphasized
the fact that Thomas B. Needles, "a member of
the Dawes commission," is vice president and a
director of the International Bank and Trust com
pany. The Globe-Democrat's Washington corre
spondent says that recently the, secretary learned
that a resolution directing an investigation by a
congressional committee would be offered in the
house when congress meets and this republican
correspondent admits that this knowledge "may
have influenced him (Secretary Hitchcock) in his
decision to start an investigation." At the same
time this republican correspondent expressed the
opinion that "even if the investigation is pushed
now with the utmost dispatch, it is possible that
congress may insist in taking a hand in the pro
posed house-cleaning." v
PETERBOROUGH, ENGLAND, ACCORDING TO
a writer in the Philadelphia Public Ledger
makes enough bricks in the course of a year to nut
a girdle four times around the earth. This writer
says that "it is estimated that the busy brickmak
ing yards, which have grown up in great number
round the ancient city in the last twenty vearq
turn out 800 000,000 bricks annual As the
length of a brick is about eight inches, then if
Peterborough's annual output were laid out i n a
single line it would stretch over 100,000 miles
The brick industry has revolutionized I the Trade
of Peterborough. Such is the wealth of clay and
tho profit to be drawn from it that one part of the
Snri111,? dl8,trict ? beon fitly named 'Klon
dike. It lies in beds of enormous area and
depth, and some of the experts say they could co
on taking out the easily accessible- clay for tho
next century without taking thought as to whero
the next supply of the material is to come from."
rr
AN INTERESTING DISCOVERY WAS RE
cently made during some excavating m
Rome. The ancient Roman Forum was the scene
of the digging and in the course of the excava
tion the base of a statue supjposed to be the cele
brated equestrian statue of the Itoman emperor
Domitian was found. A writer in the Chicago
Chronicle, referring to this discovery, says: "Tho
base stands five feet below the present level of tho
Forum. It is 40 feet long, 20 wide and over 10
feet high. On the top are three blocks of trans
verse stone, showing where the feet of the horse
stood. The fourth block is lacking, indicating
that the right forefoot of the horse was raised.
The distance between the blocks is so great that
it is calculated that the statue was six times life
size."
A CONTEST IS ON FOOT IN REGARD TO THE
right of the mayor of -Butte, Mont, to the
position he holds. Affidavits have been sent to
Washington declaring that the mayor, Mullins by
name, has no right to his office because he is not
a citizen of Montana. A writer in the Kansas City
Journal Bays that Mayor Mullins owns 300 acres
of valuable land in Idaho, which he acquired
under a desert land law. The affidavits cover a
period of five years and Mullins states, under oatn,
that he was a resident of Boise, Idaho, and a
farmer by occupation. As late as October 4, 1902,
he made an affidavit on final proof, in which he set
up Boise as his residence and all previous affi
davits from tho time of entry, September 19, 1898.
These affidavits, it is contended by Mayor Mullin"'
political opponents, Invalidate his election as
mayor of Butte, where residence and citizenship
are required by law as qualification of municipal
officials. v
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THE USE OF STRAW AND STUBBLE IN THE
.making of ancient Egyptian bricks, as nar
rated In the fifth chapter of Exodus in the BJble,
led E. G. Acheson of Niagara Falls, N. Y., to use
this material in the making of crucibles. The Chi
cago Chronicle says that Mr. Acheson procured
some straw, had it boiled and mixed the dark red
liquid thussobtained with clay. He found that the
plasticity was greatly increased. Investigation
showed that tannin was the active agent and whnn
he treated other clay with .a solution of tannin
in water he obtained surprising results. The
strength and plasticity of the clay are increased
and the tendency to shrink and warp is grfcatly
reduced. In this process sun drying is far SU
ES fl t0 bur,nig an in ten days the clay is bet
ter tempered than in months or even years by
the old process.
CHINA HAS LONG BEEN KNOWN AS ONE
of the most densely populated countries in
It? J1?and tuis claim woull seem to be sub
stantiated by the official census recently published
by the imperial treasury department of that far
off country The Chicago Chronicle is authority
tnLAte,111 the celestial empire con
tains 426,000,000 inhabitants and that China proper
i rSP T Provinces contains 407,000,000 peo
Slhjfn e Ghronicle says: "The number of in
w ? Pf S,qua5e kilmeter varies from 201, in
ir f ' 1 v. Kansou, and is, on the average,
Tmm the eighteen provinces. In Mongolia the
TuSSS 0,n;in Manchuria, 9; in Yibet, 5, and in
w p tan' H Por comparison we may recall
rSfpS 122n?' haSo1i!? habitants per square Kilo
meter; Belgium, 220, and the United Kingdom,
tf X?
SOME TIME AGO MENTION WAS MADE OF
nmfcn?e Peat' scarcity in cod-liver oil and that
condition has now advanced until there is a fa
SJjf ?! Pjoduct The Philadelphia corre
l w if Sne GhIcaS mter-Ocean says: "Cod-
Nofwi Jf Bl w "? than a year ago.
Tjinf vTnJT WV "uw "Otea at ?135 a barrel.
3 Priw w.as $22.50. Even at this pre
vailing price it ia almost imnnasihiA tn eat tM